A strategy memo written by the Texas GOP regarding the party’s plans to capitalize in the 2020 elections found its way to the Democratic Party’s hands.
The strategy focuses on attacking Democrats online while also trying to downplay the “polarizing” nature of President Trump. The document in question, titled âPrimary/General Election 2020 [Draft],” was emailed to numerous members of the state’s Democratic Party on Monday evening, according to the Dallas Morning News.
It laid out twelve Democratic incumbents that the state’s Republican Party will target. They plan on creating websites with similar domains to those of the Democratic candidates to draw viewers to their site.
âFor example, we will purchase ZwienerforTexas.com, ZwienerforTX.com, and so on,â the document reads, referencing Democratic Rep. Erin Zwiener of Driftwood. âStarting after the primary, the RPT will generate micro-sites for negative hits against the Democrat candidates in our twelve target race â we expect each micro-site to be roughly $500,â the document reads. âWe will then begin rolling out these websites, prioritizing the races that were within 4% in the 2018 election.â
The Texas Democrats are trying to win the majority in the Texas House for the first time in over fifteen years. After picking up 12 seats last November, the Democrats’ gap narrowed to a 16-seat deficit, but they are hopeful they can overtake the House.
âRepublicans have already fumbled the ball, and we arenât even in 2020 yet,” Manny Garcia, executive director of the Texas Democratic Party, stated. âThey know theyâre in deep trouble âgiven the polarizing nature of the presidentâ and expect âRepublicans will refuse to turnout during the General Election because they donât want to vote for him.â The Texas Republican Party is desperate.”
Texas GOP chair James Dickey downplayed the mistake and claimed that a staffer âdrafted some initial thoughts for discussion.” He added that âit should not be newsâ that Republicans want to strengthen their hold on the Texas House.
The strategy document also addressed the president’s divisive nature saying, “Given the polarizing nature of the president, I suspect some Republicans will refuse to turnout during the general election because they donât want to vote for him – though I donât know that we will know what this universe would look like without us or a stakeholder creating a model … Regardless, I suggest we set up a contingency budget to target these folks with mailers, digital ads, and texts to encourage them to turnout for U.S. Senate, State Senate, State House, and so on.â
