Why I’m a Democrat: A Mother’s Struggle and the Party’s Working-Class Roots

Why are you a Democrat? Well, my mother... So I told you I was, um, born to a single mom.

Um, she, uh, she was a preacher's daughter, uh, from Laredo, down on the border.

She left home at 19. She moved up to Austin.

She met my birth father, um, who was a high school dropout and, um, had a, a drinking problem, and that drinking problem sometimes led to being violent with, with my mother.

And there was one night, uh, it was me and, and Mom, and, and my birth father, and he had had too much to drink and got violent again.

And that m- that was kind of the straw that broke the camel's back, and my mom decided right then and there that she was leaving.

So she packed all our stuff. She put me in her little Ford Escort.

She drove me to the hotel where she worked downtown.

The manager let us stay in one of the rooms, uh, for a few weeks until we found a little apartment in East Austin.

And Mom, you know, she took on double duty at the hotel.

She, like, fought for me at every instance, even when it was her own physical safety was at risk.

And back then, this was, um, early '90s, you know, she could look over at the Texas Capitol, and she saw Texas Democrats like Ann Richards, Bob Bullock, people who fought for the little guy- Mm-hmm ... for working people,

people who were, who were forgotten and left behind.

That was the classic Democratic Party. Right.

And so I remember when I was, uh, I guess I was maybe kindergarten, and I- someone in school, they were talking about political parties, and I asked my mom what we were, and she was like, "We're Democrats because Democrats fight for the people."

That was what she said. Hmm. And my mom is still a Democrat today, but, like, I don't know how much our party is still true to that, but I do know that that's our historical legacy, is the party that fights for, for, um, for the little guy,

and, um, I think we're at our best when we do that today.

We're at our worst when we stray from that.

Um- I would agree with that. So I, I still believe the Democratic Party can get back to those roots.

I hope last year was a wake-up call, especially to the National Democratic Party, about what needs to change and, and how we need to be different if we're gonna build a big coalition to take on the issues that we care about.

Um, but that's, that's why I'm a Democrat and, and, um, why I hope the party can get back to those roots.