Texas Women Go After Trump on Night One

PHILADELPHIA — A succession of Texas women took the Democratic National Committee Convention stage Monday night, and threw some of the sharpest daggers of the night at Republican nominee Donald Trump. 

Actress Eva Longoria used her speaking time to rail against Trump over his commentary on Mexican-Americans. 

“I'm from a small town in South Texas," the Corpus Christi native said. "And if you know your history, Texas used to be part of Mexico. Now, I'm ninth-generation American. My family never crossed a border. The border crossed us.”

“So, when Donald Trump calls us criminals and rapists, he is insulting American families," she added. "My father is not a criminal or a rapist. In fact, he’s a United States veteran."

National Democrats also reserved a prime time slot for a San Antonian, Cheryl Lankford, who made a visceral prosecution of Trump's business practices.  

Her remarks followed up on initial charges made last month in The New York Times that enterprises run by Trump and his son, Donald Trump Jr., fleeced her in the years after her husband’s death while serving in Iraq. 

"[This election] is about someone who helps ordinary people, no matter what it takes, versus someone who helps himself, no matter who it hurts," Lankford said. 

“Donald Trump made big promises about Trump University, and I was fooled into believing him," Lankford added. "Now he’s making big promises about America. Please don’t make the same mistake."

Former state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte also spoke in the afternoon, in her capacity as the co-chair of the committee's rules committee. She announced a plan to re-evaluate the DNC superdelegate system, an oft-maligned issue within the pro-Bernie Sanders camp.

"We're going to open up our democratic process to ensure so that the grassroots always has a seat at the table," she said.

And 17-year-old Texas City native Clarissa Rodriquez made her convention debut as the youngest delegate on the floor. A backer of Sanders, she delivered the opening pledge along with a Clinton supporter and the convention's oldest delegate, Ruby Gilliam. Gilliam, 93, is from Ohio.