“More than our wombs”: Girls in conservative Texas cities mobilizing to finish GOP dominance

Subscribe to The Y’all — a weekly dispatch in regards to the individuals, locations and insurance policies defining Texas, produced by Texas Tribune journalists dwelling in communities throughout the state.

---

LUBBOCK — Morgan Kirkpatrick was exhausted.

The longtime Lubbock resident and State Board of Schooling candidate spent most of her morning with different native Democratic candidates campaigning door-to-door forward of early voting subsequent week. From there, she went to Mahon Library in downtown Lubbock, the place greater than a dozen volunteers had been already writing postcards to voters for her marketing campaign.

Out of chairs, the previous trainer opted to sit down on the ground and get to work. Sure, she was bodily drained, however she is much more uninterested in seeing Republicans run unopposed in native elections in Texas’ South Plains area her complete grownup life.

“It’s hard because the Democratic Party doesn’t have the infrastructure here like the Republican Party does,” mentioned Kirkpatrick, 39. “Democrats here have always felt like we had to be quiet. But if we were a little louder, people would understand this is a battleground that’s up for grabs.”

Democrats have lengthy imagined a blue wave would roll in to interrupt by way of the conservative panorama within the coronary heart of the South Plains. It hasn’t occurred.

In 2016, 66% of voters in Lubbock County elected former president Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton. Beto O’Rourke inched just a little nearer in 2018 — O’Rourke acquired 35% of the vote within the county whereas U.S. Senator Ted Cruz had 64%. Trump gained the county once more in 2020 over President Joe Biden. Gov. Greg Abbott handily gained the county over O’Rourke in 2022.

Actually, it’s conservative inhabitants facilities like Lubbock and Amarillo, about 125 miles north, and the state’s suburbs which have stored Democrats from profitable any statewide race in 20 years.

Nonetheless, Democrats in Lubbock — ladies specifically — are hopeful this yr. Fueled by a mixture of enthusiasm for Vice President Kamala Harris’s nomination and ire over abortion restrictions and different far-right insurance policies, left-leaning ladies are hoping it’s sufficient to interrupt by way of conservative strongholds.

“I feel like Harris has given us reason to envision a win,” Kirkpatrick mentioned.

Since President Joe Biden stepped apart in late July, resulting in Harris taking his place because the nominee, Democratic ladies in all places have been reinvigorated. In accordance with a survey by KFF, a nonpartisan nonprofit that focuses on well being coverage, 64% of ladies are happy with the nominees for the election — up from 40% from June.

In Texas, Harris has gained favorability. In an August College of Houston’s Passion Faculty of Public Affairs survey, Harris shaved off practically half of Trump’s one-time benefit over Biden and was trailing Trump by 5 proportion factors.

“Women have been second-class citizens for so long, particularly here,” mentioned Brigid Krizek, president of the Texas Democratic Girls of the South Plains.

Harris will not be explicitly campaigning on her id — be it her race or gender — however her attraction is reaching ladies in new methods. Social media accounts linked to her marketing campaign usually publish memes or TikTok tendencies, influential artists like Taylor Swift, Texas native Megan Thee Stallion and Charlie XCX endorsed her, driving followers to have interaction in politics. Earlier this month, Harris went on the Name Her Daddy podcast, one of the vital well-liked podcasts for girls on Spotify’s platform with thousands and thousands of listeners.

Whereas there’s a huge push amongst Democratic ladies to see Harris break the glass ceiling throughout the nation, not all ladies are anticipating her candidacy. Feminine nominees, like Republican Nikki Haley and Clinton, have confronted challenges getting help from ladies voters previously. Shortly after Swift endorsed Harris, pop star Chappell Roan mentioned she would vote for Harris however not endorse both candidate. Roan criticized the left’s “transphobic and genocidal views” and the way the social gathering has “failed” marginalized communities together with Palestine.

Terisa Clark, a member of the Lubbock Space Republican Girls, mentioned she and different Republican ladies are voting for a pacesetter who aligns with their values — and that’s not Harris. Clark mentioned the U.S.-Mexico border is a crucial challenge for West Texas ladies, and he or she doesn’t suppose Harris has finished sufficient to repair it.

“It’s an absolute no-go on her border policies,” Clark mentioned.

If the Lubbock Democratic ladies do have criticism of Harris, they aren’t sharing it publicly.

“Kamala has shown she’s the most experienced candidate we’ve ever had, and she also happens to be a woman,” mentioned Kim Gonzalez, a member of the Texas Democratic government committee who lives in Lubbock. “It’s empowering for all of us women working to make sure we have progressive advances in this rural part of Texas.”

There seems to be extra pleasure for this election in Lubbock, a metropolis of about 264,000 individuals. In March, there have been about 189,218 registered voters within the county. That has now jumped to greater than 197,000, in keeping with the Lubbock County Elections Workplace. The state doesn’t observe registration by political social gathering.

Clark would not suppose the momentum will shift something in Lubbock. Clark mentioned historic election outcomes present Lubbock leans towards conservative values.

“You’re looking at a West Texas region that, as a whole, just doesn’t align with her,” Clark mentioned. “I don’t see it changing.”

Whereas the state doesn’t observe voter registration by political social gathering, Lubbock’s most engaged Democratic ladies are sure the spike is linked to ladies who’re fed up within the face of far-right native insurance policies.

In Lubbock, these embody anti-abortion ordinances, which banned abortion within the metropolis in 2021, earlier than the U.S. Supreme Courtroom overturned Roe v. Wade. A newer ordinance authorised by the county commissioners right here final yr successfully barred pregnant ladies from touring by way of the unincorporated areas of the county for an abortion in a state the place the process is authorized. Authorized specialists and abortion rights activists counsel the ban is unenforceable. Nobody has tried to make use of it but.

As polls present extra Texans consider the state’s abortion legal guidelines are too strict, Republicans have tried to distance themselves from the difficulty. This consists of U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, who declined to make his place clear at a debate towards U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, a Dallas Democrat, this week. As an alternative, Cruz, a Houston Republican, mentioned it needs to be dealt with on the state degree.

Gonzalez, the Democratic Celebration organizer, mentioned it’s inspiring to see ladies like Harris and Kirkpatrick run for workplace. The rhetoric surrounding ladies this yr — from Trump’s working mate JD Vance’s feedback about “childless cat ladies” to Harris being criticized for not having organic youngsters — have made voters offended, Gonzalez mentioned. She felt empowered when listening to the Name Her Daddy podcast, the place Harris mentioned “not all women aspire to be humble.”

“We’re more than our wombs,” Gonzalez mentioned. “Hearing someone in a position of power say it’s OK for us to be bold and brave, and not humble, is a message women need to hear right now.”

Clark, the Republican voter, mentioned Harris has made abortion the main challenge of her marketing campaign, nevertheless it’s based mostly on “mistruths” about states blocking docs from performing medically obligatory abortions. Clark mentioned she didn’t know the specifics of Kate Cox’s story, a Texas girl who acquired a court docket order to terminate her being pregnant after she acquired a deadly fetal prognosis that would have harmed her well being and future fertility. Texas Legal professional Common Ken Paxton took her case to the state Supreme Courtroom and finally blocked the order, forcing Cox to exit of state for an abortion. When requested about different ladies who’ve had related experiences, Clark mentioned it’s a dialog between ladies and their docs about whether or not it’s medically obligatory for his or her life.

“That’s rhetoric of a state of affairs and it’s getting used as a political story to say ‘Well look, this is what doctors are being limited from doing,’” Clark mentioned.

Abortion will not be on the federal poll this yr, however it’s in 10 states, in keeping with KFF. It’s additionally on the poll in Amarillo, a metropolis that has constantly voted for Republicans every election cycle. Voters will determine if town ought to put in place a “travel ban” like Lubbock’s that restricts the usage of town’s roads for a girl searching for on abortion in one other state.

If it passes, individuals will be sued by Amarillo residents for at least $10,000 in the event that they “aid and abet” a pregnant girl searching for an abortion. This may be by offering transportation, donating to abortion fund networks, or providing any info that might result in an abortion, no matter the place the individual giving the directions is situated.

In accordance with the KFF survey, abortion has grow to be an important challenge for girls beneath 30. The so-called sanctuary metropolis ordinance has far-reaching penalties for individuals and companies that violate it, as any group that makes use of the mail for gadgets that would produce an abortion can be declared legal organizations, amongst different causes. The ordinance has been criticized as turning neighbor towards neighbor by metropolis leaders.

“There is so much more that unites us than divides us,” mentioned Lindsay London, co-founder of the Amarillo Reproductive Freedom Alliance, or ARFA. “And we’re seeing that voters are ready to embrace that at both the local and national level.”

ARFA, a nonpartisan group, has been on the forefront of the battle towards the ordinance. London mentioned she sees a similarity in how Harris’s marketing campaign has introduced collectively “reasonable” individuals from throughout the political spectrum by way of shared values.

Again in Lubbock, Kirkpatrick is gearing up for Election Day. She is aware of abortion is an enormous challenge for voters, although she additionally thinks schooling goes to be one thing that drives the vote in Texas. She is going through incumbent Aaron Kinsey, a Republican from Midland who ran unopposed in 2022.

Final yr, lawmakers failed to make use of the state’s $33 billion price range surplus for college funding, as the cash acquired tied right into a battle over Gov. Greg Abbott’s push for personal faculty vouchers. This system would permit mother and father to make use of taxpayer {dollars} to ship their youngsters to personal colleges. Critics of the proposal, together with Kirkpatrick, say it places public colleges in danger.

“I just hope those who believe public education is important vote in the South Plains and around the state,” Kirkpatrick mentioned. “Some of the candidates running for House and Senate could really help hold the ground against Abbott’s crusade for vouchers.”

The proof of the rising progressive motion is there, Gonzalez mentioned. This month, the Deliberate Parenthood Neighborhood Heart raised $52,000 for the Lubbock Well being Heart at their Y’all Means All occasion, the place former state Sen. Wendy Davis was the particular visitor. O’Rourke continues to go to town and encourage individuals to vote, and Allred spoke to voters final week too.

“We’re all feeling it, and we’re ready to fight back,” Gonzalez mentioned.