On Saturday, the governing board of the Texas Democratic Party chose Kendall Scudder as its new chair to help move the party forward after a tough showing in November and many losses in elections over the years.
“The challenge we face right now is frightening for both our country and our state. Many people are relying on us to unite and do the right thing. We need to create a Texas Democratic Party that truly represents the grassroots in this state,” Scudder stated as he took over the position. “Let’s create a party that the hardworking men and women of Texas can take pride in.
Scudder received 65 out of 121 votes, which is a clear majority in the seven-person race.
Scudder will become the chair of the state party at a time when Democrats are trying to find a way to move forward after suffering major defeats last year. These losses included President Donald Trump’s win and a shift to the right among groups that usually support Democrats, like Hispanic voters in South Texas. After declaring Texas a competitive state where Democratic candidates could win statewide for the first time in thirty years, party leaders instead saw Trump and U.S. Senator Ted Cruz beat their Democratic opponents by about 14 and 9 percentage points, respectively. Democrats also lost ground in the state Legislature and lost nearly every contested state appellate court race, along with 10 judicial races in Harris County, which has weakened years of Democratic influence in Texas’ largest county. Many Democrats felt worried that, after seeming close to winning statewide in 2018, the party had fallen back to a disappointing low.
Gilberto Hinojosa, who has been the chair of the Texas Democratic Party for a long time, announced he was stepping down soon after the election. He recognized the party’s weak results and stated that a new direction was necessary.
The drive for a new vision shaped the race for party chair. Scudder will hold the position of incumbent in 2026 when a larger group of delegates will select the next full-term chair at the party convention in Corpus Christi. The 121-member State Democratic Executive Committee picked Hinojosa’s replacement during their first quarterly meeting of the year on Saturday, as he stepped down in the middle of his four-year term.
In his campaign, Scudder, who hails from East Texas, stressed the need to listen to the “grassroots.” Before he even started his campaign, he accused the party leadership under Hinojosa of neglecting those voters and activists. Scudder aims to shift the party’s focus back to working people.
“The truth is that Democrats at the grassroots level don’t have much trust in party leadership anymore,” Scudder told The Texas Tribune in a Thursday interview.
He wants the party to pay attention to areas he believes it has overlooked, like rural communities, and to prioritize communication in Spanish.
Scudder has experience in affordable housing and real estate. He entered the state party scene through the SDEC but began his political involvement with the Texas Young Democrats and the Texas College Democrats.
Scudder’s main challengers, former Harris County Democratic Party Chair Lillie Schechter and former Annie’s List Executive Director Patsy Woods Martin, presented similar but different ideas to restore the Democratic Party’s credibility on everyday issues and reconnect with local voters. Throughout the campaign, both Schechter and Woods Martin highlighted their experience in getting Democratic candidates elected.
The SDEC held a candidate forum in Austin on Friday night, right before honoring Hinojosa, the outgoing chair.
During the forum and the panel’s meeting on Saturday, party members talked about how to regain trust with working-class voters, engage younger people, raise funds, and create a party structure that helps elected officials participate in races across the state.
“The issue is that every Democrat believes if they had just 10 more minutes, they could explain everything to you,” Scudder said about party messaging at the forum. “We need to reach a point where we connect with people emotionally because people vote based on their feelings, not just logic.”
While most contests for party chair are influenced by geography and demographics and are decided at the party’s convention during midterm election years, this election was more closed off, with its outcome determined by a small group of party activists, many of whom are progressives unhappy with the party’s strategies and practices.
Even though the SDEC was ready for multiple rounds of ranked choice voting, Scudder’s 65 votes allowed him to win in the first round. Woods Martin received 27 votes, while Schechter got 26. Denton County Democratic Party Chair Delia Parker-Mims received two votes, and Meri Gomez finished with one vote. Eight candidates were listed on the ballot, but one withdrew before the election.
As the votes were counted, members handed out to-go shots of blue liquor, along with non-alcoholic choices, to boost everyone’s mood after the tough 2024 election and an unusual chair race.
The candidates shared similar beliefs and all recognized the need for a shift in the party’s direction.
“We are at a turning point right now,” Schechter stated. “If we don’t take lessons from the last election and keep doing things the same way, we will never win in Texas.
