From outsider insurgent to Just.Another.Politician.™? The odyssey of Sema Hernandez for Senate from Texas

Sema Hernandez, the chief Democratic primary challenger to Beto O'Rourke, was the first announced candidate for the 2020 Senate nomination. But, she's been getting very little Texas MSM support so far. And, per the header, I have one eyebrow raised over her actions since losing the primary in 2018.

Make that two, with TruthOut's great Aug. 29 story that explicitly notes how Bob on a Knob's downtown El Paso gentrification push specifically targeted, and hit hard, working-class Mexican-American homeowners. Enough had been blogged about (and linked by Brains) on O'Rourke's real estate grifting during the election that this is definitely (as I have just tweeted) yet another weak spot for Sema in bromancing Bob on a Knob.

On Senate runs, and people like Brains (and once, me) attacking Kuff for not naming her more? Well, as of early July, she still hadn't filed an FEC financial report, even though being officially in the race for months, per her FEC filing statement. In case we have any whataboutism, M.J. Hegar already has done just that, among others. (There is a Sema for Texas committee listed, but no money there, either, per the FEC in early August.)

She also didn't file at all in 2018, which means she didn't get $5K then. But, she's filed WELL in advance of the 2020 primary. As in Dec. 26, 2018. And she's still not at $5K? Well, there's "insurgent," and there's "not getting much money love." Sema, in imitation of presidential candidates, did an official campaign kickoff on June 8, six months after putting herself officially in the race. We'll see how much she draws, as presumably this will boost her over the $5K limit.

And, as of July 20, Open Secrets agrees: still not $5K. And the FEC also doesn't even list an "elect Sema" type committee, unlike with Michael Cooper, who ran for the Lite Guv nomination in 2018 and is also in this year's Senate race. Also, per Kuff, with whom I don't agree on a lot of things, she has an Act Blue donation link and isn't getting love there, either, I guess. So, Brains, Scap, etc.? Don't blame Kuff, or others, for them not talking about her more. Blame her. Announced nearly 7 months ago, kissed Beto's ass hard even before that, has an Act Blue link, and still hasn't raised $5,000? And, not with Nina Turner's endorsement, either?

And, the $5,000 is a threshold for filing. Doesn't mean you can't do an FED financial report with less than $5K. Michael Cooper's only raised $3K, or a bit less, and he's done a filing.

Kuff is right on this. Given that a seeming top tier of West, Bell, Edwards and Hegar are sure to each haul in $1 million by the primary date, not yet having $5,000 has to indicate that Sema isn't a serious candidate. Relying on an appearance two years ago and one-way butt-kissing of Bob the Knob O'Rourke won't help.

Aug. 5: I mentioned all of the above, with a callout of sorts to Sema as part of a five-person Tweet response to a Tweet from a friend. We'll see what she says about the fundraising.

And a name probably won't help either.

SKILL OR NAME?

As for how well she did in 2018? Well ... maybe it was insurgency ... and maybe it was her last name. Whether one likes to hear it or not, Sema's 2018 performance was generally no different than other Hispanic Democrats of the past 25-30 years running for statewide office in a Democratic primary.

"Just saying."

(Ray Madrigal ran for land commissioner 12 years prior and since 2014, has threatened to become a perpetual candidate. Gary Espinosa, AFAIK, ran for nothing either before or after challenging Ann Richards. Rick Noriega has shown that a Hispanic can win a statewide nomination; that said, he was already a state senator. Victor Morales, in his long-ago 1996 upset showed that even a low-spending Hispanic can win a primary, and against Democrats with as much name recognition as O'Rourke, or two of them, to be precise. And Hernandez has gotten lucky that Joaquin Castro is taking a powder. But, there IS a second Hispanic also already declared.)

But ... if you're going to pander to Beto, pander to the Texas Democratic Party poo-bahs, etc., and run a second time for the same race, shouldn't you have raised $5,000 for that run four or five months after filing? Note: None of the other Hispanics mentioned in that Trib piece ran for a statewide office a second time.

And, speaking of Hispanics, we have one other one already in this race, which wasn't the case in 2018, and activists urging on another. We have two African-Americans in Cooper and West. And, we have one other Houstonian besides Hernandez. Penny-ante fundraising won't get you anywhere in campaign competitiveness.

Correct that!

As of Aug. 12, there are now officially THREE Hispanic Democrats who want to replace John Cornyn and TWO of them who are, at least halfway, officially for #MedicareForAll. Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez brings not only that but a history of union organizing and more to the race, though she did say she was open to starting with "the public option." (Bell, West, Hegar won't even go that far.) I guess Sema is going to have to stop relying on air-kissing Bob the Knob, bragging about how well she did in 2018 and coasting on her name to get $5,000 in campaign cash and actually have to file an FEC report before primary time. Ramirez also has Sema's "story," being the daughter of immigrants. And, people connected to Bob the Knob have actually not air-kissed but made real contact with her; a lot of them are going to be working her campaign. More at the Chronic.

Further indicating Sema 2018 may have gotten votes on name or heritage as much as anything? African American Kesha Rogers, notorious LaRouche candidate, was second in the 2014 Democratic Senate primary, with 22 percent in the first round and 28 percent in runoff.


SPECIAL UPDATES RELATED TO THE 2018 TEXAS U.S. SENATE RACE

Meanwhile, back to Sema endorsing Beto a year ago and not apologizing for that, pulling primarily from my long “Is Beto a ConservaDem?” post.

As Beto continued to get hammered by David Sirota, Norman Solomon, Elizabeth Breunig, Zaid Jilani and others (with me adding my own tidbits) over his Congressional voting record after his Senate run was done but before he entered the 2020 prez race, taking money from the oil and gas industry for that, taking money from the FIRE sector for that, refusing to walk the walk on marijuana reform laws (I checked; that blog post of mine was before Sema officially endorsed Beto) and more, the following questions arise about her endorsement:

1. Did Sema Hernandez know all that? (She should have; she saw the first version of this ConservaDem piece as it was updated at that time, without the oil and gas info, before her endorsement, if I recall my Twitter timeline correctly.)

2. Why did she make that endorsement, other than moving into Just.Another.Politician.™ territory?

3. Will she own up to being, in any way, Just.Another.Politician.™?

4. Will she, if worried about fellow Roses or about the Our Revolution folks in Houston and DFW and elsewhere who refused to endorse Beto, try to rescind her endorsement?

Answers:

1. Yes, as noted.

2. For that reason, as noted.

3. No, because that would undercut 1 and 2, IMO.

4. Call me back in about 12 months.

These are all issues that hold true whether or not Beto allegedly gave an explicit promise to back single-payer (not the "universal health care" fudge) after she endorsed him. (BTW, based on his actual 2018 history with Sanders' bill, I don't believe such an explicit promise was made. I already told you that, Scap.) Beyond THAT, both Sema and Scap know that "universal health care" 10 seconds past the cue-in spot of a Beto interview that Scap claimed refudiated me is a fudge.

Heck, it's arguable that Sema gave herself an early start on drinking that Beto2020 Kool-Aid that I recently blogged about. And that's despite other reasons for her not to have guzzled.

As a first-generation Mexican-American, she might at least be concerned about his gentrification pushing on the El Paso City Council. I mean, I am voting strongly on single-payer, but, I'm aware of other stuff, some of which is semi-litmus-test level itself.

And, now that she's attacking Cornyn for talking fossil fuel money, will she repudiate her endorsement of Beto since he did the same?

Nope. In fact, she doubled down on the suck-up after O'Rourke announced his Prez run.

I wish you good luck, @BetoORourke.
While you run for President, I'll take on Sen. John Cornyn.
Thanks for your kind words of support for our 2020 grassroots U.S. Senate campaign.

Let's turn Texas Blue ➡ https://t.co/jrd4l4rgbR ⬅#Sema2020 #TXSen#BetoORourke @Sema4Texas

— Sema 🌹 (@_SemaHernandez_) March 14, 2019

Shock me.

And, what actually were those kind words of support? Were they anything beyond pro forma stuff?

Also "shock me" that as of March 14, 2019, Beto is STILL SCHWAFFLING on supporting single payer, per a transcript of a radio interview in Iowa.

And yes, Point No. 4 is true. Our Revolution's Harris County branch refused to endorse Beto, as David Bruce Collins noted. Remember, Sema lives in Houston, and she surely knows about this non-endorsement, which makes her look more conservative than at least some other Texas Dems. The state Our Revolution also did not endorse Beto, if I read between the lines of its website putting an asterisk with his endorsement that stresses this was straight from national. That would seem to be confirmed by the North Texas chapter also NOT endorsing Beto.

And, B-and-E as recently as mid-March gave Sema a pass on her Just.Another.Politician.™ endorsement of R.F. O'Rourke last fall.

I also see that Sema is taking a Kool Kids of Politics social media page from Beto and upping the ante by now creating an Instagram account. (And, no, I'm not linking. I'm just asking that we don't get video of Sema going to the dentist.)

See, too me, that's a wrong move politically.

If you really want to be cool, AND smart as a politician? Snapchat. No electronic paper trail remains after those snaps dissolve, right? Can't be quoted on what you say there unless somebody does a screengrab.

If Sema wants to boost her chance of getting my support in the 2020 primary, per my Beto Kool-Aid piece, she could start by repudiating her endorsement of him last year, since he never did unequivocally back single-payer and since he had other problems as well.

Is Sema totally Just.Another.Politician.™? No, not totally. But, IMO, she has one foot clearly there, and as with some AOC stuff, having one foot there is also an "eyeballs" problem, given the nature of her 2018 Senate primary run.

MY 2020 CHOICES?

So far, with Drew Springer getting Greens back on the ballot while also opening the state of Texas to being sued (and, HB 2504 WAS a "wedge," Drew), any Green who's not a yellow dog or a blue dog is my first choice.

Then, we go to Democrats.

Michael Cooper is my No. 1 as of right now. Hernandez is a fairly distant No. 2 and remains there until she apologizes for her putting one foot, at least, into the Just.Another.Politician.™ world. And, I'm not holding my breath right now about that.

Amanda Edwards might be No. 3?

Hegar? Yet more distant No. 4 as a military ConservaDem who as of now has nothing on policy on her website. Shades of Wendy Davis, but Hegar's been in the race a couple of months.

West No. 5?

Minor candidates more minor than Sema? No. 6.

Chris Bell will remain in last, and so much in last that if the Greens don't run anybody, rather than undervote him as I did Beto in 2018 I might vote Libertarian as a message.