FORT WORTH, Texas — Texas voters will see the most diverse ballot of candidates ever in the Lone Star State this year. That comes as no surprise since Texas is the fastest-growing state in the country right now.
Gilberto Hinojosa said, "We have individuals from all ethnic groups."
Hinojosa serves as the Texas Democratic Party Chair. He believes there are more minorities seeking offices on the local level, which also crosses gender lines.
He has also seen people from all backgrounds enter the political scene to represent voters who are from all different backgrounds.
"We'll have, we'll have several women on the, on the ticket running statewide," said Hinojosa. "We have people from the LGBT community, women running."
Women like Republican Eva Guzman, who's running for Texas attorney general. She proudly shared her background with voters during an appearance on Inside Texas Politics.
"I am a former judge, married to a police officer, the daughter of legal immigrants, a mom and a proud Texan," said Guzman.
On the local level, MarQ Clayton and her three campaign partners are using creative ways to reach more voters, especially young people.
They're running for office to serve as judges on the Democratic ticket. They hope their civil work in their voting districts will result in support at the polls.
"So we have taken on the task of educating Tarrant County" said Clayton. "And we go around to the various communities in Tarrant County."
Clayton and her three counterparts dubbed the "fantastic four" are not only doing podcasts, but also social media to talk about election challenges.
They even use TikTok to appeal to a younger audience. Clayton has studied the number of registered Tarrant County voters versus the number of actual voters who participate, hoping to spark more interest.
Hinojosa hopes with more minority candidates winning on the local level, it will translate statewide, which is an entirely different challenge for all of Texas.
But running statewide in Texas is risky especially if you are used to winning on a local level.
"The challenge we have is to get them to give up the seat that they got to run for a statewide office win when they haven't seen us win a statewide election up to now," said Hinojosa.
WFAA reached out to the Republican Party of Texas to learn more about other diverse candidates, like Guzman, they hope to seat this election, but we did not hear back.
Early Voting for the 2022 primary starts Feb. 14.