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Wendy Davis kicks off statewide campus tour at UH

Texas Senator and gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis said she is committed to "making college more affordable and accessible to all."  |  Julie Nguyen/The Cougar

Texas Senator and gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis said she is committed to “making college more affordable and accessible to all.” | Julie Nguyen/The Cougar

Gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis wants to make college more accessible.

Davis, a single mother who got through college on financial aid after becoming pregnant at 19 said she relates to UH students.

“I tell my story not because it’s a unique one,” Davis told the crowd, “but because it isn’t.”

Senator Davis spoke to a crowd of over 400 supporters, including students from UH, Rice University, Texas Southern University, Texas State and more in the Conrad Hilton ballroom to kick off her statewide campus tour, on Sept. 2. She’ll be visiting Prarie View Texas A&M University, Texas A&M University, University of Texas at San Antonio and University of North Texas. Davis is campaigning to become the next governor of Texas, a position that has been unchanged for 14 years.

“I am going to fight for you and every single student in this state because I know what it’s like to think that your future is gone, to face challenge after challenge, setback after setback,” Davis said.

“Mine is a story of stops and more importantly than that, it’s a story of starts. And as governor, I will make sure that the story of Texas’s future continues to be a story of starts for every single student in the state.”

Davis was elevated to ‘celebrity’ status (literally) overnight after her eleven-hour filibuster against restrictive abortion regulations—completed in hot pink sneakers, no less. In addition to her fight for women’s rights, Davis is a strong proponent of education.

During her speech, Davis spoke about prioritizing higher education and making it accessible and affordable for students, raising the minimum wage from $7.25/hr to $10.10/hr, providing women access to safe reproductive health care, expanding Medicaid coverage and allowing equal pay for women in the workplace.

She was met with applause after every point made; as she walked off the stage after her final statement, the crowd chanted, “Wendy, Wendy, Wendy.”

“I think she’s true to the party but she’s also very true to herself. I’ve never seen print interviews where she’s said ‘I’m full of Democratic values.’ She says ‘I’m full of my values.'” -Megan Edyvean, Davis campaign volunteer

Stage management senior Megan Edyvean is a volunteer with Davis’s campaign and believes that Davis is a strong candidate that is genuinely interested in improving the state of Texas.

“I think she’s true to the party but she’s also very true to herself,” Edyvean said. “I’ve never seen print interviews where she’s said ‘I’m full of Democratic values.’ She says ‘I’m full of my values.'”

Religious studies senior Jessie Smith also believes in Davis’s values and found her speech inspiring and moving.

“I’ve been following her since the filibuster and I was like ‘Wow, who is this woman?'” Smith said. “That’s our next governor.”

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11 Comments

  • I wish I had a sugar daddy to pay for me to go to an Ivy League school like Wendy.

    And let’s raise the minimum wage to $10.10, yeah! Wait, how many people are getting laid off now by the local business owner and how much is my BigMac now because I have to pay a Wendybot a living wage to make fries? F-that!

    Tired old crud coming from a politician, surprise! At least she’s consistent, she wants somebody else to pay for more of everything. “Somebody else” will pay more for a burger meal, “somebody else” will pay for your poor moral decisions and cover that abortion, “somebody else” can afford pay more of their “fair share” with absolutely no more say and no benefits in return, etc.

    Just like “somebody else” paid for her highly regarded degree . . . that hard working single mom her.

    Fraud alert.

  • Promises for other people’s money should not sway your vote. After you graduate, you will be that other person.

    If you can’t stand republicans and think she is the answer, you might want to check out Kathie Glass who is also running for TX governor.

  • check the facts … Democrats are the only party that has been fighting to keep tuition costs down. the cap was taken off tuition under Republican governors resulting in our much higher rates. as for raising the minimum wage … get your facts straight and look at reality. in states that have done so the economy has been helped not hurt. Look at Costco that pays its workers much more than Sams yet gives consumers the same low prices. There’s a reason young voters (under 35) overwhelmingly support Democrats by 20 % points in a recent FOX study … they understand Democrats represent the best policies for our future and are not mired in the past. Vote for Wendy! Game on!!!

    • Here’s some reality.
      California, which is blessed with the nations most abundant natural
      resources, ideal geography, perfect climate, etc, and also a higher minimum wage.
      California, which is ranked year after year as the worst

      state in the union to own/run a business.
      California, which has the highest income inequality rate in
      the nation.
      California, which has one of the highest unemployment rates
      in the nation.
      California, which has the highest (or second) personal tax rates in the nation.
      California, who’s gasoline is ~$1 more per gallon than Texas and energy costs ~70%% more than Texas due to self imposed taxes (who do you think that affects more, the struggling middle class and liberal elite who don’t get assistance, or the poor?).

      California, who in the past six years has experienced an
      exodus of ~250,000 people a year because Democrats with ideas like Wendy Davis have been in control for over a decade.

      • I forgot.
        California, which has the highest rate of food stamps in the nation.

        Yeah, let’s elect Wendy Davis, or any Democrat, who will have control to turn Texas into California.

        • California, with its utopian higher minimum wage, “for the people” of course, has the HIGHEST POVERTY RATE in the nation.

          California has been in legislative control by people with ideas like Wendy Davis for the past 20 years.

          If you vote for Wendy Davis, please don’t whine to me about Texas’s economy, currently one of the best in the nation, going into the toilet and you can’t find a job.

          Liberals are like locusts. They destroy once great states like California and are sadly attempting to do the same to Texas.

    • You are right about Costco. I am a social conservative that understands the values of unions and workers organizing for higher wages. Unfortunatley many democrats prefer to outsource to hell holes like china and india and they could care less about employing Americans in high paid, high skill manufacturing. BUY MADE IN USA. If not, hopefully your job will be outsourced!

  • I didn’t attend the W.D. event. Did she address why college costs have risen
    exponentially when compared to every other consumer and cost of living metric,
    or did she just promise to keep the bloated status quo and take even more from
    others to continue supporting her followers in academia?

    Did she promise the student loan fairy would magically make
    your student loan debt “disappear” because you willingly made the decision to
    take those loans so you could pursue that degree from the College of Liberal
    Arts and can’t find a job? Did she propose a law called “Truth in Education” that would require all colleges to provide employment data of recently graduated students with similar degrees before allowing them to obtain such loans?

    I know she didn’t promise to change the core college requirements making a basic Econ course required for graduation, so that students can make sound economic decisions based on proven economic principles, instead of emotion, with regard to raising the minimum wage and govt. spending/taxation.

  • The Minimum wage could be raised without any government intervention if the workers got smart and courageous enough to organize a strong independent union. Wages are based what an employer will pay and an employee will be willing to work.

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