PROGRESSIVE VIEWS
Hello. My name is Suanne Pyle, and I am the new Democratic Chair for Kendall County.
I have been a Democrat my entire life, but my career in politics started with the Wendy Davis campaign for governor in 2014.
I previously lived in Port Aransas, served as a precinct chair, and volunteered with the Nueces County Democrats. My husband and I owned a small business in Port Aransas for 30 years; It was called Fly It Port A (or “The Kite Shop”).
I moved to Boerne in 2022 and quickly joined the local Democratic party. I served as treasurer for the Kendall County Democratic Party (KCDP) the last 3½ years, along with several other responsibilities.
I am a retired social studies teacher and feel very strongly about democracy (with a small d). I taught my students about the founding of America and the ideals with which the founders started our nation.
I taught them about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. As a lifelong educator, it is my honor to serve as the new Democratic Chair and continue to educate people about our democracy.
We recently completed a primary election. I first want to give a big shoutout to Staci Decker and her staff at the Kendall County Elections Office and all the poll workers who worked so hard the last few weeks.
Usually, in a midterm primary, turnout is very low. This election surpassed everyone’s expectations. Kendall County logged 2,581 voters in the Democratic primary and 10,359 voters in the Republican primary — about a 33% turnout. (Turnout in the 2022 midterm was about 29%.)
Texas has about 18.7 million registered voters statewide. About 4.5 million voted in this primary, with 2.3 million voting on the Democrat ballot and about 2.2 million voting on the Republican ballot. The statewide turnout average was about 25% (in 2022, about 17.6%).
These are great numbers, but they illustrate an ongoing problem: most people just don’t vote. If our turnout was 33%, that means 67% did not vote.
The history of our country is filled with people protesting and dying for the right to vote. Our democracy is supposed to be by the people, of the people and for the people. If “the people” don’t vote and participate in the process, then we are not doing what the founding fathers envisioned.
There will be a runoff election in May. Early voting will be May 18-22 with Election Day on Tuesday, May 26. Get registered to vote at least 30 days ahead of this election and go vote.
We can all see prices going up and up. The average price of a gallon of gas a month ago was $2.50; now it’s $3.12. This is directly tied to President Trump’s war in Iran.
About 20% of all produced oil goes through the Strait of Hormuz. This is now closed due to the war. This shortage is directly causing severe disruptions to liquefied natural gas and chemical exports and is creating severe economic hardship across the world.
In addition, this war is costing the U.S. about a billion dollars a day in equipment and manpower and causing the death of American servicemen.
At the same time in the U.S., vital programs like SNAP (Supplemental Assistance Nutrition Program), NIH (National Institutes of Health), and PBS (Public Broadcasting System) that protect and support the American people have been cut “because there is no money to fund them.”
Where are our priorities? I don’t think they should be starting wars; I think they should be to protect and support the people of the U.S.
I’d like to finish with an anecdote. My sister brought me lunch while I was working at the office; while she was at a Boerne restaurant, she stood behind two older men. She heard one of them say, “I have agreed with President Trump on everything he did, but this war is too much. I can’t agree with this.”
This gives me hope. Maybe a lot of Americans have had enough.
For more information on KCDP and its activism, subscribe to our newsletter on our website, call our office at 830-331-1243, or visit www.kcdems.us.
Suanne Pyle is the new Chair of the Kendall County Democratic Party
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