Thread by @JulieForTX25

Why is my Democratic opponent spreading lies and attacking me? 1/

In a mass email yesterday, my opponent made a clumsy attempt at painting me as some kind of plutocratic corporate lawyer, by stating “she has spent her career as in-house corporate counsel for HCA, the largest for-profit hospital monopoly in the world.” 2/

A quick LinkedIn search is all you have to do to see that I am a Division Controller - a financial position ensuring accuracy in financial reporting - essentially, my job is ensuring transparency and accountability. I am not "in-house counsel". But even if I was, so what? 3/

I came from extraordinarily humble beginnings. I was born in poverty and I was homeless and pregnant at the age of 17. I put myself through college and law school on my own. My mother was a single mom raising 4 kids the best she could on $700/month. I’ve worked since I was 15. 4/

I’ve been volunteering in my community since I was 14 years old - first at the Dallas VA hospital, then doing pro bono income tax assistance and elder care legal services, teaching Sunday school.... 5/

I've delivered Meals on Wheels for 15 years. Most recently, serving on the Board of Central Health, I’ve been an outspoken advocate for transparency and indigent & low-income folks who need health care in communities that has advocated for a full-time clinic for years. 6/

At an April 9 Circle C Area Democrats candidate forum, I was invited to ask my opponent a question. My question: “In this campaign, will you commit to staying positive and not launching negative personal attacks?” 7/

My opponent's reply: “I don’t launch any negativity so I can say to you, Julie, that I won’t do any negative personal attacks.” 8/

At the same forum, my opponent also said, “I don’t hire political consultants to tell me what to do.” But his first quarter FEC candidate filing - released a few days after the forum - is explicit: he paid Y Strategy ~ $8,000 for “general campaign consulting." 9/

That was two weeks ago. Facts matter. Honesty matters. Character matters. If a candidate can't keep his publicly given word longer than 14 days, or if a candidate publicly makes a claim in direct contradiction to a report that *he himself filed*, what does that tell us? 10/

How is dehumanizing and attempting to shame a working mom supposed to be a “unifying message”? There is nothing “unifying” about using divisive labels and spreading lies. 11/

I think an email like the one my opponent sent drives home an important point though. *This* is why Democrats keep losing. The current strategy of Democrats destroying each other is not working for us, and it is definitely not working for our country. 12/

This is the most important election of our lives. We all claim to want the same things. We won’t get *any of them* if we don’t pull together and commit to facing the really big, urgent problems facing this country head on. 13/

So I'm going to keep running an honest, transparent campaign, and keep focusing on what’s important to each of us:

•Getting healthcare for every single person in this country, whether they’re rich or poor, young or old, pre-existing conditions or not -- Medicare for all; 14/

• investing in public education so that every kid, no matter what ZIP code they live in, can get the best possible education, empowering teachers, making higher education affordable and ensuring that students aren’t crushed by student debt; 15/

• getting big corporate money out of our elections and out of the halls of Congress;

• fighting for a Texas that values the lives of women, and especially women of color; 16/

• protecting Dreamers and TPS recipients - and their families - from the threat of deportation, and instituting comprehensive immigration reform that doesn’t break families apart; 17/

• ensuring full equality for every American under the law, and guaranteeing that same-sex couples are entitled to access the same federal benefits as any other Texas family; 18/

• passing common-sense gun safety legislation to address the urgent public health crisis of gun violence in this country; 19/

• and ensuring that every Texan that can is able to find meaningful work and earn a living wage. 20/

We're in a crisis. This isn't the time for lies, divisive labels, and easily disproved allegations. My promise to you is to keep working as hard as I can so that everybody in this district has a voice and a vote. I hope you’ll stand with me as I do. /End

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