In a year when Texas Democrats are seeing openings while Republicans see divisions with the polarizing presence of Ken Paxton at the top of the ticket, Carlos Sanchez emerges as a uniquely positioned voice from the heart of the Lone Star State.

The former public affairs director for Hidalgo County — Texas's seventh-most populous county with over 870,000 residents — Sanchez has seen firsthand the complexities facing Democrats in a region where Biden won by 17 points in 2020 after Clinton's commanding 40-point margin in 2016. It’s the kind of erosion that has made the traditionally blue Rio Grande Valley a genuine swing region.

Only 56% of registered voters participated in 2020, and only 45% of eligible residents even registered to vote. That means three in four potential voters in his county didn't even cast ballots. Sanchez, a Washington Post veteran, is an essential translator of Democratic hopes and the Hispanic political realities. He knows that every single last vote in Texas is going to matter.

But as his guest, Gilberto Ocañas can attest, there’s a lot more going on in the Lone Star State.

Ocañas is a veteran of four presidential campaigns and one of the first Latinos to run statewide campaigns in Texas. He’s built a trusted network spanning political and business leaders.

Including our own Joe Trippi.

This is the first in a series of On The Ground episodes from deep in the heart of Texas.

He was joined by a rising star in the Democratic Party, state Rep. Josh Turek, who’s running for the open U.S. Senate seat. A Democrat hasn’t represented the Hawkeye State in the upper chamber since U.S. Senator Tom Harkin retired in 2015. But with GOP U.S. Senator Joni Ernst declining to run for another term, Democrats see their chance to make a comeback.

Now, at 34, Wahls is a Democratic Iowa State Senator and is running to represent the Hawkeye State in the U.S. Senate. He joined Joe Trippi for another installment of On The Ground to talk about his campaign .

“Electability is about the future. It’s about a vision for the future of our state that a majority of Iowans want to vote for. And I believe that I’m the strongest candidate. We’re proving that we can do it. We’re leading in the polls. We’re raising the most money, more support from actual Iowa donors than any of the other candidates who are in currently or have been in the race.”

and was reelected in 2022 by a razor‑thin margin and ended up as the only Democrat holding statewide office in Iowa.

Now he's running for governor, and he's hit the ground running. Joe Trippi joined him on the ground in Iowa to talk about the campaign and the future of the Hawkeye State, where Dems are feeling bullish about the upcoming midterms.