Blue Texas
Texas GOP Stronghold Is Being Contested By A Democrat — And She Has A Chance
Can a surge in liberal activism help Jan McDowell flip Texas’ 24th district?
This article is the third installment of the Blue Texas Project, a series of interviews with Texas Democrats running for Congress in 2018. Check out the previous installment here.
If Democrat Jan McDowell can make it past a primary challenge against Todd Allen, she will have a second opportunity to unseat Republican Rep. Kenny Marchant for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives representing Texas’ 24th Congressional District.
McDowell previously challenged Rep. Marchant in 2016 and lost by slightly less than 17 points. She says 2018 will be different because Democratic activists were awakened by the disappointing results in last year’s presidential election.
McDowell is not wrong about the uptick in local activism. Since the inauguration of President Donald Trump, multiple protests in the Dallas Fort Worth area, such as the Dallas Mega March, have attracted thousands of people and closed city streets. Facebook groups used to organize activists, such as Indivisible DFW, have gained tens of thousands of followers in the last seven months. McDowell’s challenge is to translate that energy into votes next November.
Her opponent, Marchant, has faced his own problems since winning re-election last November. He was featured in a Dallas Morning News opinion piece in May that accused him of hiding from his constituents in the lead-up to the House vote on the unpopular American Health Care Act.
Texas’ 24th Congressional District, like many of the gerrymandered districts in the state, stretches across multiple cities. The district extends from the northern suburbs of Dallas to the eastern suburbs of Fort Worth.
McDowell will have her work cut out for her in the traditionally Republican district, but as the approval rating of the Republican Congress plummets to historic lows she is ready for her second chance at ousting Marchant.
Read my Friday, July 28 interview with Jan McDowell and our live interview, below. It is lightly edited for clarity.
MR: You ran against Kenny Marchant in 2016 and lost that election — assuming you made it through a primary, what do you think would be different this time?
McDowell: Most of all I think just the awakening of the electorate. I think there was a real wake up call on November 8 and November 9. I’ve been amazed at all the people and the groups of activists springing up all over the district and the nation as a whole. I think Republicans are shooting themselves in both feet repeatedly.
“Republicans are shooting themselves in both feet repeatedly.”
MR: The Senate’s vote on healthcare is the big news today. What are your thoughts on what happened and do you think the Affordable Care Act is safe for now?
McDowell: I don’t want to be gullible and think now we are past that and everything is okay. I certainly hope the A-C-A is okay for now. I was just hearing Chuck Schumer talk about all of the things, there are obviously things with the A-C-A that can be, and need to be, improved on. First of all, there are still millions of people in our country who didn’t ever get insurance even with the A-C-A. So we need to come up with ways to make it where everybody has health insurance. So, any ideas that bipartisan groups of congressmen and senators can come up with would be terrific.
MR: Is the answer to get everybody on health insurance some kind of single payer system?
McDowell: Probably yes. The fact that we are the only developed country in the western world that isn’t on [single-payer] speaks volumes. I think that might be a leap too far to try and get there in one big giant step, but yes I see that as the end game.
MR: The Democratic base was very energized by the healthcare vote. Do you think Democrats can sustain that grassroots energy through 2018?
McDowell: Yes, I do! I know many of the people personally. They are just incredibly energized across issues. I think most people have kind of figured out that they need to latch onto one or two or three issues that are really important to them and immerse themselves in those. So, I think if each person does what they can do, that is sustainable. It’s not like any one person is out there trying to do it all.
“Justice for all means economic, social, and criminal justice.”
MR: A popular talking point in the mainstream media has been that the Democrats don’t have a message. I think the healthcare vote went a long way toward disproving that notion, but what do you think the Democratic message is?
McDowell: I think the words that we say so often without even hearing ourselves say them: one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Justice for all means economic, social, and criminal justice. That’s what the Democratic Party stands for and for all means literally everyone.
MR: If the Democrats win a majority in the House in 2018 should they draw up Articles of Impeachment against Donald Trump?
McDowell: I guess that would depend on what would be going on at that time. Number one, I am not sure that won’t have already happened before the 2018 election, who knows? If he is doing impeachable things that damage the structure and fiber of our government and our way of living, then absolutely. I think the well-being of the country comes ahead of any kind of partisan gamesmanship.
MR: What did you think of the President’s announcement on Twitter that he wants to ban transgender people from serving in the military?
McDowell: I think that is just abhorrent. Again, liberty and justice for all. There is no real reason to put people into categories. Whether somebody is this color or that color, or this gender identity or that gender identity. It doesn’t matter! At the end of the day, we are all people and we should have liberty and justice for all.
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MR: I know in Texas our leaders down in Austin are passing bills like Senate Bill 4, the sanctuary cities bill, and Senate Bill 6, the bathroom bill. It seems like divisiveness is being promoted over sound public policy. What do you think is happening in Texas?
McDowell: I struggle to come to grips with what in the world people are thinking. Our state and our nation have real problems. In the state, it is the funding of our schools, Child Protective Services, all the things that are important. Nationally, we have the environment and all the other things we have talked about. To come up with a non-issue and spend all your focus on a solution in search of a problem, I think that’s just abhorrent.
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