Texas is home to the largest Black population in the country with 3.9 million Black folks driving the culture, raising our children, and building the present and future of this state.  It's also home to the largest number of Black registered voters in the country, 2.1 million, with another 400k that are eligible to vote, but not registered. 

 

In TOP’s quest to create the democracy of our dreams, we know that Black Texans and our hopes and votes are central to fulfilling that aspiration.  It's an aspiration that builds both people power and political power--an organizing body that punches with two fists.  If anything has been proven by the Black, U.S. voting rights movement, access to the ballot box is not a panacea.  It's a critical piece in power-building and having strong institutions on the ground, the day after the election to organize is essential.  Mirroring our theory of change, TOP’s 2022 Black Voter Engagement Program seeks to:

 

• Outreach to two thirds or 1.4M Black voters across the state in the ten counties with the densest concentration of Black voters (Harris, Dallas, Tarrant, Ft. Bend, Collin, Denton, Bexar, Travis, Jefferson and Bell counties)

• Help deliver progressive wins at the TOP of ticket and secure key down ballot victories, with an emphasis in District Attorney and County Executive races

• Maintain 2018 historic levels of Black participation at the ballot box

• Increase Black voter turnout in four identified counties where progressive infrastructure is lacking (Collin, Denton, Jefferson and Bell counties)

• Bridge 2022 election cycle to TOP’s issue organizing

• Survey to understand what issues move Black Texans to the ballot and beyond and the skills we want to learn to transform our lives

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We believe our political field program--including canvassing, phone-banking, texting, digital, and on-the-ground organizing, could be the margin of victory in achieving what hasn’t happened in Texas in over three decades, progressive statewide wins, including the governor’s race.   Nine out of ten times, Black Texas voters choose the most progressive candidate on the ballot.  We believe that the only way to build progressive power in Texas, includes meaningful and sustained engagement with Black communities across the state.  Our program will elevate Black Texans as a voting block, worthy of courting and investment by:

• Knocking on 200k doors across the state

• Calling and texting 500k Black Texans 

• Engaging 700k Black Texans through social media 

 

Given our sheer size, Black Texas voters could be positioned to make the difference in an election that could radically change the political calculus of the state.  Black voters are a critical, determining demographic for the type of state in which we’ll live--one with a more just legal system, flourishing public schools, access to quality and affordable healthcare, jobs with livable wages…We can not build a Texas4All without Black voters.  So goes Black voters, so goes Texas.