Categories
Texas

A Texas-Sized Moment Built On Beto O’Rourke’s Massive Rallies

Texas stands at a monumental moment in statewide political history.  Beto has run an all-around impressive campaign that seems the Size of Everything – from its fundraising performance, to the success of its voter contact operation, to its budding romance with our nation, and most importantly – in the thousands of Texans magnetized to his events for the future of Texas.

As a reminder, we launched Poli Pix Co. to offer substantial media support to progressive movers and shakers across the Southwest, and have devoted significant attention toward documenting Beto’s meteoric rise this cycle.  To celebrate our collective standing at the foot of history-in-the-making, we’re taking a look at our final chapter in Beto’s visual storyline to Election Day.

This photo essay begins on the sunset of September, when supporters descended onto Austin’s Auditorium Shores for ‘Turn Out For Texas’ – a historic Beto rally headlined by Texas musical artists Willie Nelson and his Family Band, Leon Bridges, Joe Ely, Tameca Jones, and Carrie Rodriguez.  The following day reports on the attendees varied between 55,000 and 63,000 (campaign organizer estimates), making this rally the largest since a presidential campaign event for Barack Obama that drew 73,000 in 2008.

We hopped back on the trail as Beto pursued a tour of Texas colleges and universities just days ahead of Texas’ voter registration deadline. Defying conventional campaign logic, he engaged first-time voters in a manner that spoke to the issues that really matter to them – action on climate change, protecting women’s rights to their own body autonomy, ensuring equitable access to affordable healthcare, and standing up protections for LGBTQ communities everywhere. The newest leaders in Texas responded in-kind.  As of the close of Early Voting in Texas last Friday, participation from registered voters aged 18-29 had blossomed by over 500% when compared to the Early Voting period of 2014’s midterm elections. Looking back on our event galleries from across the state, it’s easy to see this would come to pass.

Other events are sprinkled in, as well. Enjoy!

Categories
Texas

Denton, TX for Beto!

We’re frantically working to deliver all of our still outstanding 2 dozen event galleries before Early Voting opens and closes, which starts today and ends on November 2. So here’s one from a sweltering afternoon in Denton, TX on September 15, 2018! This rally for Beto drew at least 1,500 people at the Backyard on Bell – a supremely cool local spot.

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Uncategorized

Salt Lake City on the #RoadtoChange

All along the #RoadtoChange Tour, Poli Pix has observed audiences sometimes numbering over four, five, or six hundreds people; good folks wishing to learn from the experiences of the Parkland Shooting survivors and other gun safety activists while our nation remains gripped by inaction on gun violence.

At the event hosted at the Mountain America Expo Center in Sandy, Utah, pro-gun control supporters were met by a sizable contingent of some 200 participants of the Utah Gun Exchange – an online firearm retailing platform. Their presence created a tense situation for the event. Only days before its scheduled curtain time, at least one venue backed out of their commitment to host March For Our Lives, citing possible security concerns.

Additionally, we witnessed at least 7 shouting matches between gun activists on either side of the issue, and one poor sod who took it upon himself to decry – in the middle of the event – the panelists for allegedly offering false information on gun deaths. His actions were spurned by a thousand death stares and suggestions he get the f*$k out.

To be fair, Sam Robinson, one of the Utah Gun Exchange’s top brass, surprised at least this observer with what I took as a meaningful, if not PR-based, entree by offering to work with the activists on reducing gun deaths as long as it didn’t infringe on an American’s Second Amendment rights. Given the nature of what the Road to Change is about, we suggest they find ways to come together around tackling red-flag laws, instituting reasonable mandatory waiting periods to purchase a firearm, along with other commonsense reforms without the need to confiscate firearms from law-abiding citizens. That said, he and Bryan Melchior, another of the groups leaders, followed the activists around the nation in it signature armored and branded military style truck, normally outfitted with a replica machine gun which was removed.

Among the attendees were Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski and Democratic candidate for U.S. House in Utah’s 4th Congressional District, Ben McAdams.

See below for a sample of the event images we provided to the organization (23/127 images).

Related reporting:

https://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/education/parkland-survivors-stop-in-utah-as-part-of-tour/article_950dfd43-abfc-55e4-91e8-4a78d182d7c0.html

https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/nation-and-world/florida-shooting-survivors-hold-town-hall-in-utah-las-vegas-next/

https://fox13now.com/2018/07/14/local-pro-gun-group-brings-contrast-to-parkland-school-shooting-survivors-utah-gun-violence-forum/

http://www.upr.org/post/gun-control-and-second-amendment-advocates-meet-march-our-lives-town-hall-meeting

Updated 09/04/2018: An earlier version of this post stated incorrectly the leaders of the Utah Gun Exchange were driving their company truck for MFOL events with its regular machine gun replica. That was amended to as written above thanks to additional information provided by the group.

 

 

Categories
Colorado

#RoadtoChange Recalls Tragedy to Make Progress in Denver, CO

In one of Poli Pix’s more emotionally-profound stops along March For Our Lives’ #RoadtoChange tour, survivors and families affected by the tragic events at Columbine High School and other mass shootings shared their mission to ensure safer communities with a 1,000+ person audience in Denver, CO.

Related reporting here: https://www.westword.com/news/road-to-change-stopped-in-denver-july-13-for-town-hall-on-gun-violence-10539582

Here’s a sample of images we provided to March For Our Lives:

 

 

Categories
Colorado

#RoadtoChange’s Colorful Reception in Aurora, CO

March For Our Lives’ Road to Change Tour stopped in Aurora, CO, the infamous site of ‘The Dark Night Massacre’ – a mass shooting at a local movie theater that claimed the lives of 12 people and injured 70 others in July 2012.

Here are a few of the images we provided to the organization from our fully gallery of 126 photos.