Before we get to the news, many of you are new to Texas Signal. Allow us to introduce ourselves.
We are a progressive voice of political news and analysis in Texas. Such a voice, we think, is vital heading into the 2020 elections. Conservatives are already pumping out their content — and their message –a mile a minute, especially right now around impeachment.
The Trump campaign, for instance, is spending heavily on social media to discredit mainstream media in Texas and nationally and defend himself against an impeachment inquiry.
All the more reason to make the progressive voice louder and more frequent.
We want to give it up to our readers, viewers, and listeners for their engagement over the past six months. On this journey, 220,000 people have visited our channels or engaged with our platforms. Monthly website readership is between 22,000-25,000 and growing. We’ve reached 1.8 million people on Facebook and 2 million on Twitter. We’re still, no doubt, a scrappy startup trying to build itself in the giant state of Texas.
The Signal’s original reporting and video storytelling about Sen. John Cornyn, Rep. Michael McCaul, and Greg Abbott have helped drive our growth, as have our profiles of progressive leaders, the 2020 storyline that Texas is a swing state, and constant progressive coverage of health care, voting rights, immigration, and, increasingly, impeachment.
We’ve also paid a lot of attention to the rich diversity of Democratic candidates in the U.S. Senate race. Cue the news.
The Signal is hosting a forum for many of the candidates vying to unseat John Cornyn on October 23 in Houston. The event will be at a movie theater and, yes, popcorn will be served. Confirmed candidates include MJ Hegar, Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez, Amanda Edwards, Chris Bell, Sema Hernandez, and Royce West.
Royce Brooks, executive director of Annie’s List, will be co-moderating with us.
Free tickets to the forum are available beginning tomorrow; more details coming soon. We hope you join us for what will be a lively discussion to hear from the candidates who want to send Cornyn into retirement. He has held elected office in Texas for 30 years, but about a third of Texans don’t even know who the guy is. His unbreakable allegiance to both President Trump and the pharmaceutical industry, however, is impressive.
This story has been updated.
Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
