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One in a series of campaign trail dispatches about the major contenders for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate.

Cristina Tzintzn Ramirez says theres power in her name.

Tzintzn is more Mexican than any Garcia or Lopez, the activist told a gathering of Democratic women in Plano. We were the only indigenous group in Mexico that were not defeated by the Aztecs. So you know I come from good lineage and Im ready to defeat John Cornyn.

Tzintzn Ramirez wants to revolutionize campaigning for her Senate race against incumbent Republican Sen. John Cornyn.

The veteran Latina activist is mobilizing the young and Hispanic voters whom Democrats need to transform Texas from red to blue. Shes confident her liberal proposals will also appeal to black and white Democrats and make her the partys nominee.

The Senate primary will test whether a Green New Deal progressive like Tzintzn Ramirez can win in a state dominated by conservative voters.

The only way were going to win is by the progressive muscle that we know is going to get behind this campaign to turn out voters, especially brown and black voters, she told The Dallas Morning News. Now we need them to win and no candidate wins without them, but I want to be the candidate for everyone in Texas that truly represents our diversity and common interests.

In December, Tzintzn Ramirez was back home. She spoke to a group of North Oak Cliff Democrats at Normas Cafe, a short drive from where she once lived.

We lived in south Oak Cliff until I was 5, she said. It was south Oak Cliff, not the part thats been gentrified. They still dont want to gentrify where I lived.

Tzintzn Ramirez was born in Moxahala, Ohio, to Ana Tzintzn, an immigrant from Mexico, and Tom Costello, an Irish-American businessman. Her parents ran a jewelry business and their family spent time in Mexico, Ohio and Oak Cliff.

From Dallas, Tzintzn Ramirez moved with her family to a white, middle class area in Columbus, Ohio.

Young Cristina had a clear view of discrimination. When she was with her mother, a dark-skinned woman who spoke English with an accent, she saw a prejudice that didnt exist in the company of her white father, whom she describes on the campaign trail as an Irish-American hippie.

From a very young age I discovered there was a different set of rules and different set of opportunities for people and it was based on race and national origin, not on merit, she said.

But she did find common ground in her diverse families.

My Mexican and Anglo families have a lot more in common than we do not, she said. I dont care where you come from, the color of your skin, who you love or who you pray to, we just want all our children to be safe, to be healthy, to go to great schools and get everything they dream of.

Tzintzn Ramirez attended Austin Community College and the University of Texas.

At 24, she co-founded the Workers Defense Project, a pro-labor group that protects the rights of the mostly Hispanic workers who often get injured on the job.

While John Cornyn was accepting millions of dollars from the construction industry, which here in Texas in the largest employer of undocumented labor, I was making $43,000 a year representing tens of thousands of workers who built our states economy and lost their fingers, limbs and lives in the process, she said at a Plano event.

Tzintzn Ramirezs talent for organizing impressed many who worked with her.

She was one of the most effective advocates on worker safety that we dealt with, said Debbie Berkowitz, who was chief of staff at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration when she met Tzintzn Ramirez.

Berkowitz said Tzintzn Ramirezs group produced a report that outlined how workers were dying on the job, leading to improved standards that saved lives.

Tzintzn Ramirez left the Workers Defense Project in 2015 and later formed a group called Jolt, with the goal of mobilizing immigrants and Latino voters.

Brigid Hall is the chief operations officer at Jolt and was Tzintzn Ramirezs deputy at the Workers Defense Project.

She has really ambitious goals and a big vision. She moves quickly and is always one step ahead, Hall said. She has high expectations and makes them known for the people around her. Sometimes its very hard to meet those expectations.

Aside from work, Tzintzn Ramirez, 37, describes herself as having the heart of a 60-year-old woman. She likes to watch movies, work in her garden and cook. She has a 2-year-old son, Santiago, who she says will travel with her on the trail. Because shes raising her son alone, Tzintzn Ramirez said she paused before making a final decision on running for Senate.

I have to stand up and do my part in a state where hes going to be a young Latino man, she said.

Tzintzn Ramirezs surname has evolved over the years. It started out as Costello. She said as a young adult she changed it after her parents divorced to the more interesting Tzintzn before recently taking her ex-husbands name, Ramirez.

Tzintzn Ramirez separated from her husband in March after about four years of marriage, she said. Her divorce was finalized in December, just before Christmas.

Im a person that has gone through divorce, like many families, she said.

Tzintzn Ramirez was recruited to challenge Cornyn by operatives from former Rep. Beto ORourkes unsuccessful 2018 Senate campaign. She hopes to have $1 million for the stretch run.

The former labor advocate amended an early pledge to reject money from political action committees, lobbyists and special interest groups. She now says she wont take money from corporate PACs. The former ORourke consultants who helped recruit her are part of the progressive Action PAC backing her Senate run.

Tzintzn Ramirez told The News that she changed the guideline so she could accept money from union members.

Whatever the reason, shell need resources to execute her campaign strategy, which she says involves winning half of the young vote and at least 60% of the Latino vote.

Tzintzn Ramirez insists her progressive stand on issues will appeal to voters.

Shes backed by the Working Families Party, a pro-labor group. And Tzintzn Ramirez supports the Green New Deal, a mandatory buyback program for assault weapons and Medicare for All, while abolishing private insurance.

I know the things that I stand for are not actual radical ideas, that its not too much to ask that we judge our economy by not only how well big corporations are doing, but by how well ordinary people are doing, she said. Texans, even if they dont call themselves progressives, believe that too.

In recent weeks Tzintzn Ramirez has criticized rival MJ Hegar, who is backed by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Tzintzn Ramirez and other Democratic Senate candidates have criticized Hegar for voting in the 2016 GOP primary. Hegar said she participated in that contest because she wanted to vote against Donald Trump.

Im the most progressive candidate in this field, which matters in the primary," she said. "And Ive never been a Republican.

What I take issue with is the assumption by MJ that I find troubling for democracy, Tzintzn Ramirez said. She has assumed that shes the frontrunner, even though her poll numbers dont show it.

Most polls show the candidates bunched together, with most voters undecided. Tzintzn Ramirez led in a November poll by the University of Texas-Tyler.

Though its an uphill fight, Tzintzn Ramirez said her campaign would help transform Texas politics.

Im going to work to win the primary outright, but in a runoff, game on, she said. I enjoy proving people wrong. Through this campaign we will teach them not to take young people and people of color for granted.

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Cristina Tzintzn Ramirez says progressive movement will propel her to Senate - The Dallas Morning News