This past Saturday, July 15th, Tarrant County Democrats came out to show their support for the woman they believe can make a real difference in their congressional district. In a beloved local hangout, J. Gilligan’s (an Irish Pub and Sports Bar hybrid known for its “Irish Nachos”: fried potatoes smothered in cheese, bacon, tomatoes, and green onions), they gathered to eat, drink, and celebrate the official kickoff for Ruby Faye Woolridge’s 2018 campaign for the 6th District Congressional seat.
It was a cause for celebration to be sure, and not just because we were also celebrating the candidate’s birthday at the same time. Ruby won her last primary with more votes than both her opponents combined, clearly a favorite with local Democrats. Campaign workers signed in guests, who found pens and survey forms at their tables asking for their feedback on what issues mattered to them, each headed with “Ruby is listening!”. Another table was set up for voter registration and to take signatures for the primary ballot, not missing a chance to make sure every vote was counted. The event was hosted by STELLAR Award-winning radio host Cedric Bailey.
It was energizing to see so many local Democrats come out to support their candidate, but it wasn't just the rank and file that made the trip. A number of local elected officials, candidates for local office, and progressive activists were also there to announce their support and tell the crowd why Ruby Faye Woolridge is a candidate we can believe in and can win. Here's the list of speakers, and links to videos of their respective comments:
- Ashleigh Woolridge & DeAndrea Billings, Ruby’s granddaughter and niece, respectively: www.facebook.com/…
Of course, the event would not be complete without remarks from the candidate herself, and Ruby took to the stage to deliver a powerful, emotional speech starting with her roots in the JFK campaign in 1960 all the way to her heart-wrenching comments about seeing veterans like a longtime friend (who’s served multiple tours of duty) and her own son (now deceased) suffer:
The people of the 6th Congressional District have an ally that is one of them in Ruby Faye Woolridge, someone who has been there for them and their children as an educator and minister before and now seeks to be there for them as a voice in Congress. We could use every bit of your support to make this a win, and this can definitely be a win with just a little bit of money.
Last year, Ruby was out-funded 20:1 by Joe Barton and yet she still earned 8,000 more votes than the previous Democratic candidate in an election-year race in this district, and that with absolutely NO help from marketing or advertising beyond signs and word of mouth, and no support from any major federal-level resource (the DCCC, EMILY’s list, none of them). With support from ordinary people like you, we can ensure that we have the tools and resources to win: for now we are looking to get access to VAN (the Voter Activation Network, a critical resource for targeting likely voters), hire a PR firm to promote the campaign locally, and make enough waves to attract the attention and support of the DCCC and the Congressional Black Caucus. Our first goal is to raise $8,000 to get these things started. You can make that happen, DailyKos! We saw what you did for candidates in Georgia, and now we are asking you to help in Texas! After the close Georgia race, a DailyKos diary listed all the congressional seats in the country that were within range of the swing Ossoff caused in his own race (meaning if they performed as well as he did, they would have flipped blue), and this race was on that list!
This our chance to capitalize on that momentum, especially given what an atrocious representative Joe Barton is. If nothing else, don’t you want to force out of office the man who apologized to BP for the Gulf oil spill? The man who gave us Yucca Mountain and the Authorization for Use of Military Force in Iraq? The man who thinks windmills make climate change worse and argued with both Al Gore and the former Secretary of Energy about it? The man who, just in May, went on national television to argue about healthcare while simultaneously admitting he had no idea what he was talking about? This is your chance to give Barton his much-needed and deserved retirement.
If you’d like to support Ruby, you can donate via her website or her CrowdPAC page. You can also sign up to help out, both locally or even out of state (we can use phone bank workers from anywhere in the country once we’re making calls, any help is appreciated!).
For more information on the candidate, visit www.vote4ruby.org.
This diary is about a Congressional election campaign, and I, the diarist, am the campaign’s Communications Coordinator.