Meet the Texas women who are leaving the sidelines to bring Trump down

The words come spinning out of Gina Ortiz Jones at a table in La Fogata, a roadside Mexican eatery on the eastern edges of El Paso, Texas. Tirades of frustration and fury aimed at her former boss, Donald Trump. But she can be to the point, too. Is she going to win this November? “Yes.” Would we be having this conversation if Hillary Clinton had won in 2016? “Probably not.”

Ms Jones, a veteran of the Iraq war, orders coffee. She shouldn’t, she says, ignoring the salsa and chips in plastic dishes on the table cloth of pink and white roses. Her mission now is tough: to oust the Republican incumbent of the 23rd District of Texas, Will Hurd, and reclaim the seat – it’s bigger than France, running from El Paso to San Antonio – for the Democrats.

It could be lonely. Ms Jones, 36, is American-Filipino and a lesbian. This is Texas after all. But in reality, she has a decent shot. She knows, moreover, that she is part of a swelling army of female candidates across the land plotting their own runs for seats in Congress. Together, if enough are successful, they could help Democrats retake control of the House of Representatives, a switch of power that would slam the brakes on Donald Trump halfway through his first term and help open the path to impeachment proceedings against him.

Another in that army is Veronica Escobar. Her sights are on the district immediately next door, the 16th, which covers most of El Paso itself and points west. It is in play because its current representative, Beto O’Rourke, also a Democrat, has resigned it to run against Republican Ted Cruz for a seat in the US Senate. If Ms Escobar, who gave up her post as County Judge in El Paso, prevails, she will, astonishingly, be the first Latina ever sent by Texas to Congress.

At Geogeske, a sleeker lunch spot close to the heart of El Paso, Ms Escobar agreed she could have stayed in her old position – and in her comfort zone. But she was moved to run, she says, because of “this terrifying fear of Donald Trump and what he is going to do to our country”.

Gina Ortiz Jones is the ex-soldier but it’s Veronica Escobar who describes what she is doing in military terms. “I feel as though a battle is raging in Washington DC. More people need to enlist and I am ready to enlist,” she says. It’s a fight, “between some very ugly fundamental aspects of human nature like racism and bigotry and fear-mongering versus the most beautiful ideals that our country was founded on,” she adds. “Our democracy in many regards is at stake.”

By the last count almost 400 women were planning to run in this year's midterm elections in the US, the most ever. Some will be weeded out in the primary elections, which in Texas are only seven weeks away, where no fewer than 50 women hope to make it all the way to Washington. That is especially striking when you consider the Lone Star State has not sent a new woman to Congress since 1996. Ms Jones and Ms Escobar are both confident they will beat off rivals from their own party to be the candidates in their districts.

Encouraging them have been groups dedicated to helping and funding women to run for office, at national and at state levels, such as Emily’s List in Washington DC, which specifically offers support to Democratic women willing to stand up for abortion rights. In the two years leading up to the 2016 cycle, it received enquiries from 920 women interested in maybe taking the plunge. So far, running up to the 2018 midterms, it has been contacted by more than 25,000.