Burnt Orange Report

Lunch with Jake Gilbreath

By Byron LaMasters

Vince has some great posts on Jake Gilbreath over on Texas Tuesday's today. I thought that I'd post a little bit here on the race, since I had lunch with Jake last week. I realized that a friend of mine that went to high school in Waxahachie, that currently goes to USC, but is back in Dallas for the summer - was good friends with Jake. So, we set up a lunch. It was nice to be able to spend over an hour talking with a candidate about his race. His race isn't one of the top targeted races by the state Democratic Party, or even by the local Dallas / Fort Worth area party leaders and activists. Still, he's the type of candidate that we need running in every district across Texas. He's smart, driven, and is out there every day talking about a Democratic message across his district. We won't win back Texas by ignoring districts like the district Jake is running in. We'll win back Texas by encouraging candidates like Jake, and recruiting more candidates like him.

He's running on bringing fresh ideas to Austin. He often talks about College tuition rates. He talks a lot about public school funding, and his solution is replace Robin Hood by closing the franchise tax loophole. I asked Jake why he's running now, as opposed to waiting to run for office until after he graduates from college. Jake replied that the people of his district needed effective representation now, and that should he lose, he might run in 2006 again. Jake has taken the fall semester off from school, so that he can campaign full time. He sees it as proof of his committment to the race and to the district. While his race has not been a top priority, he has received encouragement from his county chair, former elected officials, the state party and his family. He's also won support from several unions in the Ellis County Labor Council.

Jake is running a grassroots campaign. He's researched voter files, and he'll spend much of the summer and fall walking door-to-door in the district. He plans to knock on 30,000 doors by the end of the campaign. Recently, he's campaigned at the Polka Fest in Ennis where there were 50,000 people - most of them from the district. Jake stayed to shake hands with people all day. He plans to have a presence at the Crape Myrtle Festival in Waxahachie on July 3rd as well.

On his opponent, Jake said that he's been ineffective for the district, and has essentially been a pawn for the Republican leadership. Jake's opponent has also taken a leadership role on controversial issues such as proposing a bill that would have lowered the age for the death penalty to sixteen.

Jake has been involved in politics in college as well. At George Washington, he served as the Co-Director for Students for Clark and he's also worked in the finance department at the DNC. Jake might not win this time around, but his race is one that needs to be run. We should have Jake Gilbreath's in all 82 Republican held seats in the Texas House. If for no other reason, active legislative candidates serve to bring a Democratic message personally to Independents and swing voters. A three minute conversation with a candidate at your doorstep, in your park or at a restaurant has a much more powerful effect on a person's vote than any television ad. In addition, active Democratic candidates can help serve to get out the Democratic base. Finally, people like Jake may not win in 2004, but consider this. If Jake loses, but does better than expected and captures the attention of the party leadership and the money people - he can run again in 2006 and be considered a top-tier race. Or.... Jake can graduate, start a career, run for office in five or ten years and people will remember. Anyway, head over to his site, and give him a few bucks if you have the chance.