25K doors knocked. Volunteers from all over TX, multiple states, one person even flying from Spain to help. Beto himself personally knocked doors for all 3 full shifts each day for 600 doors. For a Texas State House runoff election that typically may get <20K votes total.

Thank you Beto and his Powered by People volunteers!

x Megha, Kanachi and Maela Ã¢ÂÂ all star block walkers! We just finished the last shift on the last day before early voting - and it was one of our best yet! Thanks to all who are voting for Eliz Markowitz this week and all who knocked on doors to remind them! #poweredxpeople pic.twitter.com/XiuznLXcag — Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke) January 21, 2020

For those who followed Beto during his presidential race, you know that Beto campaigned and canvassed for many down ballot candidates nationwide, including Eliz (One earlier diary on this: Beto Canvasses for VA & TX Candidates ).

Beto’s formation of POWERED BY PEOPLE started with a heckuva bang for this initial priority focus on the special election January runoff for Eliz Markowitz in TX House District 28

Beto founded Powered by People to organize grassroots volunteers to do the tough, necessary work that wins elections—such as knocking doors, making phone calls, registering voters...

Why this race? Why is it so important? Texas is extremely gerrymandered and redistricting happens in 2020. Gaining control of one branch of Texas government would give Democrats a seat at the redistricting table. Fair redistricting would result in more state and federal seats for Democrats. Imagine having an even safer blue majority in the House of Representatives-- this has national implications so is important no matter where you live.

Also-- thanks to the hard work of Beto and others, Texas is now a battleground state. Canvassing voters will pay off up and down the 2020 ballot.

Beto is a unifier and builder of coalitions. Eliz tweeted that Beto had asked for support for her when Bloomberg came down to do some door knocking. Biden met with & endorsed her, and Castro stopped by for a short visit. Hopefully even more Presidential candidates will join in.

Powered by People volunteers also partnered with groups such as Moms Demand, and the DLCC sent a representative for the second Powered by People weekend of action

x The DLCC squad is looking forward to joining @Betoorourke in Texas this weekend to get out the vote for @ElizMarkowitz! This is our first chance to gain ground in the Texas House--one of our top chamber targets in 2020. #FlipEverything https://t.co/7SJp4qZG1a — Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (@DLCC) January 17, 2020

Beto is pouring his heart, soul, and energy into Eliz’s race. Campaigning, door knocking, endorsing, e-mailing, tweeting—even hosting a phonebank for Eliz at his own house. These past few weeks, right before early voting, have gone into overdrive. Beto’s Powered by People volunteers have been phonebanking from all over the country to recruit volunteers for on-the-ground door knocking for two relentless Weekends of Action—3 canvassing shifts per day with volunteers even writing postcards during any spare moments of downtime.

For those phonebanking to recruit volunteers—a big draw was Beto having breakfast with volunteers every morning and happy hour with volunteers in the evening. In addition, Beto is doing days of 3 shifts (9 hours) of personally door knocking … I don't know where he gets the energy.

Here is a fantastically fun short video from the a house Beto knocked on-- Publishers Clearinghouse Sweepstakes even falls short of this reaction!

x #BETO canvasing in TX. Homeowner screams with excitement when she opens the door.Ã°ÂÂÂºÃ°ÂÂÂ¸



pic.twitter.com/YmTO39QB6l — Boom Ã°ÂÂÂ³Ã¯Â¸ÂÃ¢ÂÂÃ°ÂÂÂ (@DaxBoom) January 15, 2020

The GOP is shaking in their boots-- sending out mailers and e-mails raising the alarm to their supporters about Beto’s efforts to flip Texas and lying about Beto and his so-called dangerous liberal values. He's living rent-free in their minds even when he’s not running for anything himself.

As much as the GOP is scared of Beto, Texas Democrats are inspired and fired up. One amusing example of the Beto effect is other Democrats now adding the nickname “Beto” to their name on the ballot www.star-telegram.com/…

“O’Rourke is the living, breathing symbol of Democratic resurgence in Texas,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston. “His presence and help for Democrats up and down the ballot gives the party a boost from a campaign veteran and a wildly popular figure for many progressives in Texas.

and

But the name “Beto” is being mentioned in more than campaign speeches. It’s showing up on the ballot. Six Democrats across the state have added “Beto” to their names on the ballot.

In addition to the amazing efforts happening in HD28, Beto & Powered by People have partnered with other organizations such as Flip the Texas House (flipthetxhouse.com) which is targeting 17 flip-able TX House districts where Republicans won by <10,000 votes last election and Register2vote.org

x Thank you @BetoORourke for folding voter registration forms with us! If you receive a VR form this week, Beto may have prepped it for you!



Getting registered is easy and takes just a few simple steps. Ã¢ÂÂ Ã¢ÂÂ



Start now by checking your registration status: https://t.co/xQQ531vEJT pic.twitter.com/XUBcpLPizS — Register2Vote.org (@GoRegister2Vote) January 15, 2020

And Beto has been knocking doors in the 2nd Congressional District also:

x @BetoORourke out there block walking with @SimaforTX . Trying to take on Dan Crenshaw in Houston. Go #PoweredByPeople ! pic.twitter.com/idy1XEo2nS — Tom Taylor (@Rusmokin) January 15, 2020

Today is the first day of early voting in HD28—There are five “Vote with Eliz and Beto” Powered by People events scheduled at different poll locations throughout the day--if you are in this district, GO VOTE!!!!

Godspeed to Eliz Markowitz and Beto with his Powered by People volunteers in their effort to win the HD28 race and all of their other efforts . Please turn Texas blue for all of us.