House – TX 21st – Wendy Davis

Democrat running in the district north of San Antonio including a significant portion of Austin

video clip: “Amazing”

Wendy Davis rose to national prominence on June 25, 2013, when as a Texas State Senator she filibustered Senate Bill 5, a bill that would close almost all abortion clinics in Texas. Wearing pink running shoes, she talked non-stop in the Texas Senate chamber for 11 hours to prevent a vote. She followed strict filibuster rules during those 11 hours: no food or water, no leaning on a desk, no bathroom breaks, no sitting. Many hundreds of orange-clad protesters supporting Wendy and her position crammed the Senate’s halls and public gallery. Video of the filibuster went viral on YouTube. President Obama brought it to his 33 million Twitter followers' attention, writing: "Something special is happening in Austin tonight" and using the hashtag #StandWithWendy. Her filibuster succeeded in blocking the bill.

A 6-minute HuffPost video of the highlights of Wendy’s remarkable filibuster is here; the 5-minute CNN video of Anderson Cooper interviewing Wendy the next day is here. The day after the filibuster 31 Democratic U.S. Senators signed the following letter to Wendy:

“Dear Senator Davis: Thank you for your courage and determination in defeating S.B. 5, a bill that would have severely limited women’s reproductive choices in Texas. Your steadfastness sets an example that one person’s voice and commitment can make a difference. As Senators, we were awestruck as we watched you stand on the Senate floor of the Texas Legislature for hours in the face of ideologically based attempts to pass legislation that would threaten women’s health. Thanks to your dedication, Texas and the rest of the country will rethink efforts to enact similar laws. We are proud to call you an ally and a friend.”

The day after Wendy’s filibuster, Republican Governor Rick Perry called for a second special session of the legislature to be scheduled for another attempt to pass the abortion restrictions; the bill was eventually passed the following month. But in 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down key requirements of the bill, declaring that they posed an unconstitutional burden on women seeking to end their pregnancies.

Wendy grew up knowing what it means to struggle. At age 14, she had after-school jobs selling newspaper subscriptions and working at a juice bar to help support her single mother and three siblings. By 19 she was a single mother herself, a divorcee working two jobs and living in a trailer park. With the help of scholarships and family support, she went from community college to Texas Christian University and on to Harvard Law School.

After graduating from law school, Wendy served as a law clerk to a U.S. District Judge in Texas. She then practiced law in Fort Worth, and in 1999 was elected to Fort Worth City Council. During her nine-year tenure there, she focused on transportation, economic development projects, and neighborhood issues.

In 2008 Wendy was elected to the Texas State Senate, where she was a leading voice calling for access to health care, advancement of women’s rights, better care for veterans, and improved public education – she fought against $5.4 billion in cuts to public schools. Wendy was honored with recognitions during her service in the legislature, including the "Bold Woman Award" from Girls, Inc., "Freshman of the Year" from AARP, "Champion for Children Award" from the Equity Center, and "Texas Women's Health Champion Award" from the Texas Association of OB-GYNs. In 2009, Texas Monthly named her "Rookie of the Year" and readers of the Fort Worth Weekly chose her as the "Best Servant of the People".

Wendy was the Democratic nominee for Governor of Texas in 2014; she lost to Republican Greg Abbott, the then-outgoing Texas Attorney General.

In 2016 Wendy founded Deeds Not Words, a national nonprofit organization and online resource that borrows its name from a motto used by the women’s suffragette movement a century ago. Its mission is “galvanizing the power of young women to disrupt the status quo through organizing, policy-making, art and voting” – to address issues including income inequality, sexual assault, reproductive rights, and family leave.

Wendy’s priorities in Congress would include quality/affordable health care; quality/affordable education; passing the Equality Act; a $15 an hour federal minimum wage; and restoring environmental protections that have been systematically unwound by the Trump administration.

Wendy’s Republican opponent, first-term Congressman Chip Roy, has been called “Ted Cruz’s apprentice”. Cruz is a longtime mentor to Roy, and Roy was Senator Cruz’s first chief of staff. Roy was an architect of Cruz’s unsuccessful 2013 government shutdown to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Roy is a member of the hardline conservative House Freedom Caucus. He has voted in line with Trump’s position over 93% of the time. He touts his “strong support” of a “full, 100% repeal” of the Affordable Care Act without any plans to replace it. Roy has described Social Security as a “Ponzi scheme”. Roy voted against a bipartisan bill to provide tax relief to Gold Star families (relatives of deceased military personnel); 417 voted in favor, 3 against. Roy was heavily criticized for single-handedly delaying a bipartisan $19.1 billion disaster aid package. He was one of only 13 House members who voted against a ban on insider trading – 410 Democrats and Republicans voted in favor. He was also criticized for his “meltdown” during a congressional hearing, when he waved his hands and pounded the desk while defending drug company profits and saying "I'm really glad they [make big profits]! And I hope they make a lot more!" In 2019 Roy was strongly criticized by his Republican and Democratic colleagues for keeping the House in session until 4am for needless roll call votes; one of his Republican colleagues said “it’s worthless; he's wasting everybody's time and it's keeping us from doing more important things”. One Democratic House member called Roy’s antics “not just juvenile, but also such a waste of time”; another said his behavior was “disgraceful”. Roy's environmental record is shocking -- a 0% lifetime rating from League of Conservation Voters. Planned Parenthood's rating of Roy is 0%.

Wendy has been endorsed by many organizations including End Citizens United, Emily’s List, League of Conservation Voters, Planned Parenthood, Giffords (co-founded by Gabby Giffords to address gun violence), and Black Austin Democrats.

Wendy has the experience, dedication and backbone to be an outstanding congresswoman. This is expected to be a very close race. We need to help Wendy win and remove Chip Roy from Congress. And if Wendy and other Democratic House candidates such as Candace Valenzuela and Sri Preston Kulkarni prevail in their Texas swing districts, there is a better chance that Joe Biden could win the state.