What I learned after 38 Candidate Interviews

and why the “not for the working class” line is pure nonsense

It’s late on a Sunday night. 8 p.m. The kind of hour when the coffee’s cold, your phone battery is at 12 percent, and hope is supposed to be asleep.
Instead, I just wrapped 38 new candidate interviews, and let me tell you: hope is wide awake and pacing the living room.

After listening to why people choose to run for office, it’s impossible not to feel something close to awe. These aren’t résumé collectors or power chasers. These are Texans who looked around, saw things breaking, and said, “Fine. I’ll step up.”

Here’s who’s running:

• Community activist and organizers

• Doctors

• Nurses

• Lawyers

• Military Veterans

• Teachers and Professors

• Farmers

• Engineers

• Accountants

• Small business owners

• Union workers

• And yes, a welder

That’s not a cocktail party guest list. That’s the working backbone of Texas.

And when you really listen to their why, some of it hits you right in the chest. They’re running for people they will never meet. Millions of Texans they don’t know personally, but care about deeply. They want life to be a little easier, a little fairer, and a lot more honest.

So let’s be crystal clear about what Democrats are for, because it turns out it’s exactly what working families need:

Democrats are for:

• An economy that works for people who actually do the work

• Raising the minimum wage so full-time jobs pay full-time lives

• Strong public schools and stopping voucher schemes that drain them

• Healthcare you can afford without a second mortgage

• Protecting Texas water so future generations can, you know, drink it

• Good jobs with dignity and safety

• Women’s rights, without apology or footnotes

• Standing up to Christian nationalism and defending true religious freedom

• Democracy, the kind where voters choose leaders, not the other way around

That’s not abstract. That’s not elite. That’s not out of touch.
That’s kitchen-table, paycheck-to-paycheck, real-life Texas.

Our job as Democrats isn’t just to respond to attacks or play defense. It’s to tell voters what we are for and show them what fighting for them actually looks like. After 30 years of Republicans running Texas into the ground, a lot of people don’t remember what that feels like.

So this is the moment.
Not to whisper it.
Not to over-explain it.
But to say it plainly and proudly:

Democrats are for the people who keep this state running.
And we’re done letting anyone pretend otherwise.

Interviews start posting this week, and Candidates need to make sure they fill out the League of Woman Voters form and Ballotopedia form. We have one month before early voting. So let’s hit it!

Regards

Nancy Thompson