Dear Friends,
I seldom take sides in a contested Texas Democratic primary. My personal priority and the mission of the Lone Star Project is to defeat failed & corrupt Texas Republicans and replace them with responsible Texas Democrats.
When I do take sides, it is with the firm belief that one of the candidates is far superior to the other and that the election of the other candidate would not be a constructive part of the effort to overcome one-party Republican control in Texas.
The Democratic run-off in CD30 brings about this exact situation.
I strongly support Jane Hope Hamilton because she is more qualified and better prepared to serve Texas in Congress than any non-incumbent congressional candidate I’ve met over the past 30 years. The run-off is a reset of the CD30 race, and I believe that Jane can win.
My wife Dolly and I are matching our contributions to Jane from the first round. If you contributed to Jane then, I respectfully ask that you do the same. If you have not contributed in the race, I respectfully ask that you give to Jane’s campaign now.
Ms. Crockett ran a strong first in a nine-candidate field in the first-round of the Democratic primary but, considering the assets given to her, the failure to reach 50 percent points to real gaps. She entered the primary with the endorsement of legendary Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson resulting in days of free media coverage and conveyed goodwill. She was the beneficiary of over $2 million in television, mail, and other support from two out-of-state cryptocurrency SuperPACs – an amount greater than that raised or spent by all the other candidates combined. She was handed extraordinary support that should have been sufficient to win without a run-off. Failing to do so is telling.
There are many examples of candidates who come close to exceeding 50 percent in the first round of a primary only to lose in the run-off. The CD30 run-off restarts the campaign, and either candidate can win. It is no longer Jasmine Crockett versus a broad undefined field of challengers. It is Crockett versus Jane Hope Hamilton.
Jane has lived in and served north Texas her entire adult life. She has substantive legislative experience serving as a senior committee staff member for former Congressman Martin Frost and as Chief of Staff to highly regarded Texas Congressman Marc Veasey. Jane has played a direct role in advancing major progressive legislation, she oversaw the formation of the very first Congressional Voting Rights Caucus, and she was a key player in the successful effort to protect over 20,000 north Texas jobs at American Airlines.
Moreover, Jane has been, in my view, the most important non-elected on-the-ground political force for Texas Democrats in north Texas over the past 20 years. Jane’s list of successes is frankly amazing.
Jane led the county-wide Democratic effort in 2006 when Dallas County finally flipped from Republican to Democratic and resulted in the election of more than a dozen minority judges and the election of the first Black District Attorney in the history of Texas.
- Jane managed the mobilization and turnout effort for Wendy Davis’ successful 2008 Senate Campaign when she captured a State Senate seat held by Republicans for a generation.
- Jane managed Clay Jenkins’ successful campaign for Dallas County Judge in 2010 putting in place one of our State’s finest elected officials and locking in Democratic dominance in Dallas County.
- Jane helped lead efforts in Dallas and statewide to fight back against the relentless discriminatory voter suppression of Texas Republicans. She was a named plaintiff in the litigation that overturned the State’s original overtly discriminatory Voter ID law, and she was a named plaintiff in the congressional redistricting litigation that overturned the map in North Texas and ordered the creation of CD 33 as a minority opportunity district. Few people can say they sued the State of Texas twice and won each time.
- Finally, Jane was the State leader of the Joe Biden Presidential Primary campaign in Texas in 2020. And it was Joe Biden’s big win in the Texas Primary that made clear he would be our Democratic nominee and then led to him defeating Donald Trump.
Conversely, Jasmine Crockett is a relative newcomer having moved to Texas from Missouri and then lived in the Texarkana area before relocating to Dallas not long ago. Her only significant political experience before running for the State House was as Democratic Party Chair in Bowie County, which had so little political activity and such a lack of organization that it never raised or spent enough money to file expenditure reports.
I strongly believe that if Jane has the resources to tell her story and share her vision, CD30 run-off election voters will choose her demonstrated talent and proven record over Jasmine Crockett’s limited experience and shallow record.
Thank you for all you do to bring strong and effective Democratic leadership to Texas.
Sincerely.
Matt Angle
