Jan 30 Updates
Happy Friday! It's Robin’s intern team again. She has a packed schedule today with the Bryker Woods Elementary School parent coffee, ACLU Democracy series event, and the Austin Chronicle Endorsement Forum which is a HUGE deal. Being a candidate means being so very busy, but we are proud of her and all her amazing work!
NOTE: We want to take a moment to recognize the incredible bravery of the people of Minneapolis and all the other folks across the country, including here in Austin, who are rising up together in a positive way in the face of the violent and anti-American actions of ICE agents. The temperature and tension are high, but we all believe we're at an inflection point. We stand with the families of Alex Pretti, Renee Good, and all those who have suffered. Texas is unfortunately one of the states fully cooperating with ICE, but we have a great District Attorney who is working hard to prosecute ICE agents and hold them accountable. So that's some hope...
Alright, back to our weekly update!
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REGISTER TO VOTE!
If you're anywhere in Texas, NEXT MONDAY, February 2nd, is the deadline to register to vote. YOU CANNOT REGISTER ONLINE but you can change your address online. Registering to vote is one of the most powerful ways we can make our voices heard, and participating in this primary election is especially critical. Every policy decision, every piece of legislation, and every step toward meaningful change starts with showing up at the ballot box. Make sure you’re registered, make a plan to vote, and encourage those around you to do the same. Democracy works only when everyone does their part!
For more information on the 2026 primaries, and to check your voting status, visit Vote.gov.
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We want your feedback :)
Our student team is always looking for new ways to get Robin’s message, name, and incredible stories out to the public. We have had so many great opportunities to listen to Robin's experiences from her time establishing democratic elections and protecting women’s rights in Bosnia, Kosovo, and Croatia. She has been in the face of danger, yet stood strong, her resilience keeping her fighting for those who could not defend themselves.
We have a tentative Zoom webinar series we are tentatively coining “Robin's Adventures in Democracy” where we invite anyone and everyone (no matter where they are) to tune in as Robin shares stories from her incredible life and the hard lessons learned for our democracy. We want to get your feedback on this idea and hear of any others you might have! Please feel free to drop a comment in the contact form or reach out to staff@robin4texas.org! Thank you in advance, we could not do this without you!
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This Week's Recap
The start of this week was booked with house parties, endorsement forums, and community events; however, with the ice storm that hit Texas this weekend, a lot of events were canceled/rescheduled to another date. Robin has taken this time to increase her voter interaction through UT campus attendance!
Friday 1/23 | Daily Texan Interview: As we mentioned in the last newsletter, Robin had the pleasure of interviewing with The Daily Texan. She spoke with Senior News Reporter, Valeria Cruz Butrón, and got to give her story and her ‘why’ for running for the Texas House. She also had an amazing photo shoot with Daily Texan photographer Regina Serratos Romo and of course our own Diego Cabriales. Robin had an exhilarating time on UT campus. She comes alive when she's with students, hearing about their lives, and offering life advice (we love it!). Truly one of the greatest things about her is her ability to relate to us students and make us feel seen and heard! View the full piece here: The Daily Texan - Robin Lerner Interview
Saturday 1/24 | Austin Environmental Dems Endorsement Forum: This event was moved online due to the weather. Robin Zoomed in like a real badass from the freezing streets of District 49 as she was block-walking! In typical Robin fashion, she can’t sit still and is always on the move.
Monday 1/26 | Mothers for Democracy Meeting: Our wonderful Executive Assistant, Abby, attended this zoom chat on behalf of Robin! Meaningful discussion was had about Texas GOP trends, Minnesota and ICE, chants for local ice protests, rural healthcare, britt reframing training, protests in San Antonio, and healthcare. These conversations were intense and raised many questions and concerns. Best practices, strategic ways to engage in difficult conversation, and resources were shared. Organizations like these, the conversations and resources, are important to educating ourselves and those around us!
Tuesday 1/27 | Austin Community College Student Democrats Endorsement Forum: Robin was so excited for this event, connecting with students and sharing her stories is one of her favorite parts of this campaign! This event, along with many others, has been rescheduled to February.
House parties: This week, house parties looked a bit different! With the intense ice and freezing weather, most house parties scheduled for over the weekend were either rescheduled or moved to zoom. Having zoom house parties was definitely an adjustment. The whole reason for these events is to connect Robin with the community; give her a space to share her story, ideas, and policy ideas; and give voters a chance to ask her questions. We can assure you that Robin is more than excited to return to face-to-face house parties which she did Wednesday night and Thursday, getting to meet voters and have real conversations about how we can save our democracy.
Campus Days: Robin was on UT campus on Friday and Wednesday and plans to increase her frequency as we rapidly approach early voting on February 17. UT students make up about 25% of eligible voters in District 49 and comprise 93% of this campaign team - a fact we're very proud of. Students are the future of Austin! Our UT-focused outreach (which we know you have heard of before in these newsletters), “Longhorns for Lerner” has made great strides to get Robin’s name out to the students of UT. We are working hard on amplifying that outreach and will be developing UT-specific materials to distribute during the early voting window. To support these critical efforts, please follow and share Longhorns for Lerner on Instagram!
Block walking: Meeting voters where they are at is so important. Robin has block-walked every weekday 2:30-6pm and every Saturday and Sunday 11am-6pm. It is a tiring task, to walk (or sometimes bike!) the streets of Austin, every. single. day! We students do not know how she does it, not to mention balancing a busy schedule filled with events, but that is just Robin. Her energy, resilience, and dedication to Austin in the campaign has been amazing to watch, we can only imagine what she will do if she is voted into office! The weather this week/weekend was cold, and yet Robin still bundled up and got out there to meet and talk with voters of her community!
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Intern Spotlight!
This week on our intern spotlight, we are wrapping up our wonderful communications team. They are a large group of dedicated, inspiring students, and as a member of the communications team myself, I enjoy working with each of them! We also get to share with you the interns from our finance/fundraising team. They work to keep organized all of the fundraising the campaign receives, keeps it organized, and works towards the budget. I honestly don’t know how they do it, working with numbers so intently seems overwhelming, good thing they keep me in charge of these newsletters!
To wrap up our communications team, meet Maria Guerra, our Spanish-Language Communications & Outreach Lead (who translates these newsletters!) and Sofia Bartkoski, our Media & Cultural Content Specialist. And from our Finance team we have Anikieth Datla, Assistant Campaign Manager for Finance and Abdi Wirkus-Camacho, our Financial Operations Assistant.
Maria Guerra is a sophomore at UT majoring in Political Communications and Government whose family hails from Venezuela. In her free time she enjoys watching movies and hanging out with friends! Connect with Maria here! LinkedIn
Sofia Bartkoski is a freshman at UT double-majoring in International Relations and Global Studies (IRG) and Government with a Spanish minor. She is involved in the pre-law research club and enjoys running, soccer, and cafe hopping in Austin. Connect with Sofia here! LinkedIn
Anikieth Datla is a sophomore at UT Austin majoring in Finance and minoring in Government, working to get a programming certificate. Anikieth enjoys climbing, cars, outdoors, and learning about legal issues in his free time. Connect with Anikieth here! LinkedIn
Abdi Wirkus-Camacho is a senior at Ronald Reagan High School in San Antonio. In his free time, Abdi enjoys painting and coding and in his interview he shocked our team director with his unbelievable origami skills! Connect with Abdi here! LinkedIn
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Next Week at a Glance
Another week ahead means another next week at a glance! Robin’s schedule is always packed full of forums, interviews, and of course block-biking, as she calls it! She's a busy lady that inspires us all, how she continues with a smile on her face has given us students a strong role model to aspire after.
Friday 30 | Bryker Woods Elementary School Parent Coffee; ACLU Democracy Series event; Austin Chronicle Endorsement Interview
Saturday 31 | Stop ICE Rally (part of nationwide protests) with James Talarico & Gina Hinojosa *Robin has dedicated her career to human rights, leaving her as a strong advocate for the matter. She is so excited to be a part of this movement with several of us students, her community, and respected political figures!*
Sunday 01 | Knocking Shift; South Austin House Party
Monday 02 | Last Day to Register to Vote! Women for Good Government Event
**Robin block-walks or block-bikes every weekday from 2:30 - 6:00 pm and on weekends from 11am to 6 pm. It's a lot, but SO worth it! Meeting voters where they are and encouraging conversations about what matters to them has been so rewarding! If you care to join Robin, she is always looking for company!!**
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We have yard signs available! If you would like one and live in District 49, we would love to deliver one to you! Please fill out this form: Yard Sign Request!
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If you’d like to make a donation, please visit: https://www.robin4texas.com/contribute.
Please feel free to forward this newsletter to your network! And as always, thank you for being a part of this campaign. Your support, time, and belief in this movement are a constant source of encouragement not only to Robin, but to the whole team.
Until next Friday!
Have a great weekend, stay safe, and stay well!
The Robin Lerner for HD-49 Team
P.S. Please enjoy these pictures from the campaign trail!
