Local Democratic and Republican officials are implementing what they hope will be winning strategies for November.

As candidates flock to various festivals, barbecues and parades in the Heart of Texas region, the chairs of the GOP and Democratic Party in McLennan County are fine-tuning plans to get voters to the polls for early voting, which starts in less than three weeks, and on Election Day, Nov. 2.

McLennan County Democratic Party chairwoman Karen Petree laughs before the start of the Moody Cotton Harvest Festival parade. She said her party's door-to-door efforts are in full swing.
Rod Aydelotte / Tribune-Herald

Fresh off a trip to Europe to visit former colleagues, McLennan County Republican chairman Joe Hinton said Monday the GOP is about to kick off a mail outreach program to the party’s voters. He said Republicans also will do extensive phone outreach and, closer to the election, spend money on advertising.

“We have a lot of good folks but we have to motivate them,” Hinton said.

McLennan County Democratic Party chairwoman Karen Petree said her party’s door-to-door efforts are in full swing, and phone banks and mailers are also getting under way.

“We’re in our third week of talking to voters at their homes,” said Petree, who knocked on doors after the Moody Cotton Harvest Festival on Saturday.

She also noted county Democratic workers are making sure their efforts don’t overlap with those of the local Organizing for America office.

Hector Nieto, an OFA spokesman, said his organization is staying active throughout the state, particularly the Central Texas region, where its volunteers are focused on getting Democrats who voted for the first time in the 2008 presidential election back to the polls this year.

For now, Nieto said OFA is strictly reaching out to voters using phone banks in the Waco region.

As far as the county party’s game plan, Hinton said he wants to build on the successes from previous election cycle.

During the past decade, Republicans picked up seats in McLennan County, and several one-time Democratic officeholders, including County Judge Jim Lewis and Sheriff Larry Lynch, defected to the GOP.

“We’ve got a pretty solid operation here,” Hinton said. “There’s not too much I want to change, but that doesn’t mean we relax.”

McLennan County Republican Party chairman Joe Hinton campaigns at the festival.
Rod Aydelotte/Waco Tribune-Herald

He predicted that one new wrinkle of the 2010 election cycle — the emergence of conservative-minded tea party groups — will provide a boost to Republicans.

“We’ve got a pretty good tea party group here, and I have to admit the tea party has kept the focus on Washington, D.C.” Hinton said.

The Waco Tea Party is holding what is being called an activist training session Saturday in Woodway with Virginia-based American Majority and Americans for Prosperity.

According to a description of the event, trainers will focus in part on the high-profile race between Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, and Bryan businessman Bill Flores.

Jimmy Kerr, a recently elected member of the State Republican Executive Committee who has ties to area tea party groups, said conservative activists and establishment Republicans have a common goal in November.

“We’re all heading in the proper direction to elect conservative Republicans,” Kerr said. He added that after the election, conservatives would not let up and would turn their attention to pressing newly elected Republican officeholders to keep their campaign promises.

Both Hinton and Petree expressed enthusiasm about their parties’ slate of candidates.

“I think Chet’s running for his life this time around,” Hinton said. Hinton said Republicans nationally are laser-focused on winning control of the U.S. House or Senate, and “if we can get Bill (Flores) into Chet’s seat, that’d be a coup.”

McLennan County Sheriff Larry Lynch is not up for re-election this year, but that didn’t stop him from tossing out bubble gum Saturday at the Moody Cotton Harvest Festival parade.
Rod Aydelotte/Waco Tribune-Herald

Petree predicted Edwards’ advocacy for veterans and his efforts to bring jobs to the congressional district — which stretches from Aggieland, through Waco and up to Burleson — would win over voters and carry the congressman to victory.

She also talked up down-ballot candidates, specifically incumbents Bill Helton, who is running for re-election as county treasurer, and John Segrest, the county district attorney. Helton faces a challenger in Danny Volcik, and Segrest is taking on Abel Reyna.

“I think voters will look at the experience on the Democratic ballot,” Petree said.

mshapiro@wacotrib.com

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