Texas Elections Are Awash in Money. McAllen Voters Could Change That Locally This November

Texas AFT applauds our coalition ally Ground Game Texas for turning in over 5,000 signatures to qualify for a McAllen ballot measure that would limit campaign contributions and give city voters the powers of initiative, referendum, and recall.

Educators were aghast at the unlimited PAC money that unduly influenced Republican primaries this year. In order for educators to truly thrive, we need to remove the influence of unlimited corporate and billionaire money from our politics, and that effort starts with local initiatives like the work Ground Game Texas is doing in McAllen.

The petition campaign will put two policy measures on the ballot:

• new campaign finance rules for city candidates limiting campaign contributions to $500 per donor

• a process for McAllen voters to adopt new policies and recall officeholders through ballot petitions

City staff have pledged to process the petition in a timely manner so that voters will have the opportunity to vote on the charter amendment in the November 2024 general election.

"Esta iniciativa es importante porque demuestra a nuestras comunidades el poder de nuestras voces," said Karen Salazar, Ground Game Texas' campaign manager, in a press release."Nosotros merecemos un gobierno local que priorice nuestras comunidades antes de los lucros."

We couldn't agree more: "This initiative is important because it shows our communities the power of our voices. We deserve a local government that prioritizes our communities before profits."

It is vital for educators to participate in local democracy. The only way we can achieve our goals of a thriving profession and thriving public schools is to remove the scheme of legalized bribery that's been created in Texas through an unfettered campaign finance system. We support Ground Game Texas in its efforts to improve local democracy through ballot measure campaigns.

This campaign would be the first citizen-led initiative to pass campaign finance reform in South Texas and would help McAllen voters achieve their goal of having a more responsive local government with less room for corruption.

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