The Plan
Hon. Carroll G. Robinson
Educate — Empower — Turnout — Protect
Black Families, Voters, Candidates & Elected Officials
Statewide through our Chapters,
Alliances & Strategic Partnerships
Dear Coalition Member:
My name is Carroll G. Robinson and I am running for Chairman of the Texas Coalition of Black Democrats because Black people in Texas need a strong, modern, well organized and well-financed political organization to help fight to get our issues and concerns addressed.
We need an organization that will help protect our right to vote, prepare and elect Black candidates across the state and protect Black elected officials — who advocate for minority business participation and more access to economic opportunities and prosperity for Black professionals and entrepreneurs — from political attacks.
We need a strong Texas Coalition of Black Democrats and local chapters all across the state to hold all elected officials accountable because hunger, poverty, homelessness, insufficient affordable housing, the racial income, and wage gaps as well as the educational achievement gap are real and must be addressed.
We need a four-year proactive plan to Rebuild, Modernize, Strengthen and Grow the Texas Coalition of Black Democrats and Black Political Power and Influence all across Texas.
Our new and improved effort will begin in 2019 and continue through 2021 and beyond.
It will begin with fundraising for the Coalition and our local chapters. We must generate our own financial resources to be taken seriously, have the ability to take independent action and to be viewed as a powerful coalition partner to build alliances to advance a Black political, economic and social justice agenda.
“Freedom ain’t free” and Black Texas Democrats must have the financial resources to achieve our goals.
The Texas Coalition of Black Democrats must Modernize our communication infrastructure to reach our members and beyond to all Black voters and Texans across the state to grow our membership, educate Black voters and have the ability to better help Black candidates and officeholders.
This will be done through a new Black Texas Democratic News publication and electronic newsletter, polling of Black Texans and data analytics of Black voter registration and turnout.
We must do comprehensive and extensive voter education to address the end of straight-ticket voting and candidate schools for candidates and consultants to keep growing the Black candidate pool and to strengthen the Black campaign consultant talent pool as a part of the larger goal of Growing our membership and fundraising.
I have a network of contacts and relationships that I will be able to call on and draw from for fundraising. I am a former Chairman of the Greater Houston Black Chamber of Commerce, a past President of the Texas Association of Black City Council Members and the Houston Lawyers Association and have served as a Houston City Council Member, Houston Community College Trustee, a member of the Board of Directors of the National League of Cities and a member of the DNC representing local Democratic officials from across the nation.
If you want to help turn Texas Blue and not have Black people left out, I am asking for your vote and support to serve as Chairman of the Texas Coalition of Black Democrats.
As Chairman, we will work together to make sure that Black Democrats in Texas are Respected, Included in Texas Democratic Party decision making and that Black voter education and GOTV is fully Invested in by the state party and DNC.
Together, we can elect more Black candidates, more Black party officials, make sure our communities are ready for the 2020 Census and Redistricting in 2021 as well as be strong enough to help put a Black Democrat on the 2020 Democratic presidential ticket.
Let’s aim high and take the Texas Coalition of Black Democrats and each of our chapters to higher heights as Black Democrats help turn Texas Blue.
I end with this reminder from Dr. Benjamin E. Mays, “Not failure, but low aim is sin.”
We must aspire for more from the Texas Coalition of Black Democrats than the current status quo. We can and must do better.
Thank you.
Carroll G. Robinson
Hon. Carroll G. Robinson, Esq.
for Chairman, Texas Coalition of Black Democrats
Purpose • Advocacy • Partnerships
Purpose
· Strengthen the operational and campaign infrastructure of the statewide TCBD and our local Chapters.
· Protect, Educate and Empower Black Voters
· Prepare Black Voters for the Elimination of Straight Ticket Voting in 2020
· Prepare/Elect/Re-Elect/& Protect Black Candidates and Elected Officials from political attacks
· Campaign Schools for Black Candidates and Consultants — Preparing the next generation of Candidates, Consultants, and Policy Staffers
Advocacy
· Make sure Black Community Public Policy, Economic, Civil Rights, Social Justice, and Political Issues and Concerns are Fully & Fairly Addressed and Resolved
· Create Black Texas Democrats PAC and Modern Communication Infrastructure, Resources and Products
· Host Annual Black Texas Democrats Policy, Politics & Donors Summit in partnership with the Black Women’s PAC
Partnerships
· Elected Officials, Candidates, Business Owners, Entrepreneurs, Professionals, Religious Leaders, Veterans, Ranchers, Farmers, and Labor Leaders
· Democratic clubs, community organizations, & national political groups & organizations.
· Strategic, Tactical and Targeted Black-Brown-Asian-Anglo-& LGBTQ Coalitions
Why?
· Increase Black Democratic Voter Turnout statewide to 1.5 million+
· 2020 Census, Primary, State & National Conventions & Election of Party State & National Officers- SDEC & DNC and General Election Winners — Control Redistricting — Turn Texas Blue to elect a Democratic United States Senator and win the state for the Democratic Presidential Candidate
· 2021 Texas Legislative Session, Redistricting, School Board and Municipal Elections
· 2022 Statewide, Legislative, and County elections
BLACK DEMOCRATS LET’S GET BETTER ORGANIZED TO:
· Better Educate Black Voters & Protect Our Voting Rights
· Strengthen and grow the membership of the TCBD statewide through our local Chapters (100,000 Members & 30 Chapters by 2021)
· Increase Black Democratic Voter Turnout (1.5 Million in 2020)
· Increase fundraising for our local TCBD Chapters and the statewide TCBD organization
· Better prepare Black candidates for campaigns at the local, county, statewide and federal levels
· Grow a new generation of Black campaign consultants, fundraisers, and policy staffers
· Elect Black candidates across the state in 2020, 2021 & 2022
· Be Strong Enough to Help Put a Black candidate on the 2020 Democratic Presidential Ticket, elect a Black candidate statewide in Texas & elect a Black candidate State Party Chair in the coming years
· Protect & Grow Our Political Representation During Redistricting In 2021
Hon. Carroll G. Robinson, Esq.
for Chairman, Texas Coalition of Black Democrats (2019)
At-Large Houston City Council Member
Houston Community College Trustee
Democratic Candidate for Congress (2002)
Candidate, Chairman, Texas Democratic Party (1995)
General Counsel, TDP
Harris County Democratic Precinct Chair/Judge
Board, National League of Cities (NLC)
Board, National Bar Association, State Bar of Texas (SBOT)
Board, Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC)
Board, Transportation Policy Council (H-GAC)
Officer, NLC Democratic Municipal Officials (DMO)
DNC representing DMO
Chair, DLC Local Elected Officials Network
President, Texas Association of Black City Council Members
President, Houston Lawyers Association
Chairman, Houston Citizens Chamber of Commerce
Texas Democrats Must Aim For The Stars In 2020
Carroll G. Robinson
As Texas Democrats prepare for the 2020 election cycle, our first priority must be educating our voters that we will need them to “Vote From The Top To The Bottom” of the ballot because there will be No Straight Ticket Voting in the November 2020 General Election.
Voter drop-off, fewer and fewer people voting in down-ballot races, was already a problem when we had straight-ticket voting in Texas.
If voter drop-off increases without straight-ticket voting, Democrats may not be able to retake the Texas State House and elect a Democratic Speaker of the Texas House in time for the 2021 legislative session and redistricting of Congressional and state legislative districts.
Down ballot drop-off would also hurt Democratic congressional, state senate, county, and judicial candidates.
Democratic judicial candidates running countywide (all across the state) in 2020 not only need a strong Democratic presidential candidate at the top of the ticket in Texas to drive voter turnout, they will also need those voters to be educated to go down the ballot and vote for the judicial candidates.
If Democrats do what needs to be done on voter education for the 2020 election, we can not only win Texas for our presidential ticket, we can also defeat Cornyn, take back the State House, put the State Senate in play for 2022, pick up two or more congressional seats and win more judicial seats at the county level.
Voter Education must be the priority even as we register new voters and improve our GOTV strategies.
To do what needs to be done to win Up and Down the ballot and all across Texas in 2020, Democrats must make serious and significant investments in well organized and accountable efforts statewide in rural, suburban and urban communities to Register, Educate and Turnout an additional half a million (500,000) Black voters in Texas.
It’s past time for Democrats locally, statewide and nationally to invest tens of millions of dollars through Black media, consultants and campaign workers in Texas to increase Black voter registration, education and turnout. This is the cornerstone to turning Texas Blue in 2020.
We can achieve this goal — Black To Blue In Texas — with a precinct by precinct based strategy focused on and organized around state senate districts as the Texas Democratic Party and our local county parties are already organized and governed based on the same model.
The Black voting age population, in Texas, is large enough to get Black Democratic voter turnout up to 1.5 million voters in 2020. If Democrats do that, Democrats Win Texas In A Landslide in 2020.
Some people have already told me that turning out 1.5 million Black Democrats in Texas in 2020 is too ambitious a goal and if we fall short of the goal, we will be blamed for being too ambitious.
My reply has been twofold:
First, Black voters, especially Black women, have been and remain the most loyal and dependable Democratic voters. The more we turnout, the more votes the party and its candidates are likely to receive and in some elections, a single vote can make the difference.
Second, I remind them that Dr. Benjamin Mays told us that “It is not a disaster to be unable to capture your ideal, but it is a disaster to have no ideal to capture. It is not a disgrace not to reach the stars, but it is a disgrace to have no stars to reach for. Not failure, but low aim is sin.”
Texas Black Democrats, let’s help the Texas Democratic Party and our local county parties aim for the stars in 2020 and beyond.
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Published in Houston Business Connections Newspaper www.aubreyrtaylor.blogspot.com