The New Democratic Fight for the Future in Texas, USA

Face-to-face with the voters: Beto O’Rourke on the campaign trail in new documentary Texas, USA, chronicling Lone Star State's progressive candidates in the 2022 election (Courtesy of Untold)

In new documentary Texas, USA, there's a scene in which then-Austin City Council Member Greg Casar helps to pass protections for workers in city law, only to have the victory overridden by Republicans in this year's legislative session.

"Before, when things like that happened, it was so exhausting and devastating," Casar, now a member of Congress, told audience members at the film's Texas premiere at AFS Cinema on Sept. 22. "Because we worked for this thing and they can take it away. But with this movie and the passage of time, you realize the process: People are mistreated at work. People start organizing. People get told no by the city officials. New city officials come in. The law gets passed. The Legislature comes and takes it away. Next, we go to the federal level. The bill gets drafted. We push for it. They tell us no. Eventually, we pass it, and we win.

"You know – you lose until you win."

This quality – the sense that progressives are battling to the cusp of important victories in the state – pervades Texas, USA, which debuts on digital platforms on Oct. 6. The documentary is a snapshot of the state's current political moment, told through the stories of three 2022 campaigns – those of Beto O'Rourke, who ran for governor; Greg Casar, who ran for the U.S. House; and Lina Hidalgo, who ran for Harris County judge. Workers from these campaigns packed the AFS Cinema at the movie's Saturday premiere, giving its director, Andrew Morgan, a rapturous standing ovation.

Morgan said he first showed the film in Los Angeles and New York but that the Texas screening was special, as he looked out at the faces of the people who are actually in the fight, many of whom he'd come to love during two years of filming. "It's very, very personal," Morgan said. "And I'm not really about keeping it all at arm's length. The story moves me too, it moves me deeply, and these have become people that really impacted my life. You get excited about sharing their stories with other people. It's almost like introducing friends to other friends."

Along with his look at O'Rourke, Casar, and Hidalgo, Morgan includes vignettes of some of the state's most creative and effective organizers, such as Anthony Graves, an exonerated death row inmate working to reform the state's criminal justice system, and Hannah Horick, a rural organizer and advocate for legal abortion.

"The people in the film represent similar, but very different, pieces of the story," Morgan said, "and yet they were all saying something similar. And that's what you listen for – what is this adding up to? And I think it's the sense, the spirit, of just refusing to quit. Refusing to give up. Refusing to settle for the state as it is today – that kind of relentless hope."

If "relentless hope" is the text of the film, its subtext is the violence that Texas does to its citizens. Audience members wept at Texas, USA's evocation of the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, which occurred in the center of the political campaigns, in May of 2022. Morgan layers audio from the phone calls of children trapped in the classroom, whispering pleas for the police to come to their rescue, with images of officers standing idly in the school hallway. He follows that with footage from the press conference where O'Rourke confronts Gov. Greg Abbott, telling him to his face that he is responsible for creating the conditions that led to the murders. After kicking O'Rourke out, Abbott, with forced solemnity, says that though 19 children had been shot to death, "it could have been worse."

"It was heartbreaking to watch this and feel like we're not there yet," Adri Pérez, a trans rights advocate featured in the film, said during the post-movie discussion, describing how they decided to leave Texas after being tackled by a Department of Public Safety trooper at the Capitol this spring for peacefully protesting a bill denying medical care to trans kids. "But the other thing I realize is that this is still something that's really worth fighting for. So keep doing that and I'll probably be back one day."

The other organizers in the film also present at the screening made it clear that they continue to relish the fight. Brianna Brown of the Texas Organizing Project said a look at recent Republican legislation shows that the state's dominant party is terrified by the progressive movement. "You see how much they're chasing our work," Brown said. "They took away local control. They stripped away protections around voting rights. It goes to show – we are the news."

Tory Gavito of Way to Win told the audience that donors are still contributing to Democrats this year, despite O'Rourke's loss. She predicted that Texas Republicans will become even more extreme as progressives continue to gain ground on them.

"It's when you get the closest to the gates that the dogs bark the loudest," Gavito said, drawing cheers. "And we're very close to the gates. Don't ever forget it."

Texas, USA will be available on digital platforms on Oct. 6.