[You can read more about Sherrie and why TexBlog PAC endorsed her campaign here. You can visit her campaign website here].

TexBlog PAC is proud to announce its endorsement of Sherrie Matula (D-Houston), in the race for Texas House District 129.
Matula is a longtime public school teacher, science education consultant, and two-term member of the Board of Trustees of the Clear Creek Independent School District. She has served as President of the Galveston County Education District and on the board of directors of the Texas State Teachers Association.

TexBlogPAC’s endorsement of Matula comes with a check for $5,000 made up of contributions from the Netroots community across Texas.

“Our endorsement of Sherrie Matula’s campaign represents a significant investment in a race that we believe strongly is one Democrats will win this cycle,” said TexBlog PAC Political Director Matt Glazer of Austin. “It has consistently been our goal to provide early money to campaigns to help them build their infrastructure and outreach mechanisms, and we are pleased to assist Sherrie’s campaign in this way,” Glazer continued.

Matula faces State Rep. John Davis (R-Clear Lake) in the November General Election. TexBlog PAC sees Matula’s race as one of the key competitive races in Harris County this election cycle.

“Sherrie has run an excellent campaign thus far. Her field program is outstanding and she is doing everything right to put HD 129 in our column in November,” said TexBlog PAC Board Member Charles Kuffner of Houston.

TexBlog PAC’s endorsement of Matula is the campaign’s third endorsement this election cycle. The PAC previously endorsed—and supported with $5,000 contributions—the campaigns of challengers Diana Maldonado (D-Round Rock) in House District 52 and Chris Turner (D-Burleson) in House District 96.

TexBlog PAC was formed in 2007 with the goal of supporting Democratic candidates to help build a Democratic majority in the Texas House of Representatives.

From Kuff, we get a report from last night's hugely successful TexBlog PAC event:

The TexBlog PAC fundraiser last night was a big success, drawing in a crowd of over 50 people and raising more than $7000 to help take back the Texas House.…

The other big highlight of the event was the announcement of our third endorsed candidate, Sherrie Matula, right here in Harris County’s HD129. Sherrie ran a great race in 2006 on a shoestring budget, and she’s been running hard for this November ever since….HD129 is in a very strategic location, being completely within CD22, SD11, and SBOE district 7, as well as Harris County, so having a great candidate running a strong race there serves many good purposes.

Rep. Garnet Coleman (D-Houston) was the guest of honor last night, and he had this to say (from Kuff’s notes, which were paraphrased):

Rep. Coleman spoke about how the Democratic caucus showed up in 2003 as the minority party for the first time ever, and there was a lot of pressure on them to go along and get along. He noted that since committee assignments are made by the Speaker and the members themselves via seniority privileges, unlike the US House where there’s a Majority Leader and Minority Leader and each side makes its own assignments, there isn’t any leverage for imposing party discipline. Getting support from visible sources like us bloggers, who were very much in line with an agenda of opposing the Perry/Craddick regime, made it easier for them to do so because it demonstrated that this is what Democratic voters wanted.

He also noted that by supporting challengers, the TexBlog PAC made it easier for other groups like the HDCC to protect the gains the Democrats have made in narrowing the gap in the House from 88-62 to 79-71, especially since many of those gains - think State Reps. Juan Garcia and Dan Barrett for two prime examples - came in fairly strong Republican areas.

Overall, a terrific night from Houston. Thanks to everyone across the series of tubes for their support — and feel free to give $5, $10, or $20 to TexBlog PAC to join in on one of the most successful Texas grassroots efforts of the year!

Donate to Chris Turner Today! Help Us Take Back the House! 

TexBlog PAC formally endorsed Democrat Chris Turner for State Representative today. Turner is running in House District 96, in southern Tarrant County, against Republican incumbent Bill Zedler.

Winning House District 96

Donate to Chris Turner Today! Help Us Take Back the House!

House District 96 contains most of the southern areas of Arlington and Fort Worth, along with the communities of Crowley, Kennedale and Rendon and parts of Mansfield and Burleson.

In 2006, Republican Bill Zedler narrowly avoided a loss, managing only 52.46% of the vote.

Additionally, as Turner’s website shows, Democrats turned out in the March primary at a rate almost 2.5 times higher than Republicans – a larger ratio than the statewide average. More Democrats voted in the HD 96 House District in Tarrant County than in any other House District in the County.

About Chris Turner – A Committed, Hard-Working Candidate

Donate to Chris Turner Today! Help Us Take Back the House!

Born in Sherman and raised in Dallas, Chris went to Dallas’ Skyline High School and is a UT-Austin graduate with a degree in Government. Before launching his campaign, Chris Turner worked as District Director for Texas Congressman Chet Edwards (D – Waco). During his time with Congressman Edwards, Chris gained experience working across party lines to meet the needs of Texans from all walks of life.

Chris’ experience with the highly successful Congressman Edwards campaign will come in handy as he runs for office in HD 96. From his website:

<blockquote>Chris has also managed Edwards’ last four highly competitive and successful re-election campaigns, during which he was recognized for his leadership ability and organizational skills in the midst of challenging circumstances.</blockquote>

Donate to Chris Turner Today and Help Us Take Back the House!

 We will be writing more about Chris in the coming days, weeks, and months. In the meantime, please join our efforts and donate anything you can – $10, $25, or $50 – to help us take back the House as we do our part to turn Texas blue!