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Quinceañera voter registration? Sign us up! Texas needs more patriotic civic engagement.
Two new voter registration efforts will be racing to get Texans ready for the polls in 2020: One is a Republican super PAC named Engage Texas and the other is… quinceañeras. Poder Quince, a new campaign by Jolt Initiative, a Texas-based Latino advocacy group, hopes to have quinceañera celebrations turn into voter-registration parties. As reported by NBC news, Houston teen Aleida Ramos recently shared her 15th birthday with family, friends and volunteers ready to sign up people to vote. “Our vote ensures we continue to protect our community and those who matter to us most,” she told her guests. Meanwhile, in a place where Chayanne’s “Tiempo de Vals” was less likely to break out, some of the state’s largest conservative donors hatched Engage Texas to register voters and help them keep the state red. Who will register more? Although the GOP group is led by the Republican National Committee’s 2016 national field director, he’s up against the flamboyant savvy and logistical prowess of expert tías charged with flawlessly executing events that impress judgy tíos and jealous primas.
Our money’s on the quinceañeras.
Just in time for the Fourth of July, a new WalletHub ranking has Texas near the bottom of most patriotic states in the country, right along with New York and California. Now I know what you’re thinking, and it’s unprintable in a family publication, but let’s hear WalletHub out. The website ranked states across two dimensions: military and civic engagement. While Texas did very well on the former — with high numbers of enlisted military population per capita — it didn’t do that great in the latter, which weighed things such as volunteering and voter participation. That sounds like a challenge, Texas. Let’s go out there and help our fellow Americans. And no, volunteering to set off fireworks dressed in American flag overalls doesn’t count.
State Rep. Jonathan Stickland, R-Bedford, said he will not run for re-election in 2020. The tea party darling took to social media Monday to thank his supporters and explain why he’s leaving the Legislature. “Eight years was enough for George Washington, and it certainly is for me,” he posted on Facebook, in a comparison not only insulting to Washington but to comparisons. You may remember Stickland as the lawmaker who last month called vaccines “sorcery” and who in 2017 helped engineer the “Mother’s Day massacre” that killed 120 bills as a reproach to GOP leadership. This past session he introduced a bill that would have allowed handgun owners to carry their weapons in public without a license, withdrawing it only after pro-gun activists started harassing Republican lawmakers. “After much prayerful consideration and reflection, I have determined it is not the Lord’s will for me to seek reelection,” he wrote. So, thank God that Stickland is leaving.
Texas Monthly, the storied magazine home to sharp political reporting and arbiter of all things Texan (or at least BBQ), has been going through a rough patch lately. Last year, a Daily Beast story headlined “Can the best magazine in Texas be saved?” chronicled staff turnover, leadership challenges and accusations that an Austin-based dating app landed a cover story in a pay-to-play deal. For many, a change of ownership couldn’t come fast enough. They got their wish this week as oil and gas heiress Randa Duncan Williams bought the magazine for an undisclosed amount. The Houstonian is the daughter of Dan Duncan, who was the city’s wealthiest resident when he died in 2010. In a statement, the new owner said she was “delighted to provide the resources to support this iconic Texas institution.” This is good news, but the Thumbs can’t help wonder what we’ll run out of first: struggling periodicals or billionaires willing to save them?