The visit by the husband of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris sought to energize the long-struggling Texas Democratic Party.
Dough Emhoff shares first time meeting Kamala Harris in DNC convention speech
Doug Emhoff shares first time meeting Kamala Harris in DNC convention speech.
SAN ANTONIO — Second gentleman Doug Emhoff in a rally in the Alamo City on Monday sought to energize the Texas Democratic Party but stopped short of predicting that the historically Republican state would be in play in November.
“I am really excited about Texas, are you?” the husband of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris told a crowd of boisterous partisans who packed into a gymnasium at San Antonio College. “We need this enthusiasm for the next 43 days.”
The “Freedom to Vote Rally” was the first stop in a two-day Texas campaign visit that continues Tuesday in Austin and ends with a reception that evening in Houston. Emhoff was joined at the rally by San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg; Texas Democratic Party Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa; U.S. Rep. Greg Casar, an Austin Democrat whose district extends to San Antonio; and U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro of San Antonio and his twin brother who served as mayor of the city and secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Obama administration.
They and some of the lesser-known speakers sought to emphasize Texas’ role in the 2024 election cycle, with Hinojosa and Nirenberg insisting Democrats have a chance to snatch it from the iron grip of the GOP.
“Texas is in play,” Casar said. “And if you need proof of that, we’ve got second gentleman Douglas Emhoff here.”
Emhoff acknowledged Texas’ importance but would not go so far as to predict it’s winnable for the Democrats. But he suggested that U.S. Rep. Colin Allred of Dallas might be positioned to upset Republican incumbent U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz. Allred did not attend the rally or the private fundraiser Monday evening that brought in more than $1 million for Harris’ campaign.
“We can’t take any state off the map,” Emhoff said. “Even if we can’t turn Texas blue this time around, you have a good chance of sending Colin Allred to the Senate.”
Wearing an open-collar shirt and a dark blazer, Emhoff often wandered from the lectern that stood in front of more than a dozen supporters who held “Kamala” signs to give his remarks an informal air. He evoked nearly all of the themes that have marked Harris’ whirlwind candidacy that began in July when President Joe Biden ended his bid for reelection and threw his support to his vice president.
Emhoff laid the blame for the end of abortion rights, which had been federally protected for a half-century under the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade, at the feet of former President and GOP nominee Donald Trump, who appointed the three justices who sealed the conservative majority that struck down the 1973 ruling in 2022.
Emhoff also reminded the crowd of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol as Congress prepared to formalize Trump’s 2020 loss to Biden even as the outgoing president tried in vain to have then-Vice President Mike Pence to reject the vote certification in his capacity as president of the Senate.
“We cannot forget that happened,” he said.
The event at the Candler Physical Education Center at San Antonio College was organized by the Texas Democratic Party where nearly all of the speakers made certain to invoke what has become a mantra of the campaign of Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz: “We are not going back.”
Castro, a six-term congressman, spoke about the surgery he underwent last year to remove cancerous gastrointestinal neuroendocrine tumors. Speaking alongside his brother, Julian Casto, he talked about the staggering cost of the medication he needs, and what others in his shoes are facing.
“I looked at the detail bills, and there was one line that stood out,” he said. “There was this injection I have to get. And the price of that drug is $24,000 per injection.”
The fundraiser, held at the home of San Antonio lawyer and Democratic donor Frank Herrera and his wife, Cecilia, was far less raucous than the rally. But Emhoff’s message did not change much. He praised his wife as a “joyful warrior” and drew applause when he contrasted her performance in this month’s debate with Trump’s.
“He couldn’t even look at her,” Emhoff said. “He could not even look at her one time; watch the tape. But she had no such problem with him. She had no problem just pointing right at him and saying, ‘You are a disgrace.’
“She had no problem looking him right in the eye and saying, world leaders are laughing at you.”
Trump was campaigning in Pennsylvania on Monday and his running mate, U.S. Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, was in North Carolina. At his event, Trump addressed the issue of abortion and said he is women’s protector, and if he’s elected, they’d be happy and “no longer thinking about abortion,” according to a report in The Hill.
The second gentleman’s jet, decked with the Harris-Walz campaign logo, touched down at a private airfield adjacent to San Antonio International Airport about 8 miles north of the city’s downtown. Although he arrived on the second day of fall, Emhoff was greeted by the 93-degree midafternoon temperature not uncommon in September in South Central Texas. The temperature in Washington at the same time was 68.
Regardless of whether Texas is up for grabs in November, it could be a close race for the state’s 40 electoral votes. A University of Houston/Texas Southern University poll released the same week Harris was nominated for the top of the ticket put the spread between her and Trump at just under 5 percentage points. Four years ago, Trump bested Biden in Texas by 5.6 points.
At the rally, which according to the Texas Democratic Party drew about 1,200 people, Hinojosa sought to turn that single-digit deficit into a mobilizing cry.
“We are only 5 points down,” Hinojosa said to cheers. “Colin Allred is only 2 points down.”
Emhoff, who marked his 10th anniversary with Harris on the same days that she accepted the Democratic presidential nomination, will turn 60 on Oct. 13. That’s one week to the day before the vice president marks the same milestone, and 23 days before the Nov. 5 election.
More: When does early voting start in Texas? Key dates for 2024 US presidential election
Ahead of his arrival in San Antonio, his first Texas visit since Harris became the Democratic nominee, Emhoff spent Sunday campaigning in Bucks County in Pennsylvania, a crucial battleground state.
Harris, meanwhile, was at the White House on Monday where she and Biden met separately with President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates.
From San Antonio, Emhoff will head to Austin for a fundraising reception on Tuesday and then he’ll fly to Houston for another reception that evening.
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Publish date : 2024-09-24 00:15:00
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