AUSTIN - Texas Democrats obtained a draft of the Texas Republican Party's strategy for the 2020 election, which details how the party will deal with the "polarizing nature" of President Donald Trump and respond to criticism for a lack of diversity within the party.
The draft document, first obtained by The Dallas Morning News, fell into the hands of Democrats on Monday evening and includes a list of 12 Democratic House members targeted by the Republican Party in 2020.
The 12 targeted Democrats in the draft document match a list the Texas Republican Party provided to the American-Statesman in October. All 12 incumbents flipped seats in 2018 that had been held by Republicans. They include four Democrats in Central Texas.
It's not clear who wrote the document, which is titled "Primary/General Election 2020 (Draft)."
The draft seems to indicate that Republicans are concerned that some GOP voters may not show up to vote "given the polarizing nature" of Trump.
"I suggest we set up a contingency budget to target these folks with mailers, digital ads, and texts to encourage them to turnout for U.S. Senate, State Senate, State House, and so on," the document says.
Republicans also will focus on a handful of online strategies to target vulnerable Democrats, according to the document.
After the March 3 primary, the document says, the party will generate microsites for negative hits against targeted Democrats. Republicans also will purchase any "Democrat candidate domain names still available" and reroute them to the microsites.
Republicans also plan to develop digital ads and a master site to hit Democrats in federal, state and local races.
Digital messaging will contrast "Texas values with liberal policies that don't work in Texas," according to the document.
The plan also lays out how Republicans will respond to criticism from Democrats that the party is not diverse. The Republican Party will create short videos to "highlight why these diverse individuals are Republican," the draft says.
Manny Garcia, executive director of Texas Democrats, pointed to the leaked document as evidence that Republicans are worried going into 2020.
"They know they're in deep trouble 'given the polarizing nature of the president' and expect 'Republicans will refuse to turnout during the general election because they don't want to vote for him,' Garcia said in a statement, quoting parts of the document. "The Texas Republican Party is desperate. That's why they're going negative, building a fake diversity video, and are regretting their decision to eliminate straight-ticket voting."
Democrats currently hold 67 of the 150 seats in the House, the most House members the party has seen in a decade. At the beginning of the 2009 legislative session, Democrats held 74 seats, compared with Republicans' 76.
To seize control of the House, Democrats need to steal away nine more seats from Republicans in 2020.
A spokesman for the Republican Party of Texas did not immediately return a request for comment.