Changing Course: Announcing My New Campaign in House District 17

I have something big to tell y’all, but it starts with a story.

Back in February of this year (or approximately 127 years ago…feels about the same, right?), I was helping my neighbors carry well water when the Big Freeze rendered the water and power supply completely useless for almost all of us.

We should never have been left to fend for ourselves. But, thanks to the community around us, we didn’t have to. We got to work…together. Texans have always pulled through with neighbors helping neighbors.

That night, huddled around a wood-burning fireplace with my family, trying to stay warm while I used my phone’s spotty mobile signal to check on loved ones across the state to make sure they were safe, I was thinking the same things a lot of Texans were:

“Why didn’t someone catch this before it happened?”

“It didn’t have to be like this.”

“My State Representative didn’t even have an opponent last fall. How could that happen? Did he even try to prevent any of what we’re going through now?”
“Somebody should do something about this before it happens again.”

And then, I remembered: I am somebody.

Getting to Work

So I started looking into what it would take to run for office. I made calls to set up meetings with the Democratic Committee Chairs in each of the counties in House District 13. I talked with local activists and voters. I listened to their stories, their fears, their hopes for what Texas could be for all of us in the future.

And then I got to work. I hired a campaign manager and appointed a treasurer. I invited trusted people in my life to be part of my “kitchen cabinet” and we began developing a policy platform that reflected the needs, hopes, and dreams of our neighbors here in central Texas.

We filmed a campaign announcement video with a Bluetooth shotgun mic and an iPhone in my family’s vineyard, just steps away from the well that supplied water when the state left us to our own found resources to make it through the winter storm.

We researched, planned, and created something really amazing. And, all the while, we did it with the awareness that the redistricting planned for the upcoming legislative session made the odds that the counties I’d ultimately be running in not only a possibility, but a probability.

Still, we knew that there would be some things we could expect to stay the same. Burleson and Washington Counties, for example, have shared a House district for the better part of a century.

Even with the uncertainty of how district lines would shake out later in the year, we knew we needed all the time on the ground we could get ahead of the 2022 election. There was simply too much ground to cover, especially in a part of Texas that has faced an audacious degree of gerrymandering, voter suppression, and dismissal from the people who were supposed to have their back in the Capitol.

New Maps, New Challenge

Unfortunately, when it came time to draw the maps, the House Redistricting Committee opted to ratchet up the same tactics that have been in play for decades, choosing to draw lines around communities all across the state without regard for the wildly different needs and demographics that determine the kind of representation they deserve in Austin.

As a result, my home district, HD-13, was fractured into four new districts, each one extending into different Republican strongholds, and each one diluting the voting power of counties that saw new growth in the voter populations we’ve historically pushed into the margins.

What does that mean now? Well, we’ve been drawn into a brand-new district! And that means I am formally announcing my candidacy for Texas State Representative in House District 17.

Of the seven counties I was working in up until now, our campaign will represent only one going forward: my home, Burleson County, Texas.

We’re also picking up four new counties: Bastrop, Caldwell, Lee, and Milam. That means we’re going to be laying brand-new groundwork in each one. Setting up new meetings, hearing from new community leaders, activists, and voters. Understanding new priorities and concerns for the neighbors I hope to represent.

What Does This Mean for Our Campaign?

First thing’s first: we’re not starting from scratch. We’ve already started building an incredible coalition that recognizes each Texan as our neighbor, and that transcends the lines anyone can draw on a map.

We will continue investing time, resources, and energy into the communities who need to be heard. We will continue reaching out to organizers, activists, and candidates in neighboring districts who share our vision for a better, fairer, more sustainable Texas.

In fact, I would like to personally invite anyone—whether you’re in my district, in my state, or metaphorically in my corner—to reach out. Call, text, email, or DM me and let’s talk about what’s going on.

Mister Rogers famously said, “When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’”

If you want to be that kind of a helper to the people around you, but you don’t know where to start, reach out to me and I’ll help you plug in with any or all of the folks we know who are doing the good work here in Texas.

I’m ready to get to work in these new counties. While we are not starting from scratch, we’ve got a lot of new work ahead of us, and it’s gonna take all of us to make it happen.

We need time, money, and a strong network of neighbors to hear from folks (and to make sure folks hear about us!). We’re gonna need money to hire additional staff (and pay them a fair and sustainable wage). We’re gonna need volunteers to reach out to every voter who has been forgotten by our leadership in Austin. We’re gonna need folks to help us research, learn, and build coalitions, because we know that Texans pull through with neighbors helping neighbors.

Today is November 8, 2021. We’ll elect our State Representative in House District 17 on November 8, 2022. We have one year. One year to meet our neighbors, hear them out, and raise our voices for the kind of Texas we all deserve before it’s time to head to the ballot box. We can do this together. Let’s get to work.


See you ‘round, neighbor,

Josh Tutt
Candidate for Texas State Representative, HD-17
979-353-2535
Josh@TuttForTexas.com