CLEBURNE — Two doors down from the local Republican headquarters, Democrat Lupe Valdez greeted a group of about 30 supporters and volunteers at a rural campaign field office in Johnson County on Tuesday afternoon, thanking each for working to elect a Democrat in November.

Valdez, the former Dallas County sheriff, made sure to shake every hand in the office before her campaign pitch. After Cleburne, she was headed south to the Houston area to march in a few Independence Day parades on Wednesday.

Valdez and other Democrats will need to harvest a much bigger share of rural Texas votes to have any hope in November, so progressive Democrats helped open a field office here to focus on rural counties around Dallas-Fort Worth.

And the gubernatorial candidate emphasized patriotism in her remarks, telling the group she's tired of hearing Republicans claim patriotism as theirs.

"The other side is not as patriotic as we are," said Valdez, a former Army National Guard officer, as the crowd cheered. "How many of us have been in the military? It's more of our folks who go into the military. It's the sons and daughters of the waitress, the schoolteacher, the factory worker, it's the people who are seeking opportunity. Guess who that is? It's us."

"Don't tell me we're not as patriotic as the other side."

The campaign field office where she spoke opened earlier this year and coordinates with local Democratic groups in 12 rural counties in the North Central Texas region, which includes Johnson, Hood and Bosque counties. Volunteers with the organization knock on doors and send out mailings, working to get voters energized about the midterm elections. The state party typically has had field offices in urban areas.

I’m here at the North Central Texas Coordinated Campaign office in Cleburne, where @LupeValdez is expected to arrive in 10 minutes.



Follow along as I tweet some updates for @dallasnews. 👋🏻#txlege #txgov #txsen pic.twitter.com/alNDU93x1S — Forrest Milburn (@forrestmilburn) July 3, 2018

"Our whole goal here is to educate, advise and train people, helping them know who they're voting for," chapter leader Kat Sanders said. "When we started actually getting out and combing through neighborhoods to talk to people, the one thing they said was, 'I don't even know who's running.'... We've got a lot of work to do."

It may take more than just a little work in this deep-red part of Texas, even in a year when Democrats seem more enthused about heading to the polls than in previous midterm cycles.

A University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll released last week gave incumbent Republican Gov. Greg Abbott a comfortable 12-point lead over Valdez, even as Democrats running for other statewide offices — like Beto O'Rourke for U.S. Senate — trailed their opponents by slimmer margins.

But Valdez isn't discouraged. If anything, claims that her race is an "uphill battle" inspire her to keep pushing and traveling across the state, talking and chatting with supporters like the ones gathered Tuesday.

"They keep telling me it's an uphill battle, but what other kind of battle is there?" she told the crowd. "When the heck have I not had an uphill battle? It's never been a piece of cake for me.

"I know nothing but uphill battles," she added, "and I'm not done yet."