The 2016 presidential election should have been the wakeup call for the Democratic Party. Its failure to reclaim control of at least one congressional house, and the loss of three stronghold states in the presidential race were signs that new voters felt abandoned by the old guard. Unfortunately, the party didn’t learn from its mistakes.

Income inequality, crippling medical debt, shrinking disposable income, and systemic poverty are cross-generational issues which affect all other demographics. People of color, indigenous communities and persons vulnerable due to age, gender, origin or ability have been stripped of representation. These issues have been aggravated by top-down policies advanced by Democrats and Republicans alike. Nothing good grows when fed by “trickle-down.”

RELATED: Texas Republicans stray from conservative roots

The 2018 midterm elections inspired brave new candidates, eager to institute bold solutions to the struggles of working families and individuals. They embraced the Democratic party rather than run as independents or third-party candidates. But instead of welcoming them in what used to be a “big tent,” the Democratic party muted these new voices and clung to the corporate agenda that voters rejected in 2016.

I ran in the Texas Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate this year. I was rejected by the party as a nonviable candidate the day I registered my name for the ballot.

I campaigned on the issues that mattered most to Texas voters. People at every campaign stop listed a liveable wage, job security, guaranteed universal health care, education, environment, and indigenous rights as what mattered most to them. These are the same platform issues that have been at the heart of Democratic primary victories in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Montana and New York.

Today, the U.S. Senate race in Texas is tight. The 24 percent of primary voters who supported my progressive platform cannot find those policy solutions in the platform of either of the two candidates. Unless one of them convinces voters that they can do without a decent standard of living, health care, education, safe water, clean air and protection of their rights, those disenfranchised Texans are likely to stay home on Election Day.

Three of the brightest stars of the Democratic Party have faced the same opposition through the primary. Cathy Myers is a staunch Democratic reformer in Wisconsin, supporting universal heatlh care, a liveable wage, increased education spending and an end to corporatism. Party leaders propped up her primary opponent Randy Bryce, who repeatedly refused a public debate on the issues in their bid for Paul Ryan’s House seat. Grass-roots support boosted Cathy’s profile on social media until a debate finally was held, still with resistance from the party.

In Florida, Tim Canova twice has faced this same fate in his primary bid for the House seat held by Debbie Wasserman-Schultz. Running on a progressive platform in 2016, Democrats shut him out of appearances and debates with the incumbent, and a questionable primary culminated in the unlawful destruction of ballots by another party member. When party leaders this year once again bolstered Wasserman-Schultz’s campaign with donors and promotion, Tim withdrew as a Democrat and refiled to appear on the 2018 ballot as an independent.

Bill Cimbrelo, a Democrat in Massachusetts, is in a primary race for the House seat held by Bill Keating, a party holdover who opposes universal health care, a liveable wage and renegotiation of NAFTA. Bill’s platform mirrors that of Cathy Myers, Tim Canova and dozens of other Democratic reformers like myself, all of whom support legislation that makes our hard-earned tax dollars work for the 99 percent of U.S. citizens who paid them. Still, the Democratic party has promoted Keating’s candidacy, and Keating refuses to debate or even acknowledge his primary opponent.

The Democrats refuse to wake up.

The Democratic party needs to embrace progressive candidates, progressive issues, and progressive policies and solutions if they truly care about the people of our great state. Voters want to know that their tax dollars work for them and not for some CEO on Wall Street. The Democratic Party would be wise to pay less attention to million-dollar consultants and more attention to the working people who have the right to cast their vote for the candidate of their choice.

Time is running out.

Hernandez ran for the U.S. Senate in the Democratic primary.