SAM Party is the newest alternative to Republicans or Democrats in Texas

Texas Politics

The American Flag and Texas Flag fly outside the Texas Capitol in Austin on Dec. 16, 2020. (Nexstar Photo/Wes Rapaport)

AUSTIN (Nexstar) — A new political party, Serve America Movement or SAM, officially filed paperwork with the Texas Secretary of State’s office this week to become the newest alternative to Republicans or Democrats.

The party hopes to rope in unsatisfied Texans from both sides of the aisle, offering a middle ground of sorts, state chairman Bill King explained.

“Part of our big tent strategy is to say, look, come with whatever your ideological beliefs are, you know, left, right center middle, as long as you can sit down and have a civil honest conversation about what the problems are, and what the solutions are,” King said.

National chairman David Jolly said the party does not expect its candidates to stick to a certain set of policies, meaning the party could look different based on where you live.

“The politics in Texas are different from the panhandle to downtown Austin to Houston to the Valley. Why would a national party tell all of those members of a party how they have to stand and they have to agree on certain issues. We want candidates to think for themselves, we want candidates to represent their constituents,” Jolly said.

“What brings them together is a commitment to a government that works and to Americans that just want to work together on the most pressing issues of the time. ideology has become this reflexive identity in politics,” he continued.

The party would need 80,000 Texans to sign onto the party before spring of next year in order to make it onto the November 2022 ballot, but King has faith.

“There are about, you know, there are about 18 million registered voters in Texas, there’s something from 50 to 60% of those that are upset with a current environment. So there’s 9, 10, maybe 11 million people that are not happy. We only need to get 80,000 those to join our party to get on the ballot,” King said.

King gave an example of how the party would handle hot-button issues, like voting rights.

“I’ve been working in Texas elections for almost 50 years. I’ve never seen an election where the illegal voting in that election would have made a difference in the outcome of the election. It happens, but it’s a very small amount,” King began.

“But at the same time, I’ve never met anybody in Texas, that wanted to vote that wasn’t able to vote. And so I think the whole talking points of voter fraud and voter suppression, are really partisan talking points to try to motivate their bases to get out and vote,” King explained.


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