Democratic allies fighting to flip Texas House join forces for $1.1 million digital ad campaign

Sign up for The Brief, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news.

A coalition of groups working to flip the Texas House is unveiling a $1.1 million digital ad campaign backing 11 candidates.

With Democrats nine seats away from the majority, the program targets some of the most competitive races, according to details first shared with The Texas Tribune. The beneficiaries include contenders such as Joanna Cattanach, the challenger to state Rep. Morgan Meyer, R-Dallas, and Akilah Bacy, who is running for an open seat in Houston.

The members of the coalition include the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, the group led by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, and the Texas House Democratic Campaign Committee. Also involved are the Future Now Fund, The People PAC and The Creative Resistance.

Each of the 11 candidates has been endorsed by at least one of the coalition groups.

The majority fight is drawing increasing national investment. The Democratic super PAC Forward Majority announced earlier this month that it would spend $6.2 million across 18 races, while the Republican State Leadership Committee said days later that it would plow more into Texas than any other state this fall and top the Forward Majority investment.

"I feel good about where we are," NDRC campaigns director Garrett Arwa said in an interview. "I think that for us, the evidence is in the fact that we are rolling out a program of this magnitude, with the number of partners we are rolling it out with."

Arwa said the ads will be "largely positive" and, in general, will spotlight the candidates' backgrounds, biographies and qualifications. "This is very district by district, this is very candidate by candidate," Arwa said of the messaging.

Here are the 11 candidates benefiting from the digital ad blitz:

• HD-26: L. Sarah DeMerchant, who is running for the seat of retiring Rep. Rick Miller, R-Sugar Land.
• HD-64: Angela Brewer, who is running against Rep. Lynn Stucky, R-Denton.
• HD-66: Sharon Hirsch, who is challenging Rep. Matt Shaheen, R-Plano.
• HD-67: Lorenzo Sanchez, who is running to unseat Rep. Jeff Leach R-Plano.
• HD-92: Jeff Whitfield, who is running to replace retiring Rep. Jonathan Stickland, R-Bedford.
• HD-93: Lydia Bean, who is running to defeat Rep. Matt Krause, R-Fort Worth.
• HD-97: Elizabeth Beck, who is opposing Rep. Craig Goldman, R-Fort Worth.
• HD-108: Cattanach, who is opposing Meyer.
• HD-112: Brandy Chambers, who is challenging Rep. Angie Chen Button, R-Richardson.
• HD-134: Ann Johnson, who is running against Rep. Sarah Davis, R-Houston.
• HD-138: Bacy, who is running to replace retiring Rep. Dwayne Bohac, R-Houston.