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!
