EMILYs List names 6 targets in Texas for 2020

March 1, 2019

Texas Tribune: EMILY's List names 6 targets in Texas for 2020

By Patrick Svitek

First in The Blast: EMILY's List, the influential Democratic group, is targeting six Republican congressmen in Texas next year.

The group, which works to elect Democratic women who support abortion rights, have put the lawmakers on its first “On Notice” list of the 2020 cycle. In total, the list includes 43 House Republicans and six Senate Republicans.

The Texas targets are:

  • TX-10: Rep. Michael McCaul of Austin
  • TX-21: Rep. Chip Roy of Austin
  • TX-22: Rep. Pete Olson of Sugar Land
  • TX-23: Rep. Will Hurd of Helotes
  • TX-24: Rep. Kenny Marchant of Coppell
  • TX-31: Rep. John Carter of Round Rock

The six Texas Republicans are the same ones that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee announced last month that it would be targeting in 2020. But the DCCC has largely stayed out of primaries unlike EMILY's List, which played a major role last cycle in Texas in winning the nomination for four women, three of whom who won in the fall as Democrats took the House.

“After flipping the House with Democratic women in 2018, we’re ready to send more Republicans packing in 2020,” EMILY's List President Stephanie Schriock said in a statement on the group's 2020 list. “EMILYs List is actively recruiting and working with potential candidates in these flippable districts.”

The EMILY's List announcement continues to show national Democrats' expanded ambitions for Texas in 2020. For comparison, EMILY's List started the 2018 cycle with three Texas Republicans on its “On Notice” list: Hurd; former Dallas Rep. Pete Sessions, who was unseated by Colin Allred; and ex-Houston Rep. John Culberson, who was defeated by Lizzie Fletcher. EMILY's List endorsed Fletcher early in her crowded primary.