Thousands of state delegates and guests took to the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, to represent their home districts as well as their presidential candidate at this year's Texas Democratic Convention. No voice was left unheard and no opinion was ever belittled, but there were still plenty of stones left unturned.
The demographics within the stadium was a perfect reflection of the American people, with caucuses that represented just about every community such as the LGBTQ+ Caucus, Muslim Caucus, Youth Caucus, and dozens more. Even the more conservative side of the Democratic Party was represented with a variety of assemblies for those who hold pro-life ideologies to those who are firm guns rights activists. All these public forums and gatherings did an excellent job of bringing the party together, but a lingering tension was present on the convention floor and it's exactly the reason you would have imagined.
Upon entering the ground level of the Alamodome, party lines were already drawn in the sand with Bernie Sanders tables and cut-outs on one end and Hillary Clinton merchandise on the other end. Right off the bat, a political turf-war was established - conveniently separated with anti-Trump items such t-shirts that said "you can shove that wall up your..." and, quite simply, "pendejo." (If all those years of taking Spanish in high school didn't teach you that word, Google will.)
It wasn't just the convention floor itself that appeared to divide the party; during the general session late Friday night, state representatives seemingly lined up one after another to throw their support behind Secretary Clinton, leaving many Sanders supporters feeling in the dark. After all, these elected officials addressing the convention were the very super-delegates that many Sanders supporters had signed petitions during the day to abolish. At the end of the day, however, a mass majority of attendees came together as Democrats to envision a common goal. That mission is not only to elect a progressive Democrat into the White House, but also see to it that a certain Republican front-runner never comes anywhere near the Oval Office and that his rhetoric remain contained.
The mayor of Houston, Sylvester Turner, came into our district's meeting room of around a hundred delegates for a surprise visit and with some wise words. When asked by reporters how he feels about Donald Trump being in Houston for a fundraiser and public rally, he replied, "I have no problems with him being in Houston, so long as he is as far away as possible from the White House." This notion seemed to resonate throughout the entire Democratic party as Sanders and Clinton supporters gathered behind what brings them together, rather than what sets them apart.
With keynote speakers from the Castro twins, Joaquin and Julian, to state representatives such as Sylvia Garcia and Senforia Thompson, the message of togetherness was clear. Strong emphasis on what unites us, such as common sense gun regulation, equal pay for equal work, keeping dirty money out of politics, and much more was a prevalent tone set throughout the night that appeared to bring Sanders and Clinton delegates, even if only for a moment, together at last.
