Services the Party Provides
The Texas Democratic Party has put together a series of essential services that we’re proud to offer campaigns. This document is a brief overview of those services and who you can speak to in order to learn more. If you have any questions about the document itself, please reach out to help@txdemocrats.org
Committee Admin Report (CAR) Dashboard 6
Outreach Circle/ConnectTexas 8
Why You Need Outreach Circle/ConnectTexas 8
What about other relational apps? 8
How do I get Outreach Circle/ConnectTexas? 9
Messaging Resources (Comms/Digital) 11
Political/Organizing Resources 13
Campaign Operational Support 13
MyTexasVotes.com Voting Information Website 15
Getting Started
If you’re running for office, working with a County Party, or trying to organize a political club, the first thing you need is VAN. VAN is the central tool that the entire Democratic ecosystem is built around. It has a list of all of your voters, it connects to your voter contact tools, and it allows you to save information about the work you do. To request VAN, you can go to txdem.co/van-request (you can also see the Data Resources section for more info).
As you’re campaigning, you will probably have questions.
For data questions, please visit txdem.co/van-help or email us at vanhelp@txdemocrats.org
For all other questions, please visit txdem.co/help or email us at help@txdemocrats.org
Data Resources
Votebuilder or VAN
This is the most important service the TDP offers. Votebuilder is a CRM (customer relationship management) tool specifically designed for politics. It’s the industry standard. Votebuilder comes preloaded with the Voter File, a list of all registered voters in their district, and our best guess at contact information for them. To request van, visit txdem.co/van-request
Why you need VAN
VAN provides:
A complete list of your constituents
Their contact information (includes user-entered information and phone numbers the DNC has bought from vendors)
Vote history - see what previous elections your constituents have voted in
Tracks contact history with your supporters
Easy ways to do analysis of your voters - you can use the “counts and crosstabs” feature to see your electoral split up by
Texas Specific Features
Modeled information about voters - voters come with a Texas-specific partisanship and turnout score.
Targets (txdem.co/tdp-targets) - the TDP provides “Targets” as a starting point for creating lists of voters your campaign might want to contact. Generally, field programs start with the Ask Party Support targets to identify supporters, and then switch to the Turnout Targets to get them to go vote. These targets exclude people who have been recently contacted by another campaign, so Democrats won’t be calling, texting, and knocking on people’s doors multiple times in the same couple of days. There is the option to use the with Recent Contacts versions of the targets but we strongly recommend that field programs only do this if they have a clear plan to avoid duplicate contact.
VAN support - either go to txdem.co/van-help or email us at vanhelp@txdemocrats.org to put in a help ticket. Do not use the “contact the admin” button in VAN. It will result in a delayed response.
Personalized onboardings - You will receive an email introducing you to your Regional Political Manager, who is your point of contact for party resources in your part of Texas! RPMs live and work in your region, so they often have the most relevant and up-to-date information. Any campaign is welcome to request a meeting with an RPM and member of the Data Team in order to better understand how to use the resources we have available.
VAN Pricing
VAN fees are confidential. To get a quote, please request VAN at txdem.co/van-request
Fees are set based on the size of the race and the level of the ballot that you’re running on. We focus on fairness and uniformity in pricing. VAN fees stay constant across the cycle; you pay the same amount no matter when you buy. You can read more about our prices here: 2023-2024 VAN Fee Schedule [Internal]
How to Request VAN
To request van, fill out the form at txdem.co/van-request
Where to find VAN Support
We have an online help form at txdem.co/van-help. You can contact our data team directly at vanhelp@txdemocrats.org
We have a lot of training resources available to help people learn VAN.
First, every campaign is welcome to schedule a time to talk with a member of the data team to learn more about Texas VAN. Please email data@txdemocrats.org and CC your regional political manager. Based on experience, if you include specific questions or goals in your email our team will be able to better prepare to get you what you need!
We have an online training portal, MyTexasLearns.com. You can make an account, watch training videos
Committee Admin Report (CAR) Dashboard
The Committee Admin Report is a report that shows information that’s useful for VAN admins but difficult to get out of VAN directly. We’re going to build on this report as the cycle continues to add more content. Right now, the report shows:
Voter contact by method - break down contact by phone, block walk, etc
Voter contact by time - show contacts by time
Committee Overview - info about your users, when they’ve logged in, and what survey questions are shared with your committee
You can see the report at txdem.co/report
The first page of the report has instructions on how to read the report, including what to do if you don’t have a google email. If there’s more questions, or if you don’t have access to parts of the report you think you should: contact the data team at vanhelp@txdemocrats.org
OutreachCircle
OutreachCircle is a relational organizing app. The Texas Democratic Party has negotiated a deal with PDI to get access to OutreachCircle at a discount for Texas campaigns. This discount is very significant - usually more than 50% off. You can get a quote at txdem.co/request-relational (or txdem.co/relational-request)
Why You Need OutreachCircle
Relational organizing has proven to be the most effective way of contacting voters. At its most basic level, relational organizing is having people contact their friends instead of contacting strangers.
I like to use the analogy of a movie - if you see ads saying a movie is good or hear people talking about it, that has some impact on your opinion. But if one of your friends sees the movie and tells you it was good, now you’re much more likely to go see it. Who is telling you a thing is much more important than how they are telling you.
Particularly for down ballot races, relational organizing is the most effective way to get people to attend events, vote, or anything else you want them to do.
What about other relational apps?
The TDP interviewed all of the top apps before landing on OutreachCircle. Many of the apps on the market are good products. We think OutreachCircle is a clear winner in terms of price, but we also think it’s better quality for three reasons:
First, it’s a true statewide network - other relational tools don’t have the ability to share supporters between campaigns. That means that a supporter has to import all of their contacts from scratch every time they join a new campaign. In Connect Texas, by contrast, it’s easy for volunteers to join every campaign they’re interested in. This is a big advantage for smaller campaigns for two reasons:
You get access to more volunteers more easily
Requires less work for you to run the app - your volunteers will see actions from the State Party to keep them engaged and doing canvassing work for you
Second, OutreachCircle is a more powerful app - it has more types of actions and more capabilities than anything else we looked at. You can create actions to have your supporters watch videos; share social media posts; email, call, or text their friends; attend a mobilize event; contact only their friends on a specific list; and many, many more things.
Third, OutreachCircle works with our Voter Registration goals. The TDP worked with PDI to build a custom, Texas-specific flow for Voter Registration. We’ve supplied models to help register Democrats and help flip the state.
How do I get OutreachCircle?
You can request OutreachCircle at txdem.co/request-relational We’ll send your request to PDI, and they’ll reach out with a discount code to use when you sign up.
Hustle
Hustle is a texting platform that campaigns can use to contact voters. The Texas Democratic Party has negotiated a deal with Hustle to give discounted prices to campaigns in Texas.
Campaigns don’t have to do anything to get their discount in Hustle; it’s applied automatically to Texas campaigns.
Phoenix
For larger and more sophisticated campaigns, the TDP is willing to share access to Phoenix. Phoenix is the data warehouse that the TDP and DNC use. It’s a Google BigQuery account that contains all of the information in the voter file and a sync of all of the data entered into VAN. For campaigns that invest in a data team, access to Phoenix is a prerequisite for building efficient data pipelines.
Access to Phoenix is available on request. txdem.co/phoenix-request
Messaging Resources (Comms/Digital)
Stay in the know:
Sign up to receive press releases
Join our email list
Sign up to receive our texts
Follow us on social media!
Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok: @texasdemocrats
Please find any TDP branded document templates, our brand guide regarding official colors and fonts, messaging memos, and archived graphics. This is a publicly shared document, meaning that anyone with the link has access.
Contact our Digital Team (digital@txdemocrats.org) for:
If you want a social media post regarding a training, event, etc.
Ideas for our social media program
Collaboration on media campaigns or uplifting partner orgs and allies
Video content inquiries
Email fundraising inquiries
Blog post inquiries
Graphic design/production requests
Collaboration on media campaigns or uplifting partner orgs and allies
Please find any TDP talking points, social media posts/templates, op-ed, press release templates, and archived toolkits. This is a publicly shared document, meaning that anyone with the link has access.
If you have an interview with the press, need to collaborate on a media campaign, or have work that you want to uplift in the press, please reach out to your RPM and we can connect you with our comms department (press@txdemocrats.org).
Finance Resources
TDP created a training on finance and budgets. You can access it here: Intro to Finance & Budgeting
Finally, Numero offers an overview of political fundraising
You might need to talk to our finance team about:
Fundraising event inquiries and collaborations
Input on writing a finance plan, call time management, and fundraising events
Help connecting with other fundraisers and staff
If any of those apply to you, please contact help@txdemocrats.org or your RPM.
Political/Organizing Resources
Political Support
The Texas Democratic Party can help connect you to other Democrats in your community and across the state that can support your campaign.
County Parties and Precinct Chairs
Democratic Clubs and Organizations
Allied Organizations
Vendors and Consultants
Campaign Operational Support
Who to Contact
Brenda Cruz, South Texas Regional Political Manager
bcruz@txdemocrats.org
Ryan Garcia, Political Director
(210)488-8688
Voter Registration
Voter Registration Toolkit for County Parties!
The party’s Voter Registration Director is here to provide guidance and resources to set County Parties up for success, from helping them set goals and make a plan that will get them there, to providing access to ready to use tools that can be utilized for campaigns and events of any size or scale. The TDP is always looking for opportunities to partner with county parties on voter registration.
The Data Team has a number of resources available to help County Parties target their Voter Registration efforts:
Reregistration targets - We have lists of likely Democrats who were once registered and need to be reregistered, either because they moved or their registration expired.
Public person records - We have lists of individuals listed in public records (public employees, state licensees, college students, etc.) who are likely Democrats but not registered. We can't guarantee that these individuals are eligible.
Addresses without registered voters - Our most ambitious list - this is a list of addresses that don't have registered voters, but look like other addresses that contain Democrats. They might have eligible registrants, but we can't guarantee that either.
To get any of these things, please contact the Data Team.
Voter Protection Resources
MyTexasVotes.com Voting Information Website
The Texas Democratic Party hosts the website MyTexasVotes.com as a one-stop-shop voting information hub for Democrats across the state, available in English and Spanish. It provides voters with:
A polling place lookup around election times (they only need to enter their address, not all their personal info)
A voter registration lookup tool to confirm the voter is registered
A voter registration application request tool – a would-be voter fills in their info and we mail them a voter registration application to complete and submit
A mail ballot application request tool – a voter fills in their info and we mail them a mail ballot application to complete and submit
FAQs about voting (e.g., deadlines, mail ballot requirements, ID requirements, language access options)
By linking to and encouraging voters to use the tools in MyTexasVotes.com, you’ll also help improve the data available to all campaigns because it allows us to add information to VAN about voters who have requested a mail ballot, for example. Which, in turn, allows Democratic groups to provide helpful reminders to those voters about voting by mail, submitting their ballot, etc.
Feel free to copy and paste language from the website directly onto your own materials and link to the site from your website so that voters always have updated, current information amid a changing election law landscape. We recommend including the following language on your mailers, fliers, etc.:
To find your polling place, go to MyTexasVotes.com.
If you have voting questions or issues, call 844-TX-VOTES.
Voter Assistance Hotline
The Texas Democratic Party runs a year-round Voter Assistance Hotline at 844-TX-VOTES (844-898-6837). Voters can call and get help with any voting-related questions or problems – from finding out where their polling place is or requesting a mail ballot application to support if their mail ballot is rejected or they are told they cannot vote. During election periods (typically including voter registration deadlines, early voting, mail ballot cure periods), the Hotline is answered in real time so voters get immediate assistance with their question or problem. In between election periods, voters leave a voicemail and we respond to all voicemails within 1-2 business days. We are constantly monitoring call volume and increasing our staffing accordingly.
If you are sending out a mailing larger than 10,000 pieces with the Hotline number on it, we would appreciate a heads up so we can staff up in accordance with the increased volume of calls and ensure that the voters you’re contacting receive quick and timely assistance. Please email politicalhelp@txdemocrats.org and indicate:
The expected date that mail pieces will start arriving in mailboxes
The number of pieces that are being mailed
If there is a particular focus of the mailing (e.g., sending mail ballot applications, confirm your voter registration status, general persuasion/GOTV), knowing that would also be helpful
Poll Watcher Program
The Texas Democratic Party manages a statewide poll watching effort for every even-numbered general election (and often primaries and other major elections). We take point on:
Recruitment
Training - The State Party requires all Democratic poll watchers to take our training and to take an additional, legally required, online, on-demand training from the Secretary of State.
Placement - Assign individual poll watchers to the polling place they will serve at during their volunteer shift
Credentialing
Management - Poll watchers will have a point of contact with the Texas Democratic Party who will be available throughout their shift to check in periodically, answer questions, and coach them on problem resolution.
Problem Resolution - The Texas Democratic Party team will work to resolve the voting problems that are brought to our attention and record them to guide future advocacy and poll watching efforts.
Poll watchers will not be at every polling place in the state. As with every effort that relies on volunteers, we never have as many volunteers as we could use, so we prioritize polling places with high Democratic turnout to support as many of our voters as possible and/or those with a history of issues that could impede voter access.
We strongly encourage any candidate or other group interested in fielding poll watchers to coordinate with our efforts to minimize the duplication of effort and expand the areas we’re collectively able to cover. The quickest and most efficient way to do that is to recruit poll watchers to the Texas Democratic Party’s poll watching effort. You can share this link with interested volunteers to sign up. Suggested posts/recruitment messages: txdem.co/vopro-recruit
If you would like to discuss a different type of collaboration or learn more about our poll watching program, email voting@txdemocrats.org and the Program Manager will follow up with you.