Our Next Monthly Meeting

Joe Jaworski is running for Texas Attorney General. Elected after 2008’s Hurricane Ike, Joe served as the 55th mayor of Galveston, Texas. Mayor Joe, widely regarded as the city’s most responsive and accessible mayor in its nearly two-century history, led Galveston’s transformative recovery from epic natural disaster.

Mayor Joe personally resolved a decades-long Galveston dispute, leading the call for a popular election that forever changed the way improvements to Galveston’s famous Seawall Boulevard would be financed, a solution that today benefits millions of Texans yearly.

 Doug Greco has 25 years of experience as a political organizer, fighting for marginalized communities and progressive change. A former teacher, CTI Executive Director, and Chief of Staff for Rep. Gina Hinojosa, Doug has led campaigns for fair wages, equal rights, and stronger democracy. He’s ready to bring that fight to the Travis County Democratic Party and looks forward to working with every member to win in 2025 and beyond.

Ben Wilbanks from Blue Action

Managing Director and Lead Trainer, El Paso

Ben was always politically engaged but didn't become politically active until 2022 when the El Paso Chapter of Texas Blue Action was formed. The prospect of flipping Texas blue is intriguing, but El Paso's below-average voter turnout is something that needs to be addressed.

Ben graduated from Texas State University in 2010 with a Bachelor of Arts with a Major in Mass Communication-Advertising.

Nevin Kamath is the Treasurer and an Organizer with ResistAustin, an Austin-based grassroots nonprofit dedicated to the lawful, nonviolent civil resistance of authoritarians. ResistAustin was recently cited in The New York Times for its local Tesla Takedown campaign.

He is also the Director of the affiliated ResistTrump Campaign, a national initiative focused on lawful, nonviolent resistance to Donald Trump and his enablers.

Nevin brings over 15 years of experience in strategy consulting, leadership development, and international human rights. He holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School and began his career as a management consultant with the global firm McKinsey & Company. 

Krista, a longtime community advocate in Austin’s District 6, co-founded Access Education RRISD in 2021. As President, she built bipartisan coalitions to support public schools serving over 90% of District 6. 

When two school board members, backed by groups like Moms for Liberty and out-of-town PACs, tried to disrupt the district, Access RRISD endorsed its own slate of candidates—who won every seat despite being heavily outspent. 

In 2023, the group successfully campaigned for RRISD’s first VATRE to fund staff raises. Under Krista’s leadership, they’ve also fought state overreach, opposed vouchers, and supported equity, safety, and funding in schools. She stands for people over partisanship and solving problems locally.

Join us to support three outstanding City Council candidates endorsed by both the Travis and Williamson Counties Democratic Parties!

Natomi Blair (Leander City Council, Place 1): A seasoned leader in technical sales with nearly 20 years in Leander, Natomi serves as Chair of a local nonprofit and is dedicated to community service. She holds an MBA from Huston-Tillotson University.

Andrew Naudin (Leander City Council, Place 5): A native Texan and active community leader, Andrew has served on multiple Leander Boards and Commissions, including as Chair of the Economic Development Committee.

Alexis Frezza (Cedar Park City Council, Place 1): A lifelong Central Texan, Alexis is committed to housing, education, and local business growth. She and her family have proudly called Cedar Park home for over 40 years.

Let's come together to help elect these strong leaders!

Carisa Lopez is the Deputy Director of Texas Freedom Network (TFN).

In addition to overseeing TFN’s day-to-day work and implementation to ensure we meet our priority goals and maximize collaboration and impact, Carisa serves as a strategic resource and helper within the executive team on issues relating to board development, fundraising, and strategic initiatives. 

Carisa grew up in Garland, TX and moved to Austin in 2010 to attend the University of Texas where she graduated with a B.A. in Government.

Carisa got her start in community activism in college where she worked with the Texas Freedom Network’s student chapter at UT to organize her fellow students and register them to vote. Immediately after graduation she was invited to serve on TFN’s Board of Directors and work for the Texas Democratic Party on their fundraising and events team. She has since organized union members and lobbied the Texas legislature for workers rights with the Texas State Employee’s Union and served as the Executive Director for the Travis County Democratic Party where she ran the 2016 Coordinated Campaign. She came onto the TFN fulltime in 2018 ast the Political Director and currently serves as the Deputy Director.

Carisa has dedicated her career to electing progressive champions and working on progressive policies that will make a real impact on Texans lives. She currently lives in south Austin with her three dogs.

Vikki Goodwin is serving her third term representing Texas House District 47, which includes western Travis County. In the 88th Session, she passed bills on drowning prevention (Cati’s Act), violence prevention (Natalia Cox Act), mental health (AcuDetox expansion), and food security (Texas Food Security and Resiliency Council). She also co-authored bills on school funding, state employee pay, and teacher retirement.

Next session, she plans to file the Affordable Rent Act and continue advocating for her district, the environment, and a strong economy. A UT and LBJ School graduate, small business owner, and longtime Shady Hollow resident, Vikki’s community work inspired her to run for office and fight for those facing medical debt, student loans, and low wages.

We’ve experienced a tough election. But what happened locally? Are there some bright spots? Is there a reason for hope? How do we cope going forward?

Join us as Kerry Stevens shares his reflection on the election and our path forward. Kerry is the Chair of the Far Northwest Progressives Super Precinct, and a Vice Chair of the Travis Democratic Party.

Folks begin to congregate around 6:00pm to order food and drinks before the meeting starts. See you there!

Bill McCamley is the Executive Director of Transit Forward, an Austin 501c3 with a mission to educate and engage our friends and neighbors about transit with a focus on Project Connect. 

We hope you'll join to shake off those election-eve jitters together!

Currently serves as the Regional Organizing Director for the Texas Democratic Party as part of the 2024 Coordinated Campaign. Her organizing career began as a super volunteer for the Beto for Texas Senate campaign in 2018. Two years later, during the peak of the pandemic, she left teaching special education full-time and jumped into the political arena. 

Katy has had the opportunity to fight for Supreme Court expansion at Demand Justice, build voter registration programs at Deeds Not Words, and managed various Texas campaigns – most recently, Luke Warford’s race for Texas Railroad Commissioner in 2022. She's spent the last year as Organizing Director at the Travis County Democratic Party.

Katy lives in Austin, TX, with her husband Andrew and cat Savvy. When she isn’t organizing, you’ll find her curled up with a book and a cup of coffee.

Heather Jefts was re-elected to Place 6 of the Cedar Park City Council after being elected to serve in Place 6 in November 2020. She previously served on Place 5, after being elected to a two-year term from May 2017 to May 2019. A resident of Cedar Park since 2005, she volunteers with Vista Ridge PTA, Education Connection, Reveal Baby Blessings, and Hill Country Community Ministries, and she sits on the Board of Williamson County Children's Advocacy Center. Heather can often be found in a swimming pool, teaching swim lessons and coaching. In fact, Heather's love of swimming has taken her full circle in her career - from being a collegiate team swimmer for Johns Hopkins University to founding and owning Tempo Swimming.

An avid sports and outdoors person, Heather's favorite things about Cedar Park are the friendly people and the many hike-and-bike trails. She enjoys running, cycling, woodworking, gardening, and reading.

Heather was born at Fort Bragg and grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She and who she lovingly describes as her "awesome husband" Richard live in the Forest Oaks subdivision with their two sons, 21-year-old David, currently in college, and 17-year-old Will, a senior at VRHS, and the family's two big dogs.

Dwain Handley is running for election to the Texas House of Representatives for District 19. 

He is on the ballot in the Democratic primary on March 5, 2024  along with Zach Vance and 3 Republican candidates including Ellen Troxclair, Kyle Biedermann and Manny Campos. 

He is currently Chair for Precinct 19 in Burnet County and began his political activism after the Sandy Hook massacre.  He became a Neighborhood Team Leader in Richardson with Battleground Texas and eventually Precinct Chair.  His efforts contributed to flipping his House District in North Texas which remained Democratic until the 2020 legislative redistricting. 

He is a native Texan from Houston and has two degrees in Finance from Texas A&M University.  

Monique Alcala is the Executive Director of the Texas Democratic Party. Prior to this, she served as the Southwest Regional Director for State and Local Campaigns at EMILY's List, the nation's largest resource for pro-choice Democratic women in politics. She has over a decade of experience on campaigns, including competitive Democratic primaries, and in Democratic and Republican strongholds. In 2020, she served as the Coalitions Director for the Biden-Harris campaign in the Commonwealth of Virginia. During this historic election, her team organized hundreds of voter contact, messaging, and GOTV events, which prioritized engaging communities that have been historically excluded in democratic elections. 

Monique is a Political Partner at Truman National Security Project. Her area of expertise is on race/ethnicity, inequality, and political participation. She is a national parks enthusiast and a runner.