Puro Politics is a weekly podcast hosted by columnist Gilbert Garcia, covering the drama and nuance of local government issues.
Produced by Joy-Marie Scott.
Listen and subscribe on: Apple Podcasts Spotify Stitcher TuneIn& RSS All Episodes
Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez didn’t want to run for the U.S. Senate.
Tzintzún Ramirez, an Austin-based organizer and activist, had worked for years to affect social change by working outside the system: first, as the founder of a labor advocacy group called the Workers Defense Project, and, more recently, by creating a Latino mobilization organization called Jolt.
Last year, the digital and field directors for Beto O’Rourke’s 2018 Senate campaign approached Tzintzún Ramirez and asked her to consider a Senate run of her own in 2020. She says it took two months of cajoling to convince her.
“I’m very progressive, but I didn’t want to run just to push other candidates to the left,” Tzintzún Ramirez said on this week’s edition of the Express-News’ Puro Politics podcast. “I have no interest in doing that. I have a beautiful 2-year-old little boy at home, who’s going to be 3 next week, who I would much prefer to spend time with than doing that. And I felt like I could do that at Jolt.”
Tzintzún Ramirez’s recruiters didn’t let up, largely because they sensed that the crowded Democratic primary field (which features 12 candidates) didn’t have anyone with her established skills at increasing voter engagement, particularly with Latino voters.
Tzintzún Ramirez isn’t trying to triangulate the Texas electorate. She’s not shy in proclaiming her support for progressive causes such as the mandatory buyback of assault weapons, Medicare for All and a Green New Deal. She knocked on doors for Bernie Sanders’ insurgent 2016 presidential campaign and only last week earned an endorsement from one of Sanders’ most famous loyalists, actress Susan Sarandon.
“I am running a get-out-the-vote campaign,” Tzintzún Ramirez said. “I’m not running a persuasion campaign.
“I know that there are millions and millions of voters that are already voting that are Democrats. And millions more that need to vote. But they need to be inspired, they need to be heard and they need to feel like someone fights for them. And that is something I know how to do.”
Hear these and other topics discussed on this week’s episode of the Puro Politics podcast.
Gilbert Garcia is a columnist covering the San Antonio and Bexar County area. Read him on our free site, mySA.com, and on our subscriber site, ExpressNews.com. | ggarcia@express-news.net | Twitter: @gilgamesh470
