Austin, TX

Texas Democrats select Kendall Scudder as state party chair

Published

10 months ago

March 29, 2025

Texas Democrats select Kendall Scudder as state party chair

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The Texas Democratic Party’s governing board on Saturday elected Kendall Scudder to lead the party forward as its new chair after a devastating performance in November and years of electoral defeats.

“The challenge that we’re facing right now is terrifying for this country and for this state, and a lot of people are counting on us to come together and do the right thing and make sure that we are building a Texas Democratic Party that is worthy of the grassroots in this state,” Scudder said upon taking the gavel. “Let’s build a party that the working men and women of this state can be proud of.”

Scudder took 65 out of 121 votes, an outright majority in the seven-way race.

Scudder will take over as chair of the state party at a moment when Democrats are grasping for a way forward after blowout losses up and down the ballot last year, including President Donald Trump’s victory and a surge to the right by traditionally Democratic groups, such as Hispanic voters in South Texas.

After proclaiming Texas a competitive state where Democratic candidates had a fighting chance of winning statewide for the first time in three decades, party leaders instead watched as Trump and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz trounced their Democratic challengers by roughly 14 and 9 percentage points, respectively. Democrats also ceded ground in the state Legislature and lost nearly every contested state appellate court race, in addition to 10 judicial races in Harris County — eating away at years of Democratic dominance in Texas’ largest county.

That left many Democrats concerned that, after appearing to come within striking distance of winning statewide in 2018, the party was back at a sobering low.

Longtime Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa announced his resignation shortly after the election, acknowledging the party’s poor performance and a need for a new direction.

That push for a fresh vision defined the race for party chair. Scudder will be the incumbent come 2026, when a broader group of delegates will elect the next full-term chair at the party convention in Corpus Christi. The 121-member State Democratic Executive Committee chose Hinojosa’s successor at the Saturday meeting, its first quarterly meeting of the year, because he resigned in the middle of his four-year term.

During his campaign, Scudder, an East Texas native, emphasized the importance of listening to the “grassroots.” Even before he launched his candidacy, he had accused party leadership under Hinojosa of ignoring those voters and activists. He wants to “recalibrate” the party toward a focus on working people.

“The reality is simply that Democrats on the ground don’t have a lot of confidence in party leadership anymore,” Scudder told The Texas Tribune in an interview on Thursday.

He wants the party to pay attention to areas he says it has previously written off, like rural communities, and put a priority on Spanish-language communications.

Scudder has worked in affordable housing and real estate. He came onto the state party stage through the SDEC, although he began his political activism with the Texas Young Democrats and the Texas College Democrats.

Scudder’s leading opponents, former Harris County Democratic Party Chair Lillie Schechter and former Annie’s List Executive Director Patsy Woods Martin, had offered similar but competing visions to re-establish Democratic credibility on kitchen table issues and reconnect with voters in their communities. During the campaign, Schechter and Woods Martin emphasized their experience getting Democratic candidates elected.

The SDEC hosted a candidate forum in Austin on Friday evening before toasting Hinojosa, the outgoing chair.

There, and at the panel’s meeting on Saturday, party insiders discussed how to rebuild credibility with working class voters, engage young people, fundraise and build a party infrastructure that better facilitates elected officials’ involvement in races around the state.

“The problem is that every Democrat thinks that if they had 10 more minutes, they could explain it to you,” Scudder said on party messaging during the forum. “We’ve got to get to a point where we’re speaking to people at their gut, because people vote with their guts and not their brains.”

While most party chair contests are shaped by region and race and decided at the party’s convention during midterm election years, this race was a more insular affair whose outcome was determined by a small group of the party’s activists, many of whom are progressives dissatisfied with the party’s strategies and operations.

Although the SDEC was prepared to go multiple rounds with their ranked choice ballot, Scudder’s 65 allowed him to win in the first round. Woods Martin took 27 votes, and Schechter took 26. Denton County Democratic Party Chair Delia Parker-Mims took two votes, and Meri Gomez rounded out the count with one vote. Eight candidates appeared on the ballot, but one dropped out before the election.

As the votes were tabulated, members passed out to-go shots of blue liquor — and non-alcoholic options — in an effort to liven spirits after a difficult 2024 election and an unprecedented chair race.

The candidates were largely aligned ideologically. And they especially all agreed on the need for change in the party’s direction.

“We are at an inflection point right now,” Schechter said, “and if we don’t learn lessons from the last election, and continue doing things status quo, we’re never going to win in Texas.”

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Austin, TX

Austin activists hold anti-ICE protests following the death of Renee Good in Minneapolis

Published

7 hours ago

January 9, 2026

Press Room

Austin activists hold anti-ICE protests following the death of Renee Good in Minneapolis

Chants of “shame” and “ICE out of Texas” rang through the street as Austin-area activists joined thousands across the nation in protesting the killing of Renee Nicole Good, who was fatally shot Wednesday by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis.

The protest was held in front of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security building in Pflugerville.

Good, 37, was shot in her SUV while attempting to drive away from several ICE officers who ordered her to exit her vehicle.

Scarleth Lopez with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, the organization that led the protest, said the videos of the shooting in Minneapolis were “sickening.”

“Trump has lied and and said that Renee was a terrorist. She was a mother. She was an innocent bystander,” Lopez said. “We must organize to stop these people from kidnapping and murdering.”

Lorianne Willett

KUT News

Spray painted messages appeared outside of a U.S. Department of Homeland Security building in Pflugerville

Elizabeth Bope, a retired Pflugerville ISD teacher, said the claims from federal and state lawmakers that Good was attempting to strike the ICE agent with her vehicle inspired her to attend the protest.

Such claims were posted online by Vice President J.D. Vance and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. Attorney General Ken Paxton reposted a statement from DHS on X, formerly known as Twitter, that said the ICE agent “relied on his training and saved his own life.”

“It’s beyond really any words that they killed this woman for no reason, but also that they’re lying about it,” Bope said. “I’m not even a radical left person, I’m just a regular old Democrat.”

Other key Texas leaders, including Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, have not commented on the shooting.

A group of protesters holding yellow signs reading "ICE Out of our Communities" gather during a night time protest. — Protesters gathered and held signs during a protest against ICE.

Doug Tickner, who said he works for a home building company in Austin, said he felt it was important to show up in person for Good.

“I don’t really think of Minneapolis as being that far from here, and it’s not like what happened in Minneapolis was some sort of one off unique event,” Tickner said. “This is part of a pattern, and I feel folks better wake up and realize that this is becoming more and more serious.”

The news that federal immigration officers shot and wounded two people in Portland, Oregon, broke hours before the protest.

The gathering in Pflugerville is among the first of four anti-ICE demonstrations planned across the Austin area over the next few days.

Earlier on Thursday, protesters gathered at the intersection of 45th Street and Lamar Boulevard during rush hour. A protest on Friday will be held at the Capitol and another will be held Saturday at City Hall.

Protesters bang on the outside of a building built of metal. — Protesters bang on the outside of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security building in Pflugerville.

State and federal leaders are now sparring over who should conduct an investigation into the Minneapolis shooting, according to NPR.

Minnesota’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which was originally asked to conduct a joint investigation with the FBI, said in a statement it was later told the investigation would be led solely by federal authorities.

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Austin, TX

Flesh-eating screwworm may be moving closer to Texas on its own, ag commissioner says

Published

19 hours ago

January 8, 2026

Press Room

Flesh-eating screwworm may be moving closer to Texas on its own, ag commissioner says

article

AUSTIN, Texas – A Texas agency is concerned that the flesh-eating New World screwworm could be getting closer to Texas without commercial livestock movement.

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller is sounding the alarm again for livestock owners to remain vigilant in watching for signs of the parasite in their animals.

Screwworm sighting near Texas

The latest:

Miller said in a Thursday release that a screwworm had been detected in a cow in González, Tamaulipas, a little more than 200 miles from the southern Texas border.

According to the commissioner, the cow had no reported history of movement outside Tamaulipas, and is the third active case reported there.

Officials in Mexico have not reported a known population of the worm in Tamaulipas. They’re working with U.S. authorities to investigate further into the new case.

What they’re saying:

“The screwworm now may be moving closer on its own, with no apparent link to commercial animal movement,” Commissioner Miller said. “Texas producers must act now—stay informed, stay vigilant, and prepare immediately. We cannot drop our guard for even a moment.”

Inspect livestock for screwworm

What you can do:

Miller urged immediate action from ranchers along the Texas border.

“Inspect your animals daily,” Miller said. “Check every open wound. If anything looks suspicious, report it right away. Better a false alarm than a delayed response—early detection and rapid reporting are our strongest defenses against this devastating pest.”

U.S. plan to fight screwworm in Texas

Big picture view:

The threat to cattle has been deemed so potentially devastating to the U.S. food supply that the federal government is committing $850 million to fight it.

Most of that money will be spent on building a sterile male fly production facility near the border.

The facility will produce 300 million sterile male flies a week to be dropped into target areas where the screwworm is now. Those male flies help to reduce the population size through mating without reproducing.

A much smaller portion of the funding will be used for screwworm detection technology.

In addition, the federal government has already spent $21 million on a sterile fly production facility in Mexico.

What are New World screwworms?

Dig deeper:

The insect gets its name because it’s only found in the Americas.

It lays its eggs in the open wounds of animals, and its larvae become parasites, threatening livestock, domestic animals, and even people.

The screwworm was mostly eradicated in Texas and the rest of the United States in the 60s. But now, it’s moving north up from Panama and has a known presence a little over 300 miles south of the Texas-Mexico border.

The Source: Information in this article comes from Sid Miller.

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Austin, TX

LD Systems expands Texas Footprint with Austin Location and welcomes ILIOS Productions — TPi

Published

1 day ago

January 8, 2026

Press Room

LD Systems expands Texas Footprint with Austin Location and welcomes ILIOS Productions — TPi

For over two decades, ILIOS Productions has been a key part of the live events community in Austin, TX, transforming spaces and audience experiences with a vast range of lighting and video design, as well as event production services across a diverse client portfolio. Now, with the backing of parent company Clair Global, LD Systems, a Houston-based premier provider of audio, video, and lighting for event production and installed technology solutions, is welcoming ILIOS Productions to the team, marking the group’s fourth location in Texas. ILIOS Productions will now operate under the LD Systems brand.

LD Systems will further resource ILIOS’ existing Austin operation to include additional services such as audio and rigging for live events, as well as integration solutions and services. This addition helps round out LD Systems’ ability to locally serve major metropolitan areas across Texas, including Houston, San Antonio, Dallas-Fort Worth, and Austin and reflects Clair Global’s continued focus on offering global resources while maintaining strong local-market expertise and responsiveness.

ILIOS Productions’ experience spans the concert and festival sector, corporate and activations, and high-end private, philanthropic and charitable events. The company’s commitment to critical event delivery has established trust with major brands including Lollapalooza, SXSW, Austin City Limits, Google, YouTube, the University of Texas System and many more.

Founder, President & Sr Ops Manager of ILIOS Productions, Bryan Azar, said: “After many years of working alongside LD Systems in Austin and beyond, we are delighted to be joining their world-class organisation. This is an exciting new chapter for a bolder future together.”

Zach Boswell, General Manager, ILIOS Productions, added: “We are passionate about the work we do, and the community and business culture found at LD Systems is the ideal next step for our dedicated employees to progress as a united workforce.“

LD Systems co-founder and President, Rob McKinley commented: “We are delighted to amplify our service offerings in Austin with the addition of Bryan and his exceptional team of technology professionals. They have made a significant difference to many Texans with the work they undertake, and LD Systems is proud to welcome both their talent and ethos to the company.”

Building on this momentum, LD Systems also announced plans to expand its San Antonio facility into a new location in January 2026. Together with the addition of ILIOS Productions in Austin, this investment reinforces the organisation’s long-term investment in Texas and its dedication to meeting growing client demand with enhanced capacity and infrastructure.

www.ldsystems.com

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