Dear Texas Democrat, When you elected me to be your Chairperson in 2006, I promised to work with all willing Democrats

to move our Party forward. Weve had setbacks to be sure, but weve come an awful long ways. In six years we: Eclipsed every previous fundraising record including our Sustaining Member Program and had unprecedented success in online fundraising; Created an online voter file thats become one of the best in the country and is now virtually required for every Democratic campaign; Held countless trainings in person and online for staffers, activists and candidates; Vastly improved our earned media operations including consistently having a bilingual spokesperson on staff; Vigorously sought feedback via a Town Hall tour of the entire state, a large-scale activist survey and a vigilant dedication to monitoring your feedback through social media; Established a strong presence on social media networks that didnt exist back then but are now essential for operating; We won court battles against Tom DeLay, fought redistricting maps that go against the Voting Rights Act, and worked to stop legislation that would disenfranchise eligible voters.

The first filing period for the 2012 election closed on December 19, 2011. Once maps are issued, the filing period for all offices will reopen on a date to be determined in January 2012 and close on February 1, 2012 at 6PM. The primary is expected to take place on April 3, 2012, and the general primary runoff on June 5, 2012.

In This Month's Report

Legislative Media Web Videos Promesa Project Social Media Voter Protection VAN Trainings 2011 Survey Fundraising

In my time here, we saw major metro areas turn Blue, we won countless county races and came within two seats of taking back the state house and

just 19 votes short of pulling even. Following the 2010 elections, we had to rethink everything and develop entirely new strategies and tactics. In the past year weve significantly ramped up our earned media efforts, adopted smarter tactics based on the latest technologies, and launched an aggressive Latino engagement project that will help towards building a Democratic majority. Five months from now, well be meeting in Houston to elect a new Chairperson. Until then, I aim to keep honoring my promise to you by vigilantly and energetically fighting every day to counter the Republican spin-machine and lay the groundwork for victories in November. Below is a thorough overview of the work we did in 2011 and will continue to build upon over the next six months. Were excited about going in to 2012 more prepared than ever. Democratically Yours, Boyd Richie Chairman Texas Democratic Party

Legislative
This past legislative session pitted our Democratic legislators against a Republican super majority led by a Governor who was determined to become the darling of

the Tea Party extremists who would decide the GOP Presidential primary. That formula added up to a series of emergency items that were blatantly discriminatory and highly destructive. Which is to say nothing of a state budget that made historic cuts across the board to every vital state service, including a crippling $4 billion from public education. (click here to continue reading)

Media
Your Texas Democratic Party beat up Republicans and their misguided policy proposals in the press. During the 82nd legislative session, we railed against Republican legislation that would adversely affect Texas families. We proactively helped derail Rick Perrys quest for the presidency by introducing Rick Perry to the rest of the nation and we quickly responded to his many campaign blunders. (click here to continue reading)

Web Videos
Because of the way voters now get their news, video is an essential piece of any political operations communications strategy. In 2011 we launched an in-house web video production program to stunning success. Last year alone we had over a quarter of a million views on our web videos. Thats more than we had in all the years between 2006 and 2010 combined! We also more than doubled the number of people subscribed to our YouTube channel. (click here to continue reading)

Promesa Project
Two-thirds of Texas rapid population growth over the past decade has come from Latinos. That emerging demographic is expected to eventually result in a Democratic majority. Believing that eventually cant come soon enough for Texas schools and families struggling under disastrous Republican policies, Texas Democrats announced a Latino engagement project called The Promesa Project. You can see a video presentation of the Promesa project here. (click here to continue reading)

Social Media
In 2011 developed our Twitter and Facebook accounts to incredible heights. We surpassed the Republican Party of Texas in number of twitter followers and became the third most followed state Democratic party on twitter. We also used new strategies and technologies to build the largest online network of activists this state party has ever seen.

Voter Protection
This past legislative session, the Republican supermajority passed a discriminatory Voter ID law, the sole purpose of which was to suppress turnout among minorities, the elderly, young people, and low income communities. The TDP has been actively fighting Republicans to protect peoples right to vote. (click here to continue reading)

VAN
The Texas Democratic Partys voter file (known as the VAN) is our most valuable tool in effectively organizing and running successful campaigns in Texas. The VAN includes detailed information for 20,341,338 Texans, thus allowing our Democratic Campaigns to have the most up to date information to accurately target the voters they need. We also have detailed information on more than 7.5 million Texans who are not registered to vote. Those records can be broken down by age and location, allowing Texas Democrats to run targeted voter registration drives to effectively reach out to those potential voters. (click here to continue reading)

Trainings
In a state as big as Texas, fulfilling all the requests for training on various topics requires using a variety of formats. In the past year we held three large Campaign Camps at which we provided training to candidates and potential campaign staffers in a number of skill sets theyll need to be effective on the campaign trail. Knowing that we couldnt personally be everywhere at once, we also held numerous webinars on various subjects for County Chairs, Precinct Chairs, SDEC members, Candidates and Campaign Staff. Finally, we certified over 50 Regional Trainers in six different subject areas so that were able to provide a cadre of qualified trainers to people all over the state. (click here to continue reading)

2011 Survey
In January we asked Democrats across the state to participate in our 2011

Survey. The response was both overwhelming and incredibly informative. (click here to continue reading)

Fundraising
We had a number of successful fundraising events in 2011 to keep our operations going strong. We held events large and small across the state including our annual JeffersonJackson Dinner at which we honored Senator Royce West and former Harris County Commissioner Sylvia Garcia. At a Dallas Dinner in November we gave Senator Wendy Davis our Ann Richards Courage Award and we had numerous receptions and happy hours in between. We were honored to have tremendous support at all of our events from individuals, Party leaders, elected officials and PACs/Unions. (click here to continue reading)

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