Moody Center
Intra-party Attacks
RECEIVED Tue., March 17, 2020
To whom it may concern,
I am writing in response to [Michael] King's 3/13 article on the TX-10 race ["Mike Siegel and Pritesh Gandhi Vie for Dem Nod in Texas' Congressional District 10," News]. Please find enclosed my less than 300 word letter to the editor.
I supported Shannon Hutcheson in the primary. Hutcheson committed herself to honor the party directive for campaigns focused solely on policy differences and encouraged her supporters to do the same. Sadly, Pritesh Gandi’s assertions about being “laser-focused on uniting Democratic voters against McCaul,” and on his “recognition and reputation across the district” are false. Both Siegel and Gandhi made personal attacks on Hutcheson the hallmark of their primary campaigns. In an effort to secure their place in the run-off both men proactively engaged the press and social media, and one was complicit in endorsing PAC-sponsored mailers targeting Hutcheson while the other engaged social media efforts to ensure that both of his competitors were tainted by these actions. These ugly misogynistic tactics rooted in half-truths and total falsehoods far outweighed any efforts made to run independent positive campaigns.
Sadly intra-party attacks are increasing. Some recent TX examples include Lizzie Fletcher and Julie Oliver in 2018 and Delia Garza in 2020. This type of behavior that should never be condoned within the Democratic party. However, the majority of disapproval has been focused on the presidential race without highlighting that this is happening at every level, exponentially so for women and people of color.
I support the choices of Elizabeth Warren, Shannon Hutcheson, and any other candidate maligned in this fashion, to take their time to decide what form of endorsement, if any, is in keeping with their more impressive integrity, rather than demanded by those remaining in the race.
Mr. King’s story focused only on whether Hutcheson will endorse, rather than asking the question why should she? Rather than highlighting the Twitter feed from 3/5 related to Elizabeth Warren, King could have used excerpts from the 3/13 Facebook campaign page addressing the more relevant question. When will this stop?
I am writing in response to [Michael] King's 3/13 article on the TX-10 race ["Mike Siegel and Pritesh Gandhi Vie for Dem Nod in Texas' Congressional District 10," News]. Please find enclosed my less than 300 word letter to the editor.
I supported Shannon Hutcheson in the primary. Hutcheson committed herself to honor the party directive for campaigns focused solely on policy differences and encouraged her supporters to do the same. Sadly, Pritesh Gandi’s assertions about being “laser-focused on uniting Democratic voters against McCaul,” and on his “recognition and reputation across the district” are false. Both Siegel and Gandhi made personal attacks on Hutcheson the hallmark of their primary campaigns. In an effort to secure their place in the run-off both men proactively engaged the press and social media, and one was complicit in endorsing PAC-sponsored mailers targeting Hutcheson while the other engaged social media efforts to ensure that both of his competitors were tainted by these actions. These ugly misogynistic tactics rooted in half-truths and total falsehoods far outweighed any efforts made to run independent positive campaigns.
Sadly intra-party attacks are increasing. Some recent TX examples include Lizzie Fletcher and Julie Oliver in 2018 and Delia Garza in 2020. This type of behavior that should never be condoned within the Democratic party. However, the majority of disapproval has been focused on the presidential race without highlighting that this is happening at every level, exponentially so for women and people of color.
I support the choices of Elizabeth Warren, Shannon Hutcheson, and any other candidate maligned in this fashion, to take their time to decide what form of endorsement, if any, is in keeping with their more impressive integrity, rather than demanded by those remaining in the race.
Mr. King’s story focused only on whether Hutcheson will endorse, rather than asking the question why should she? Rather than highlighting the Twitter feed from 3/5 related to Elizabeth Warren, King could have used excerpts from the 3/13 Facebook campaign page addressing the more relevant question. When will this stop?
Thank you and kind regards,
Elizabeth Bray
Elizabeth Bray