Today, I’m proud to announce that former Congressman Martin Frost has endorsed our campaign for District 101 in the Democratic primary!

Congressman Frost had this to say,

 I am proud to give my full support and endorsement to Chris Turner for State Representative. I know Chris well, and he is a committed, lifelong Democrat who will work tirelessly for all the families of Arlington and Grand Prairie.

Chris is the kind of legislator that we need in Austin – someone who works hard and is willing to stand up for Texas families, stand up for Texas workers, stand up for veterans, and stand up for equality and justice for all.

Chris won’t hesitate to take on Rick Perry and the Tea Party Republicans to protect our public schools and working families.

I am truly honored to have the endorsement and support of Congressman Frost. Martin represented all of District 101 at various times during his 26 years in Congress. Voters know and trust him. I am so proud to have his support in this campaign.

Martin continues to be a guiding light and source of inspiration for both Lisa and me in how we serve our neighbors. His work with Governor Ann Richards and union members to save jobs at General Motors, leadership in passing the Amber Hagerman Child Protection Act, and tireless work on behalf of his constituents are just a few of the reasons Martin is so well-regarded in our community.

Martin also knows a thing or two about taking on Republicans – and winning. As Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Martin picked up Democratic seats in the Congress in two consecutive election cycles. Martin led redistricting efforts for Democrats in Texas and helped countless Texas Democrats win campaigns. I hope to follow in his footsteps and help elect more Democrats around the state in the months and years ahead.

I hope you will join Martin in supporting my campaign today. We have made good progress towards our online goal of $12,000, but with just four days left until our next report deadline, we need your help. District 101 voters are ready for a representative in Austin who is going to fight for all of us – just like Congressman Frost did when he was in office. You can give $250, $100, $75, $50, or $25 and make a real difference in this campaign and for this district.

Thanks so much for your continued support!

Turner has worked tirelessly to serve our area while working for the good of the entire state.

Monday-Friday, May 14-May 18:
8am to 5pm

Saturday. May 19:
7am to 7 pm

Sunday, May 20:
11am-4pm

Monday-Friday, May 21-May 25:
7am to 7pm

You can vote early at any early polling location in Tarrant County. These are the locations most convenient to HD 101 residents:

James Starrett Elementary
2675 Fairmont Dr.
Grand Prairie, TX 75052

Sub-Courthouse
700 E. Abram St.
Arlington, TX 76010

South Service Center
1100 S.W. Green Oaks Blvd.
Arlington, TX 76006

Bob Duncan Center
2800 S. Center St.
Arlington, TX 76014

For a free ride to the polls, call (817) 561-4900.

For complete details on early voting locations and times, click here to visit the Tarrant County Elections Office website.

ARLINGTON – Campaign finance reports filed this week show that former State Representative Chris Turner (D-Grand Prairie) has raised more than two times the amount that the Paula Hightower Pierson campaign has. Turner’s campaign also has a significant cash-on-hand advantage for the final month of the race.

“I am very thankful for all of the individuals and organizations who have invested their time, money and support in our campaign,” Turner said. “It is clear that we have the momentum going into the final month and our message of electing a true Democrat who will stand up for our district is the right one. Our fundraising success, combined with our grassroots support and endorsements is another clear indication that our campaign is on the road to victory.”

From January 1 to April 19, Turner raised $65,398, ending with cash reserves of $60,396. Turner’s campaign received a total of 122 contributions from a variety of individuals, organizations and labor unions. Pierson raised less than half what Turner did — just $27,935 — and had $39,869 remaining on hand. In addition, the Pierson campaign has gone into debt, having to borrow $16,000 from the candidate in the last month. Turner has raised more than $140,000 total for the campaign so far, while Pierson has raised only $88,000.

“Our campaign is well-positioned to win, while the Pierson campaign is clearly struggling,” said Kate Fox, Turner Campaign Manager. “While their campaign is in debt and has lost the endorsement race, we have a diverse support base and the means to let the voters know that they have a choice in this race. We have the winning combination.”

In addition to his strong fundraising reports, over the last several weeks Turner has been endorsed by an extensive list of organizations and associations. The Texas State Teachers Association, the Tejano Democrats of North Texas, the Texas Academy of Family Physicians, the Texas Medical Association TEXPAC, the Texas Hospital Association HOSPAC, Teamsters Local 745 DRIVE Committee, Arlington Professional Firefighters Local 1329, the Arlington Police Association, the Metroplex Democrats of Arlington, and Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas, have all endorsed Turner in the HD 101 race.

Turner is a lifelong Democrat who has worked to elect Democrats across Texas. He and his wife Lisa lived in South Arlington for nearly a decade, and their children attended Summit High School in South Arlington. The Turners now live in south Grand Prairie. While serving in the state legislature from 2009 to 2011, Turner’s priorities included reforming the insurance system to protect the interests of consumers, expanding veterans’ benefits, fighting for better funding for public schools, making college more affordable, strengthening DWI laws to protect families from repeat offenders, and lowering utility rates.

This list of supporters is a microcosm of our community – teachers, veterans, retirees, union members, business leaders and so many others.  I am honored by your support and know that by working together, we will win this race and give our new district a strong, effective voice in Austin.

Best,

P.S. Don’t see your name and want to add it?  Click here to sign up.

Organizations and Associations Supporting Chris As of April 30, 2012

Arlington Police Association

Arlington Professional Fire Fighters Association Local 1329

Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas (CLEAT)

HOSPAC

Metroplex Democrats of Arlington

Teamsters Local 745 DRIVE Committee

Tejano Democrats of North Texas

Texas State Teachers Association (TSTA)

TEXPAC

Grassroots Endorsement List As of March 13, 2012

“On behalf of Arlington Texas State Teachers Association, we offer our endorsement and support for Chris Turner for Texas House Representative, District 101,” said Sarah Scoggins Spurrier, President of Arlington TSTA. “Chris Turner’s proven record of fighting for public schools is appreciated by our members. Please help him to continue working for Texas children by voting for him on May 29th.”

“The endorsement and support of TSTA is truly an honor,” stated Turner. “Teachers are on the front lines of shaping the future, selflessly devoting themselves to their students – all in the face of devastating budget cuts, attacks on their own rights, and under-resourced, overcrowded classrooms. I’ll proudly stand with them and look forward to working together to strengthen our neighborhood public schools.”

Chris Turner served in the Texas House from 2009 until 2011. During his time in office, Turner fought to provide a $1.9 billion increase in funding for our public schools and give teachers a pay raise.

TSTA joins an extensive list of organizations and associations that have endorsed Turner over his two opponents in the upcoming Democratic primary. The Texas Academy of Family Physicians, the Texas Medical Association TEXPAC, the Texas Hospital Association HOSPAC, Teamsters Local 745 DRIVE Committee, Arlington Professional Firefighters Local 1329, the Arlington Police Association, the Metroplex Democrats of Arlington, and the Tejano Democrats of North Texas have all endorsed Turner in the HD 101 race.

Turner is a lifelong Democrat who has worked to elect Democrats across Texas. He and his wife Lisa lived in South Arlington for nearly a decade, and their children attended Summit High School in South Arlington. The Turners now live in south Grand Prairie. While serving in the state legislature from 2009 to 2011, Turner’s priorities included reforming the insurance system to protect the interests of consumers, expanding veterans’ benefits, fighting for better funding for public schools, making college more affordable, strengthening DWI laws to protect families from repeat offenders, and lowering utility rates.

Organized by TCC students, LaTarsha and Marqus Smith, the rally featured several speakers including student Florisa Esquivel, student Dennis Swanson, Pastor Dwight McKissic, Professor Eric Salas, Professor Bradley Borougerdi, NAACP Arlington Chapter President Silk Littlejoin-Gamble, and community activist Bridgette Davis.

Turner’s remarks, as prepared, are below:

“Good afternoon.  In 1963, while he was sitting in a jail in Birmingham, Alabama, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”  And that is why we are here today – our sense of right and wrong tells us that a great injustice has been committed, one for which we want justice done.  But it is also an injustice that demands a close examination of how we got here, and where we will go from here.

Like you, I am outraged at what happened in Sanford, Florida last month.  I’m angry that a young man, holding nothing but a bag of Skittles and a can of tea, would be gunned down on a city street in the United States of America.  I’m angry that a self-styled vigilante would ignore the authorities and pursue Trayvon Martin – a pursuit that ended with the death of that 17-year old boy.

Now, in large part due to rallies like this one all across the country, and the outrage we have seen about this case in the media, we see local, state and federal authorities investigating this case, as they should.  And we all hope that there is some measure of justice that will be realized when that process is complete.

Last week, President Obama said that the Trayvon Martin case is cause for our country -to do some soul-searching.  The president is right.

And I think we have to soul-search not just how this could have happened and how we keep it from happening again, but we need to look inward at ourselves as a nation and examine how we are reacting to this tragedy.

It is my hope that as America has a frank discussion about this tragedy and its aftermath, we use it as an opportunity to come closer together, not an excuse to be further divided.  And when I hear rhetoric from some in this country – talking about what Trayvon Martin’s school attendance record was, as if that somehow justifies or explains away what happened to him, I am saddened that, despite all our progress on the issue of race in America, we still have so much further to go.

When I was about your age and a student at the University of Texas, I had the opportunity to hear then-President Bill Clinton speak on our campus.  It wasn’t just any speech either, it was a major address on the state of race relations in our country.  That speech, in October of 1995, came just weeks after the verdict in the OJ Simpson case and in a similar time tinged with racial tension.

The president said, “Today we face a choice — one way leads to further separation and bitterness and more lost futures. The other way, the path of courage and wisdom, leads to unity, to reconciliation, to a rich opportunity for all Americans to make the most of the lives God gave them. This moment in which the racial divide is so clearly out in the open need not be a setback for us. It presents us with a great opportunity, and we dare not let it pass us by.”

I think today we are presented with another great opportunity.  We are all Americans, and there is so much more that unites us than divides us.  And our diversity is a great strength – a diversity we understand and experience more than most living here in Texas, here in Southeast Tarrant County and right here on this campus.  We have so much to learn from one another – understanding one another’s different backgrounds, life experiences, and culture helps us all become better people.  We can respect, appreciate and celebrate our differences – but we don’t have to fixate on them.

We don’t have to fear them.

And we don’t have to let them divide us.

But where we see the differences between us that we know are not right, we all have an obligation to make changes.  I’m talking about the injustices that we have all lived with for far too long, the injustices that don’t dominate the cable news shows or show up in our Facebook news feeds.

I’m talking about the injustice of income disparity – where we see African Americans and Hispanics earn less than white Americans.

I’m talking about the injustice of poverty, where here in Texas, 66 percent of Latino children and 59 percent of black children live in low-income families.

I am talking about the injustice of our educational system, especially in Texas, where underfunded public schools see the minority drop-out rate soar, closing the door of opportunity to thousands of young Texans.

And I am talking about the injustice that comes with the inaccessibility of health care – where 59% of the uninsured in our state are Hispanic.

So my hope is that as we remember Trayvon Martin and demand justice in his tragic case, let us not stop there.  Let us all join together to advocate for justice in all aspects of our society.  Long after the Trayvon Martin case has faded from the headlines, let us have the strength, the courage and the fortitude to continue our individual battles for justice and the end to inequality.  And until that day comes, it is my hope that we will not rest.

225 years after our founding fathers gathered to create our nation’s constitution, we are still working to “form a more perfect union.” Our Founders recognized that this democracy would never be perfect because, we the people who form it are not perfect.  But at the heart of the American ideal is the promise that we can always be better.  And as we honor the memory of Trayvon Martin and we pray for his family, let us all commit ourselves to the betterment of this country and all who live in it.”

Why: Kick off the 2012 election season by visiting with fellow Democrats and learning more about our campaign. And feel free to bring the entire family – the event is free and lunch will be provided.

Click here to RSVP or call (817) 561-4900 or e-mail kate@votechristurner.com

You can also RSVP through our Facebook event page.

*Please note: The Abram Street and Division Street exits located on the southbound side of Hwy 360 will be closed due to construction.  Please use the Park Row Drive exit just past the closed Abram Street exit and loop back northbound using the service road on the eastern side of the highway.

The money raised from this event will fund educational scholarships for local students.   The evening featured performances from the youth at Mt. Gilead Missionary Baptist Church in Italy, TX as well as from students of Truman Middle School in Grand Prairie.

The event’s keynote speaker was Rev. Preston Dixon, pastor at Mt. Gilead, and 1^st Vice President of the NAACP Grand Prairie Branch.  He delivered an inspiring speech which touched on the banquet’s theme, “NAACP: Obsolete or Still Necessary?”  In his message, Pastor Dixon encouraged all in attendance to remember their past, take every available opportunity in their present, and keep an eye on their future.  He also reminded the audience about the importance of unity and community.

Several members of the Grand Prairie community were presented with 2012 President Awards for their work on behalf of civil rights and equal opportunity.

“The NAACP has been on the forefront of the battle for fairness and opportunity for all Americans for 103 years,” Chris said. “It continues its important mission today, and I am proud to support its efforts.”

The next evening, on February 24, Chris and his wife, Lisa, were honored to attend the birthday celebration of Pastor N.L. Robinson and First Lady Pearl Robinson which was given by their congregation at Mount Olive Baptist Church in Arlington.  The luau-themed party celebrated their 91^st and 89^th birthdays, respectively.

“Pastor Robinson and First Lady Pearl continue to inspire us every day, and Lisa and I wish them both the happiest of birthdays,” Chris said.

Pastor Robinson and First Lady Pearl have been major community leaders in the civil rights movement in Arlington and have been ministering to the Arlington community for over 40 years.  Pastor Robinson was called to pastor Mount Olive Baptist Church in 1966 and since that time has grown the congregation from 17 to over 10,000 members.