“The Valley matters to us”: Texas Democratic Social gathering chief makes first pitch to reclaim South Texas

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McALLEN — Democrats are able to struggle for South Texas.

That’s the message Kendall Scudder, the brand new chair of the Texas Democratic Social gathering, shared final weekend as he visited the Rio Grande Valley for the primary time since being elected in March.

Scudder held two city corridor occasions within the area — as soon as thought-about a Democratic stronghold — on Saturday as a part of a collection of city halls he plans to host throughout the state to declare a brand new day for Texas Democrats.

Chatting with a crowd within the McAllen public library’s auditorium, Scudder, 35, mentioned the celebration will throw punches, not simply take them.

“If we keep moving backward here, we don’t just lose votes, we start losing sitting electeds that are good people that are fighting for their communities down here,” Scudder mentioned throughout an interview earlier than the occasion.

“This is a place that we have to be showing up in and fighting back, and we got into this mess because we weren’t,” they mentioned.

Scudder changed former Democratic Chair Gilberto Hinojosa, a Rio Grande Valley native, who stepped down in November after 12 years that included final 12 months’s devastating election cycle.

All 4 Valley counties voted for President Donald Trump, together with Starr County which hadn’t voted for a Republican presidential candidate in additional than 100 years.

To start making inroads, the celebration should fill vacancies of their ranks, together with precinct chair and county chair positions that are 50% and 20% vacant, respectively, Scudder mentioned.

The purpose is to have extra folks on the bottom who know what is going on of their communities and who will help the celebration attain extra voters.

He is aware of Valley voters have felt that the Democratic Social gathering has taken them with no consideration, however he hopes to rectify that by specializing in financial points equivalent to growing the minimal wage and enhancing working circumstances.

“I think this area has felt kind of abandoned by our party for a while and I want to make sure that it is crystal clear to folks that the Valley matters to us,” Scudder mentioned. “The working people down here deserve advocates who will fight to make sure they get fair wages for working conditions.”

The Democrats have been ceding floor within the Valley to Republicans for years.

In 2022, Democrats misplaced the fifteenth Congressional District for the primary time to Republican Monica De La Cruz after the Texas Legislature redrew the congressional maps, making the seat extra favorable to Republicans.

Congressional Republicans not too long ago have come beneath hearth for declining to carry in-person city halls, on recommendation from the Nationwide Republican Congressional Committee. The steering got here after lawmakers confronted public backlash throughout city halls over federal funding cuts mandated by the Trump administration.

Although De La Cruz held a phone city corridor final month, Scudder and leaders of the Hidalgo County Democratic Social gathering criticized her for not taking questions in individual.

Organizers of Saturday’s occasion positioned an empty chair on stage with a photograph of De La Cruz that mentioned “Where’s Monica?”

“Is Monica here? We have a seat for her,” mentioned Richard Gonzales, chair of the Hidalgo County Democratic Social gathering.

A spokesperson for De La Cruz referred to as Saturday’s occasion a political stunt and mentioned the congresswoman can be completely satisfied to think about invites to occasions from nonpartisan, credible organizations which, they mentioned, the Texas Democratic Social gathering shouldn’t be.

“On most days, it barely qualifies as an organization,” they mentioned.

“Congresswoman De La Cruz loves nothing more than meeting with the people of South Texas—and she does so often,” the spokesperson mentioned. “That’s why she regularly holds office hours in all seven counties and hosts virtual town halls so that working parents, veterans, and the district’s nearly 19,000 disabled residents can attend.”

Michelle Vallejo, De La Cruz’s two-time Democratic opponent, accused her of taking pre-screened questions in the course of the tele-town corridor and additional argued that De La Cruz doesn’t symbolize the area’s pursuits.

Hoping to inject optimism into the Democrats within the viewers, Vallejo identified that whereas De La Cruz gained the vast majority of the votes within the district, she was carried to victory by the voters in counties north of the Valley.

“She has not once won in Hidalgo County,” Vallejo mentioned of De La Cruz’s dwelling county which additionally has probably the most voters within the district.

When Democrats subsequent tackle De La Cruz in 2026, they may have some star energy behind them.

Gonzales confirmed that Bobby Pulido, a Latin Grammy Award-winning Tejano artist and Edinburg native, is focused on working for the Democratic nomination. Nevertheless, Pulido, 51, won’t be making an official announcement till the top of his farewell tour on the finish of 2025.

Scudder mentioned the celebration wants to begin placing within the work into constructing relationships throughout the neighborhood, lengthy earlier than election season comes alongside, to achieve success.

“People would love to be able just to come in and buy their way out of a problem,” Scudder mentioned. “That’s not going to happen here.”

Nevertheless, cash is a matter for the celebration.

Throughout a cease in Brownsville, Scudder mentioned the celebration shouldn’t be in nice monetary form however is engaged on elevating cash to assist it get out of that scenario.

Once they do have the sources, he pledged he wouldn’t rent extra employees till they might have a Spanish-language communications division.

“Thirty percent of Texans speak Spanish at home. In House District 15, which is highly viewed as one of the most contentious races in the state of Texas, that number is 67%” he mentioned. “For us to not have a Spanish-language comms department is completely derelict.”

Andres Rios, a 65-year-old accountant from Brownsville, questioned Scudder concerning the celebration’s give attention to social points, saying that older voters informed him they voted for Trump over Kamala Harris within the presidential election as a result of they believed Democrats had been focusing an excessive amount of on points like transgender rights.

Scudder mentioned the celebration mustn’t lead with these points however emphasised that the celebration is a coalition of several types of individuals who all had a seat on the desk and they need to not run away from their beliefs.

“We believe what we believe, because it’s the right thing to do, and we are not sellouts,” Scudder mentioned. Nevertheless, he added that the celebration mustn’t lead with social points however, as an alternative give attention to issues that have an effect on folks of each background.

“What every group of people within our coalition has in common is that they all pay bills,” he said. “We want to make sure everybody … is welcome and being treated appropriately.”

Reporting within the Rio Grande Valley is supported partly by the Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc.

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