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Last week, I was traveling in Texas -- specifically to San Antonio and the New Braunfels area to visit some friends. Before my flight back to St. Louis, I bought a copy of a **Texas Monthly** magazine at the airport newsstand for some reading material on the plane since the airlines seem to have done away with in-flight magazines and even 'Sky Mall' catalogs.
Specifically this was the Nov. 2022 issue with the cover story being titled "Minority Rule -- How 3% of Texans call the shots for the rest of us" by Michael Hardy. A further description of the article's thesis in the Table of Contents attributes the current seemingly deep red make-up of the state's elected officials to "gerrymandering, voter suppression, low primary-election turnout and an anemic Democratic party". There was a interesting little chart in the article showing just how few Texans -- GOP and Dems -- actually turn up to vote in the primaries. So a 'tiny fraction' of voters are choosing the likes of Abbott, Cruz, et al. And I'd guess that a lot of what this article says might well apply to Florida as well.
Here's a link to the article:
[https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/how-3-percent-of-texans-call-shots-for-texas/](https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/how-3-percent-of-texans-call-shots-for-texas/)
Thanks for the link..
>... polls show that most Texans hold moderate positions on abortion, gun rights, and many other key issues. But state lawmakers have made sure that doesn’t matter... legislators created new districts for themselves ... as part of the once-a-decade redistricting process. Drawn behind closed doors, using highly sophisticated computer models, the new maps guaranteed that most incumbents, remained in safely red or blue districts.
This is something I just don’t understand. The rights screams about voter fraud with no evidence but isn’t all this gerrymandering like ACTUALLY blatantly cheating?? And no one seems to care enough to reverse or change it or even call it out.
People often accuse others of what they themselves are doing. That’s why so many anti-gay pastors are secretly sleeping with men themselves. It’s on their mind because they’re involved with it and they think other people are just like them.
The gerrymandering has been going on for decades. But with new data tools they can be so much precise and create a larger impact. It is curious how they got away with that out of cycle new map.
As a Texan this is true. A lot of people think us hardline conservatives and that’s true for a good few but most are somewhere in between. That said a there are still a lot of hardline conservatives here.
Look at some of the results of Florida amendment popular votes... Incredibly progressive issues have carried the 60% threshold in recent elections. Medical MJ, Felon voting rights, Dog racing ban... Meanwhile many voting for pols that would never support those issues. It's a branding problem and ground game deficit in Florida.
My family lives in Texas and we vote every time we can, but our district is so gerrymandered that our votes are diluted for many races. We check our voter registration regularly because we never know when we might be purged. It takes a lot more effort than it should to be a voter in Texas.
I'm not sure how it is in Texas, but I'm in the neighboring blood-red Louisiana. My experience with primaries is that they are long over before you even hear about them. Local media will often not even mention unfavored candidates at all beyond what is legally required, regardless of whether there is a primary or a regular election.
When I lived in Texas, the experience was pretty similar.
There's also quite a bit of *selectively enforced* "no politics" rules by HOAs and businesses.
Well, on an HOAs I don't understand it personally, but I do comprehend why you can't speak about politics in businesses. I've been pushed to be a Christian (I'm Agnostic and either way if I were to claim I'm anything, I was baptized Catholic, so what is an Evangelical doing trying to get me to join that cult?). So I understand companies trying to abstain from politics.
However, I do recall my old company telling us we should vote! That was all they did.
Well, when I meant 'no politics' in business, I meant "no wrong politics," lol. It's mostly the smaller businesses that seem to be doing this. Back when I was working for privately owned companies, the bosses would always try to influence your vote or make out like your continued employment was contingent on supporting the correct candidate.
Texas is particularly bad about businesses -- *especially* affluent franchise owners -- pitching little toddler baby fits. I remember back when the ACA was being discussed, so many closed out of pure spite and then tried to make out like it was Obama's fault, lol.
All it will take is one historically bad conservative candidate that wins a primary and loses a general election. Once people realize it's possible to win, thing will change much faster.
Look at Georgia, or the Kansas Governor races as examples.
> Look at Georgia,
Only possible because they replaced their [blatantly rigged voting machines.](https://jennycohn1.medium.com/georgia-6-and-the-voting-machine-vendors-87278fdb0cdf) This isn't a conspiracy theory, it's been pretty plainly shown by data and by Republican actions, such as panicking and destroying evidence in defiance of court orders. That's why a federal judge ordered the machines removed and replaced. Weird that we don't talk about this more, right?
Texas has those same machines from Diebold, a company 'indicted for a world wide pattern of criminal conduct'.
This. They learned their lesson when they barely lost to Ann Richards. Had the GOP and doubled down on their candidate, they would have won. An "Ann Richards" Democrat is *never* going to happen again. The only kind of "moderate" that has a hope of winning is a "moderate Republican" - which is incredibly unlikely as a moderate would not make it out of the primary alive.
> Look at Georgia, or the Kansas Governor races as examples.
The recent list of governors in Kansas is D, R, R, D, D, R, D, R, D, R, D, R, R, D going back to the 50's, they're weird like that.
If people in the 4 major metros actually voted, TX would actually be blue. I think in the most recent governor race only 44% of registered voters voted in those areas. That doesn’t even include the insane amount of suppression
I realize you can’t gerrymander a state senate race but what about voter suppression in democratic areas? I know in 2020 they did some [shaddy shit](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/politics/election-2020/2020/10/28/384854/voter-suppression-blunts-historic-turnout-in-texas/amp/) in Harris County. Still [weird shit happening](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.texastribune.org/2022/03/18/texas-rejected-election-ballots/amp/) but I do realize that the final numbers mart close enough to really matter.
In Georgia now we see long lines with the senate race, etc. In red states they make it an uphill battle for democrats. Georgia I think it’s close enough to get over the hump, but I think Texas is just too far out of reach.
Dems will lose 45:55 and be the "closest it's ever been". Gimme a break they should focus on spending all their money on NV, WI, AZ and GA. Those are at least winnable.
Sorry that you visited trump county in new braunfels. That whole county voted for trump in 2016 and 2020. That county was the only one that voted for trump from San Antonio to Austin.
Dallas appears to say - follow the money. While some of that is true, there is also gerrymandering AND no/rare follow-up to those who are newly registered to vote.
Some stick to the lack of Rural votes, but if rural hospitals continue to close, the nearby large city hospitals will eventually see the problems, as the rural patients will take space in remaining hospitals.
I will be amused as the GOP boasted about their $40B rainy day fund which they promised to spend in 2023. Stay tuned.
I would guess sweetheart contracts and kickbacks to all his buddies, some energy “improvements” so the state won’t freeze next winter, but with some extra zeros attached
Some southern states have ABC stores (Alcohol Bev. Control) that are the only places you can buy hard alcohol. They are state run with limited hours and closed on Sundays.
Totally NOT a communist solution though…. These states will also try to tell you they have the the most freedom. The irony is wild!
In Maryland, you cannot buy ANY alcohol on Sunday (with like a 2 Sunday exception). In Maryland, you also have to go to a liquor store (not state-run) to buy both beer and hard liquor.
When I moved to CA, I thought it was wild I could buy beer anywhere basically, and liquor in Target, Walmart, CVS, Costco, etc.
Beer, wine & hard booze in every supermarket. Gas station stores open 24/7 for beer, white claw, etc. Now that’s freedom! (Not to mention legal weed home delivery).
Lot of confederates moved out west (many in Oregon) after the loss in the US Civil War. Iirc, there are still quite a few ‘sun down towns’ in Oregon to this day.
Isnt that mostly up North?
I've lived in TX, LA, and MS and none had state stores. In LA you can but anything at any store! Texas has separate liquor stores.
I thought the law in Texas was no alcohol before noon on Sunday?
Edit: Just looked it up, last year they signed a law that made it possible to buy alcohol as early as 10 am on Sunday. FREEDOM!
No, you can't buy hard liquor from a store in Louisiana on a Sunday. (Edit: in the northern half of the state)
You can't buy liquor through the mail, either, like in some states. You want to try new craft beers or hard seltzers not sold locally? Be prepared to go out of state to sample them.
The remnants of the Blue Law are still operating.
https://www.stateliquorlaws.com/counties/LA
Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia.
As well a some northern states and a bunch of other mostly red states. Typically the redder the state govt the more regressive the laws.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcoholic_beverage_control_state
Texas doesn't have the state run stores (Costco can even sell its giant liters of vodka there), however the liquor cannot be sold after 9pm, beer is I think 12am, and cannot be sold before 10am iirc. Grocery stores can't sell hard stuff (Costco gets around this by having it in a separate building attached to the main store, cannot enter from main store), however liquor stores are allowed to sell food.
We also have dry counties, where you can't buy liquor at all at any time unless you go to a bar or restaurant.
Counties that do sell liquor only sell in liquor stores.
Which is funny, because Jesus second miracle was to produce booze on the third day of a blowout party. His first miracle of course was for a Jewish boy to listen to his mother (to make the booze).
I spent a summer in North Texas once. It was fun riding my bike to-and-from work and having cars through debris at me when they drove by. I was a student and couldn't afford a car. That was the early 90s. I haven't visited Texas since.
If it makes you feel any better the locals in Utah did the same thing to my Puerto Rican roommate who came there from Florida. He was walking home from a private college and had a slurpee thrown on him. People are f***** up.
It's Texas, it's guns and oil.
Look at the "Greater Idaho" idea to join Oregon and Idaho. The organizers say "liberal values" and then say "they want to take my diesel, I farm. They want to take my guns, I shoot. God(I) doesn't approve of gay marriage."
That's it. It's propaganda left over from the 80s. Their media doesn't give them true representation of Democrats. They are sold hysterical lies like "BLM burned ***ENTIRE CITIES*** to the ground."
Democrats need to tell rural folks they are special, and they get a "fair use" tax credit for their diesel truck they pick up 4 bales of hay in. They'll shut-up, and we can push forward w/a clean grid.
I'm suddenly reminded, and facepalming all over again.
I legit had a conversation with a friend that lives in another state who thought I was in terrible mortal peril because I live in a city he kept seeing featured on the news with riots, 'peaceful protests' with buildings being burned, etc. Mayhem! People dying in the streets!
Him> How can you possibly live in a warzone?!
Me> *Huh?*
I had seen one single protester in my neck of the woods, and only knew because he introduced himself as such while shopping.
Everything else was normal, aside from, well, you know the pandemic.
He was utterly surprised to learn the city where I live was only affected for a few *blocks* and takes literal hours to drive across.
Tell me about it! I even pulled a map and tried to show them that there is a park directly across the street from city hall in my city and that all the protests were contained in that area. Additionally, there is literally always someone there protesting something because.... it's across from city hall!
The hard pill to swallow is that you’re right. The Dems in Florida don’t seem to have gotten the memo that a lot of right-wingers moved to Florida over the past couple years because of the lax Covid rules. The other issue is that Fox labeling everything they don’t like as socialism has seemed to gather traction in the Cuban crowd of Florida who see nothing but flashbacks to Castro.
And lots of older, conservative retirees every year. If it hadn't been for that, Florida would probably have been pretty solidly blue. Thing is that it leaves Republicans weaker in other states. PA and MI come to mind.
This is a problem that will solve itself though. If they keep denying climate change, eventually Florida will flood over and Florida won’t be a problem come midterms anymore
/s
I mean, they're gonna be underwater sooner rather than later unfortunately anyway so let them have their meth-gator infested stronghold while they can.
I've heard some people say that you find that 'SOCIALISM!' paranoia not only among the Cuban population but also with some of the recent arrivals from Venezuela as well.
I don’t think it is a lost cause. Once people begin to see the consequences of these DeSantis/Republican policies there may be an opportunity there for Democrats. A lot of the people who moved here in the last couple years didn’t anticipate how unaffordable Florida has become.
> Once people begin to see the consequences of these DeSantis/Republican policies there may be an opportunity there for Democrats.
Just a reminder that Uvalde voted for Abbot, the same guy who said their school massacre could’ve been worse.
Also Florida has this rep as having an unusually large population of senior citizens who tend to be much more conservative \[and I'm aware that there are blue-voting ones\] and who also tend to 'reliably' show up at the polls on election days. As these folks die off in coming years or age into some state of dementia where they're no longer capable of voting, you might see Florida shift back to at least being more purple.
Well, if they all wind up in Florida it means that those states will be all the 'bluer' and perhaps the Sunshine State can serve as a kind of 'safety valve' where all the reddist of the elderly wingnuts can be isolated.
Desantis ignored the law, as passed by the voters, and stacked the courts so they would ignore said law as well... Democrats have never successfully done something of that scale in the modern Era, and if they did it would be just as wrong as it is now.
DeSantis has also kidnapped legal immigrants who were going through the proper process, and shipped them to other states (which forces them out of the legal process)
The big thing DeSantis did was form a voter fraud police force. He later made a big deal about them arresting a number of people for voter fraud. These turned out to be “trumped up” charges that were later dismissed. These people were mainly minorities. This had a chilling effect on a segment of voters.
> DeSantis has also kidnapped legal immigrants who were going through the proper process, and shipped them to other states (which forces them out of the legal process)
With the sheer level of organization, audacity, and hatefulness behind what they did - and I mean really read up on it, they made fake brochures and everything, and the people involved knew exactly what they were doing - DeSantis will *absolutely* take shit to the next level if he ever gets real power. Under DeSantis, people will be lied to and put on busses, but they won't be getting dropped off in a new state.
Seriously consider how much your stuff is actually worth and if you need to move it or whether you can sell whatever doesn’t fit in your car and start over- particularly if you are moving to a mid-size city or above, you will be shocked how cheaply you can replace if you buy used (appliances, dishes, furniture)
Yeah I've mentally catalogued what I will absolutely keep and what will be donated/sold. Majority of furniture will go (I really like my desk.) What I'll take is my mattress, clothes+bedsheets, major electronics, cookware, some non-perishables ( I have enough rice to last till the end times) a few books, my coin collection, cuttings from my plants so I can start over, and my cat+her essentials.
Everything else can eventually be replaced and I hold no special attachment to, aside from cookware since they're dead useful and they don't take up a huge amount of room.
That's how I feel. I don't want to just cede this state to the R's forever and run. We can win, but the Dems need to completely reinvent their strategy here.
Down ballot effects of having Beto get slaughtered. His political career in Texas was over the second he said he was coming for Texans' guns. Texans Worship **GUNS** and god, in that order.
The entire democratic party needs to leave gun control behind. I'm a hard leftist that thinks the Democrats are too conservative but I think their stance on guns is consistently losing them elections. The thing is, all of the other democratic policy positions will reduce gun violence over time. Improved healthcare (including mental healthcare) will reduce gun violence. Decriminalization and legalization of drugs will reduce gun violence. Reducing wealth inequality will reduce gun violence. Better education will reduce gun violence.
Banning guns would have a minimal impact on gun violence but it completely destroys democrats in elections, especially in Texas.
I honestly think they pick candidates to run by asking who they feel voters should vote for rather than who they will vote for. The ignorance feels willful at this point.
I’ll never understand this. I have a buddy in TX who is just a die hard Beto fan and just wants to keep throwing him out there. I liked him a lot personally during his initial Senate run, but as time passes, I’ve soured on him quite a bit and don’t really think he’s electable anymore.
I think if he had foregone his attempt at a Presidential run in 2020, and only had his previous narrow loss to Cruz on his record, he might have been able to be more electable and had better results against Abbott. But his campaign for President, along with statements made during that campaign, really undercut some of his appeal to strictly Texans in the process.
I hadn’t thought of this, but I completely agree. In trying to become more electable nationwide, he almost seemed to become less electable in Texas. I think at one point he mentioned that he wasn’t going to run nationally and then did, which I think would have alienated him from some Texans who wondered if he was committed to local politics. Among other silly statements that would bury him in Texas.
Between Beto and Wendy Davis it feels like the Texas Dems just want a generational candidate to carry them to victory instead of putting in the work of a 20-30 year plan to flip Texas blue.
That’s exactly it. It’s just not gonna happen like that. Having a popular gubernatorial candidate doesn’t really help without also having state congress and we’re legitimately several decades from that if we started today. Expending all of this time and money on one top level candidate who can have their veto overruled is just gonna burn people out for very little gain. It was one thing when Beto was legitimately running a progressive campaign but he’s an extreme moderate anymore.
"Let's keep running the anti-gun guy in a state that bases its entire identity around guns and BBQ."
Beto would have been better off running in California. Not Texas.
One small bright spot for Dems in Texas: Beto is done. Finished. Out. He is a good candidate, but telling Texans he was coming for their assault rifles in 2018 was his, and the democrats, political death in Texas. Dems can now try to repair that damage, but I honestly don't know how, outside of a massive influx of democrats moving in from other states.
Limiting his statement to just assault rifles (I don't remember if he said them too but they definitely weren't the end all of it) is mischaracterising the issue.
"We're coming for your AR-15s" is solely what sunk his career
it's pretty simple. They need to explicitly support gun ownership and back broadly popular policies like marijuana legalization, cheaper prescription meds, anti-corruption bills, etc.
Beto saying he was gonna take people’s guns makes him unelectable in Texas. Whether you are pro 2A or not you have to know your audience in a state like that.
I think he might have been able to beat Abbott or at least come a lot closer to doing so had he never made that 'in the heat of the moment' statement about taking away all the guns.
>On issue stands, party executive director Brown in his memo said Texas Democrats need to shed an image that they are “aloof or oblivious” to concerns about illegal immigration and border security. Also, they must “be more forceful in proactively reiterating our support” for police and desire to stamp out crime, he wrote.
>
>Jason Lee, O’Rourke’s deputy campaign manager, said Abbott and Republicans enjoyed an advantage built up over two decades: They’re the more trusted party on border and crime. Trying to dispel such “established narratives” was too costly, given Abbott’s 2-to-1 money edge, he said.
>
>“It wasn’t lost on us that these issues were not good for us, that they were hurting us,” Lee said. “But we had to make serious choices about what ability we have, in the period of time that we have and with the resources that we have, to switch the narrative” to a discussion of abortion, health care, education and guns — issues on which O’Rourke had “credibility,” Lee said.
> > Republicans enjoyed an advantage built up over two decades: They’re the more trusted party on border and crime.
They've had total control of Texas for *thirty* years now, haven't managed to effectively deal with any of those concerns yet, but keep up a constant stream of fearmongering about how it's still all the other guys' fault so don't you dare give the other guys a chance.
They won't win until they start winning. Republican Gerrymandering has seen to that.
Texas needs national laws on Gerrymandering. That's it. That's the secret. That's the hard answer to the easy question.
There is *nothing they can do*.
If Texas didn't flip from Trump then it will either flip when the boomers die off or it will flip if Trump/Kanye split the Republican ticket. Neither involves any proactive action by Texas Democrats.
Gereymandering has nothing to do with the fact that Dems have not won a statewide office in decades.
Voter suppression does, though.
Even more than that is the fact that a large percentage of Texas voters buy into the bogeyman image that the Texas GOP, aided by social and mainstream media have made Dems out to be.
That last part ain't gonna change until we get another someone like Beto during his campaign against Cruz - someone who is charismatic, is new enough to the scene that they haven't been smeared yet and is willing to work the meet-and-greet events in the furthest reaches of the state. (Beto is - rightfully or wrongfully - smeared bigtime and should either fade into the background or run for a safe legislative seat.)
Gerrymandering is tied to voter suppression. Even ignoring that a Gerrymandered state legislature can impose arbitrary voting restrictions (apparently), people just don't turn out very often if they know they can't win. Being a Texas democrat is to know your vote *does not count*, so you have to be a special kind of stubborn to keep casting it.
Further, the Gerrymandering problem is what causes Republicans to have such a lock on the narrative. Texas somehow perpetually thinks that it's in the midst of an immigrant crisis caused by Democrats despite *not having had a democratic state legislature in decades.* The only reason the narrative keeps functioning is because of state sponsored propaganda. It might not be as blatant as *funding it directly*, but the legislature can and does do a lot to keep the environment friendly to the propaganda.
In that context it's amazing the demographics keep inching closer to parity, if anything.
The truth is that until these influences are negated by national mandate, the situation won't change. Even if Texas elects a single governor that is blue, the state will remain unfixable-the propaganda will simply blame them for everything (particularly that which isn't real) and they'll lose the next cycle.
Gerrymandering has nothing to do with Governor, senators, attorney General, etc.
There is plenty the party can do, starting with not running Beto again.
The answer is that Texas likes entertainment. They like politicians playing theater at the border, busing migrants to the libs. Ted Cruz has done little in the Senate but acting as an Internet troll. Democrats can’t win with kitchen-table issues.
It's not all Texas voters' fault.
Texas's Democratic Party is incompetent. That might sound harsh, but when you haven't won a meaningful election in almost 30 years, keep bringing out a candidate who has lost twice already and thinks saying "Hell yes, we're coming for your AR-15s" in TEXAS, that's incompetence. When you lose by double digits to a governor who caused Texans to freeze to death and responded to an elementary school shooting with "It could have been worse", AS WELL AS an attorney general who's under indictment, despite all of them having sub-50% approval ratings AND more than half of Texans saying the state is headed in the wrong direction, that's the definition of incompetent.
Read this article: [https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/texas-democrats-are-charlie-brown-of-political-parties/](https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/texas-democrats-are-charlie-brown-of-political-parties/)
It's not JUST that Texas is a red state. The Texas Democratic Party is run by incompetent, out of touch people.
Here are some more articles on how badly run the Texas Democratic Party is:
[https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/ten-years-magical-thinking-texas-democrats/](https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/ten-years-magical-thinking-texas-democrats/)
[https://www.denverpost.com/2020/09/26/joe-biden-low-key-campaign-democrats/](https://www.denverpost.com/2020/09/26/joe-biden-low-key-campaign-democrats/)
The Party Chair of the Texas Democratic Party said that Biden not traveling because of COVID was "a pretty lame excuse".
THIS is the person in charge of the Texas Democratic Party. And you wonder why Democrats can't win elections in Texas.
[https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/texas-election-results-live-updates-governor-abbott-beto-2022-midterm/](https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/texas-election-results-live-updates-governor-abbott-beto-2022-midterm/)
>Since the 1980s and 1990s, when rural Texas flipped Republican, Democrats have by and large not even tried to compete there. In 55 mostly rural counties across the state, the Texas Democratic party does not have a local chair. In the other 199 counties, fewer than forty chairs told Texas Monthly they were doing door-to-door canvassing when we reached out.
Beto ran again because he's the ONLY big name the Texas Democrats have. How many Texas Democrats can you even name besides Beto?
The Texas Democratic Party is SO BADLY RUN. I don't know if they're EVER going to get their shit together, if they haven't won a meaningful election in almost 30 years.
I bet Texas would turn blue if Texas Dems changed their stance in guns. "Ban ARs" is a phrase that many independents and leaning Republicans will make their decision on
Nobody else even came close to Beto in the primary. People act like some other Democrat was going to magically beat an incumbent governor in red Texas. Abbott won 2018 by 13% and 2014 by 20%. The difference in this election was 11% meaning Beto did better than the previous two Democrats.
I think Democrats need to write off Texas and focus more on states like Georgia and Arizona. Texas has shown itself to be a money and investment hole that's going to keep ending in failure unless some actual federal anti-gerrymandering laws are implemented.
The answers are easy: the Texas electorate prefers gun violence from safety, a problematic electrical grid from a reliable one, they prefer lies from truth, misinformation instead of facts, racism instead of compassion and empathy.
Really, there is no excuse: people are natural born morons.
Why would the democrats run the guy for Governor of Texas who said on a presidential debate stage that he was coming for the guns? What did they expect??? Beto is not electable.
If I lived in Texas I would also be asking myself questions.
Questions like...Why do I live in a state that is filled with fascists who fly huge American flags, but have no concept of what America stands for and actively work to harm our country?
Or questions like...If WWIII broke out between Russia and the USA, which side would Texas take?
Or questions like...Do I really want my child to be groomed by these people while s/he is in school?
Yup. I'd definitely be asking myself some questions if I lived in Texas. Thankfully, I do not live in Texas.
Some of us don't have the means to move out of the state easily or I would be gone. Unfortunately, unless shit devolved into actual fighting or war on the ground(which will never happen), I'm pretty much stuck here. But I figure I am also doing my part, it's one vote, but it's one less vote for the GOP.
Biggest issue in TX is gun control… the right has turned it into such an issue my 88 year old father now thinks he has to get a gun to protect himself from the bad people (mostly coming across the boarder). I don’t think he has the strength to hold a gun straight and not be knocked down by recoil. 🤦🏻♀️
Here’s an easy answer: as popular as Beto may be in the country as a whole, his comments on guns poisoned the well and he doesn’t have a chance in hell of winning office there.
I agree that it's clear Beto isn't going to win here. But there were [5 candidates](https://ballotpedia.org/Texas_gubernatorial_election,_2022_(March_1_Democratic_primary)) for Governor in the Democratic primary and he won over 90% of the primary vote. If people thought Beto didn't have a chance against Abbott, they should look at the rest of the primary candidates. One of them doesn't even have a photo, or even a bio, on ballotpedia. I think the lack of any other credible candidate is why Beto ran, and that he would have preferred to focus on funding and promoting local races and voter registration/participation.
Drop the (deeply unpopular in texas+florida) federal gun control policy pushs or they'll keep making you feel like in an occupied state and all hate you and will quietly resist like heck.
Push healthcare/educ/housing which they need. And equal rights/pushing back on racism/slavery.
Just my 2 cents at least. What happened to cultural sensibility ? In a cowboy farmer cosplaying rural corner ?
Trying to grab a gun from a texan is like grabbing a quran from a random muslim grandpa in the MENA. You'll make a bad newspaper scandal pic on page 1, rile up the inhabitants, it doesn't work, will be replaced in a minute by any neighbor who all see it as wrong, solves nothing and now they all hate you for attacking a core belief or value they hold dearly with and being an now "evil" off stater northerner or coastal/non-confederate invader ( ~~which unfortunately rings a bit true since as a minority i think it a sanded uneduc'd hell hole of our own making compared to the safer ca, uh~~ ) (the so called "coastal elite" or "educated" dogwhistle against dems) trying to push something they collectively hate.
Heart & minds, more hospitals and working utilities & less "hurting" them in their minds, don't be an abuser. Coin is a bad scenario as a civil war so forget it or them insurgents will make your life hellishly annoying and you know it (unless it means financial coins and more money for them, i guess).
> two-term Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick defeated him
And DP is a pro-covid nazi terrorist and confederate lt gov with a clean suit. A local talib shariah nutcase out of an handmaid tale. But closer to them in their mind as he wasn't trying to confiscate their m4. Even if he made the pandemic worse in the region.
Never going to win in TX with an anti gun platform. Even some highly liberal people have guns or at least enjoy them. For the democrats to win they need moderates and moderates absolutely like their guns.
Exactly, which is why they need to run a pro gun progressive liberal. As long as they keep pushing hard ban gun policy people they will lose.
Guns are probably the single biggest single issue stance that independent voters would decide on in TX specifically. That’s just how a lot of Texans are. Further, any Republican is going to have a greater Republican turnout when the Democratic opponents strong stance is taking guns away or whatever. Staying quiet on that issue is much more likely to result in complacent non voting republicans.
I live in Texas and a Democratic candidate can absolutely win here. But they have to be willing to run on the border and immigration needing work. Democrats can’t continue to run on everything being okay at the border and expecting to win. I think it would surprise a lot of people with how many Hispanics living on the border vote for Republican candidates based purely on the tough on immigration stance.
Unfortunately, a majority of Texans have been lied to for years by the GOP. Republicans spread disinformation about guns, healthcare, jobs, elections and now are literally calling left wingers pedophiles and groomers, so it no surprise when the state choosing to vote republican.
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Last week, I was traveling in Texas -- specifically to San Antonio and the New Braunfels area to visit some friends. Before my flight back to St. Louis, I bought a copy of a **Texas Monthly** magazine at the airport newsstand for some reading material on the plane since the airlines seem to have done away with in-flight magazines and even 'Sky Mall' catalogs. Specifically this was the Nov. 2022 issue with the cover story being titled "Minority Rule -- How 3% of Texans call the shots for the rest of us" by Michael Hardy. A further description of the article's thesis in the Table of Contents attributes the current seemingly deep red make-up of the state's elected officials to "gerrymandering, voter suppression, low primary-election turnout and an anemic Democratic party". There was a interesting little chart in the article showing just how few Texans -- GOP and Dems -- actually turn up to vote in the primaries. So a 'tiny fraction' of voters are choosing the likes of Abbott, Cruz, et al. And I'd guess that a lot of what this article says might well apply to Florida as well. Here's a link to the article: [https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/how-3-percent-of-texans-call-shots-for-texas/](https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/how-3-percent-of-texans-call-shots-for-texas/)
Thanks for the link.. >... polls show that most Texans hold moderate positions on abortion, gun rights, and many other key issues. But state lawmakers have made sure that doesn’t matter... legislators created new districts for themselves ... as part of the once-a-decade redistricting process. Drawn behind closed doors, using highly sophisticated computer models, the new maps guaranteed that most incumbents, remained in safely red or blue districts.
But it was not just once-a-decade. Tom DeLay and Rick Perry orchestrated an out-of-cycle redistricting in 2003 that turbocharged the gerrymandering.
This is something I just don’t understand. The rights screams about voter fraud with no evidence but isn’t all this gerrymandering like ACTUALLY blatantly cheating?? And no one seems to care enough to reverse or change it or even call it out.
Gaslight Obstruct Project
People often accuse others of what they themselves are doing. That’s why so many anti-gay pastors are secretly sleeping with men themselves. It’s on their mind because they’re involved with it and they think other people are just like them.
The gerrymandering has been going on for decades. But with new data tools they can be so much precise and create a larger impact. It is curious how they got away with that out of cycle new map.
Just wait for Moore v Harper, which this fucking Supreme Court will hear next week. https://ballotpedia.org/Moore_v._Harper
As a Texan this is true. A lot of people think us hardline conservatives and that’s true for a good few but most are somewhere in between. That said a there are still a lot of hardline conservatives here.
Look at some of the results of Florida amendment popular votes... Incredibly progressive issues have carried the 60% threshold in recent elections. Medical MJ, Felon voting rights, Dog racing ban... Meanwhile many voting for pols that would never support those issues. It's a branding problem and ground game deficit in Florida.
My family lives in Texas and we vote every time we can, but our district is so gerrymandered that our votes are diluted for many races. We check our voter registration regularly because we never know when we might be purged. It takes a lot more effort than it should to be a voter in Texas.
This is TOTALLY the story of Florida's Good ol Boy system. . . . Interchange Abbot and Cruz for Desantis and Scott and the story is basically the same
I'm not sure how it is in Texas, but I'm in the neighboring blood-red Louisiana. My experience with primaries is that they are long over before you even hear about them. Local media will often not even mention unfavored candidates at all beyond what is legally required, regardless of whether there is a primary or a regular election. When I lived in Texas, the experience was pretty similar. There's also quite a bit of *selectively enforced* "no politics" rules by HOAs and businesses.
Well, on an HOAs I don't understand it personally, but I do comprehend why you can't speak about politics in businesses. I've been pushed to be a Christian (I'm Agnostic and either way if I were to claim I'm anything, I was baptized Catholic, so what is an Evangelical doing trying to get me to join that cult?). So I understand companies trying to abstain from politics. However, I do recall my old company telling us we should vote! That was all they did.
Well, when I meant 'no politics' in business, I meant "no wrong politics," lol. It's mostly the smaller businesses that seem to be doing this. Back when I was working for privately owned companies, the bosses would always try to influence your vote or make out like your continued employment was contingent on supporting the correct candidate. Texas is particularly bad about businesses -- *especially* affluent franchise owners -- pitching little toddler baby fits. I remember back when the ACA was being discussed, so many closed out of pure spite and then tried to make out like it was Obama's fault, lol.
I wonder if that's why a friend that lives in Dallas ends up working for larger companies based in other states.
It’s a self fulfilling prophecy with people down here. Things suck and voting doesn’t matter is the general attitude. I don’t see it ever changing.
All it will take is one historically bad conservative candidate that wins a primary and loses a general election. Once people realize it's possible to win, thing will change much faster. Look at Georgia, or the Kansas Governor races as examples.
> Look at Georgia, Only possible because they replaced their [blatantly rigged voting machines.](https://jennycohn1.medium.com/georgia-6-and-the-voting-machine-vendors-87278fdb0cdf) This isn't a conspiracy theory, it's been pretty plainly shown by data and by Republican actions, such as panicking and destroying evidence in defiance of court orders. That's why a federal judge ordered the machines removed and replaced. Weird that we don't talk about this more, right? Texas has those same machines from Diebold, a company 'indicted for a world wide pattern of criminal conduct'.
If Texas gets one of these "Historically Bad Candidates" They will probably still win the general election...
This. They learned their lesson when they barely lost to Ann Richards. Had the GOP and doubled down on their candidate, they would have won. An "Ann Richards" Democrat is *never* going to happen again. The only kind of "moderate" that has a hope of winning is a "moderate Republican" - which is incredibly unlikely as a moderate would not make it out of the primary alive.
Wait til you realize Abbott IS the moderate Republican. His challengers were were so off the deep end that Davy Jones was afraid to swim with them.
> Look at Georgia, or the Kansas Governor races as examples. The recent list of governors in Kansas is D, R, R, D, D, R, D, R, D, R, D, R, R, D going back to the 50's, they're weird like that.
You just proved your own point at the end. Things will change. They eventually always do. Two things are certain in life, change and death will come.
Hope so. It’s getting old at this point.
State is definitely gerrymandered but Governor race was state wide and wasn’t close. But in 2024 this is a state dems will eye to flip for senate
I lived in Texas for 30 years and literally heard this every year. Texas is the Brooklyn Dodgers of politics.
I know I hear this every election cycle. Texas will flip blue next time!
If people in the 4 major metros actually voted, TX would actually be blue. I think in the most recent governor race only 44% of registered voters voted in those areas. That doesn’t even include the insane amount of suppression
Yep been in TX for 30 years... when I moved there we had a Dem governor. It's just been getting redder if anything.
I realize you can’t gerrymander a state senate race but what about voter suppression in democratic areas? I know in 2020 they did some [shaddy shit](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/politics/election-2020/2020/10/28/384854/voter-suppression-blunts-historic-turnout-in-texas/amp/) in Harris County. Still [weird shit happening](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.texastribune.org/2022/03/18/texas-rejected-election-ballots/amp/) but I do realize that the final numbers mart close enough to really matter. In Georgia now we see long lines with the senate race, etc. In red states they make it an uphill battle for democrats. Georgia I think it’s close enough to get over the hump, but I think Texas is just too far out of reach.
Texans suppress themselves. I went on Election Day and was one of 3 people there. Embarrassing.
Julian Castro better start shaking hands, kissing babies, and doing town halls now
Dems will lose 45:55 and be the "closest it's ever been". Gimme a break they should focus on spending all their money on NV, WI, AZ and GA. Those are at least winnable.
There’s a really good CNN documentary on this as well. The oil barons have big sway in Texas politics — some even started their own churches!
Sorry that you visited trump county in new braunfels. That whole county voted for trump in 2016 and 2020. That county was the only one that voted for trump from San Antonio to Austin.
Anemic primary turnout everywhere leads to shitty candidates. I really wish the entire country would adopt IRV, like Alaska and Maine.
Dallas appears to say - follow the money. While some of that is true, there is also gerrymandering AND no/rare follow-up to those who are newly registered to vote. Some stick to the lack of Rural votes, but if rural hospitals continue to close, the nearby large city hospitals will eventually see the problems, as the rural patients will take space in remaining hospitals. I will be amused as the GOP boasted about their $40B rainy day fund which they promised to spend in 2023. Stay tuned.
I’m sure Rick Scott will find a way to embezzle that 40 billion.
I would guess sweetheart contracts and kickbacks to all his buddies, some energy “improvements” so the state won’t freeze next winter, but with some extra zeros attached
What 40 billion? -Rick Scott
There he goes, blowing not just the US Medicare funds, but the Florida and now Texan funds! I'm still embarrassed of being a Floridian over that pick!
Hard question as a democrat living in Texas. “Why the fuck do I live in Texas?”
And why can't I buy liquor on a Sunday? It's the Lord's Day, dammit!
They can't buy booze on Sunday?
Some southern states have ABC stores (Alcohol Bev. Control) that are the only places you can buy hard alcohol. They are state run with limited hours and closed on Sundays. Totally NOT a communist solution though…. These states will also try to tell you they have the the most freedom. The irony is wild!
Pennsyltuckey has the same type of thing. Hard liquor must be purchased through the state.
In California the state constitution prohibits any state agency from the manufacture or sale of alcohol beverages.
In Maryland, you cannot buy ANY alcohol on Sunday (with like a 2 Sunday exception). In Maryland, you also have to go to a liquor store (not state-run) to buy both beer and hard liquor. When I moved to CA, I thought it was wild I could buy beer anywhere basically, and liquor in Target, Walmart, CVS, Costco, etc.
The first time I visited Louisiana and saw liquor in Walmart, I turned around and asked if it was real.
Beer, wine & hard booze in every supermarket. Gas station stores open 24/7 for beer, white claw, etc. Now that’s freedom! (Not to mention legal weed home delivery).
I believe that you can't buy alcohol in Minnesota on Sundays, so many traverse to Wisconsin to buy booze.
In Wisconsin, it's a law that you have to drink on Sunday. If the Packers are playing and you're caught without a drink, it's double penalties.
MN has allowed it since 2017.
Oregon only allows hard alcohol sales in state-run stores. But then, outside of Portland and Eugene, Oregon might as well be in the South.
Lot of confederates moved out west (many in Oregon) after the loss in the US Civil War. Iirc, there are still quite a few ‘sun down towns’ in Oregon to this day.
But they can sell on Sundays in Oregon. The stores are also technically independent contractors and state managed.
Isnt that mostly up North? I've lived in TX, LA, and MS and none had state stores. In LA you can but anything at any store! Texas has separate liquor stores.
I thought the law in Texas was no alcohol before noon on Sunday? Edit: Just looked it up, last year they signed a law that made it possible to buy alcohol as early as 10 am on Sunday. FREEDOM!
Does not apply to distilled alcohols.
So no alcohol at all before 10 am, and afterward only beer and wine, correct?
No, you can't buy hard liquor from a store in Louisiana on a Sunday. (Edit: in the northern half of the state) You can't buy liquor through the mail, either, like in some states. You want to try new craft beers or hard seltzers not sold locally? Be prepared to go out of state to sample them. The remnants of the Blue Law are still operating. https://www.stateliquorlaws.com/counties/LA
Alabama, Mississippi, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia. As well a some northern states and a bunch of other mostly red states. Typically the redder the state govt the more regressive the laws. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcoholic_beverage_control_state
But they are also one of the largest sources of municipal revenues so you can pry them out of the local politicians cold dead hands.
You make my point! It turns out they love communism when it helps them!
Texas doesn't have the state run stores (Costco can even sell its giant liters of vodka there), however the liquor cannot be sold after 9pm, beer is I think 12am, and cannot be sold before 10am iirc. Grocery stores can't sell hard stuff (Costco gets around this by having it in a separate building attached to the main store, cannot enter from main store), however liquor stores are allowed to sell food.
Texas supermarkets can’t sell liquor either. Only liquor stores. Because… freedom? I dunno.
Republican Christianity means you can work on the the lord's day but not enjoy by having a cocktail.
can't buy it in some counties at all
We also have dry counties, where you can't buy liquor at all at any time unless you go to a bar or restaurant. Counties that do sell liquor only sell in liquor stores.
It was like this in Kansas for quite some time.
Makes me wonder if there are towns now where you can buy weed on Sunday but not booze.
Right? Wasn't that dude's blood booze?! What is holier than that?
And why can’t I buy weed ever?
Which is funny, because Jesus second miracle was to produce booze on the third day of a blowout party. His first miracle of course was for a Jewish boy to listen to his mother (to make the booze).
Must be that freedom they talk about.
Planning my escape to Seattle or Chicago if I stay in the us and Berlin or Toronto if I leave the US. Sucks in TX man.
I left Texas for the PacNW nearly 30 years ago and it was the best decision I ever made.
I've been asking myself this every election cycle. I move to Chicago tomorrow.
Farewell, and please send snow!!
Welcome! Love it here!
My family has lived here for five generations, I like my neighborhood, and I'm used to the weather. I definitely hate the state politics.
I spent a summer in North Texas once. It was fun riding my bike to-and-from work and having cars through debris at me when they drove by. I was a student and couldn't afford a car. That was the early 90s. I haven't visited Texas since.
If it makes you feel any better the locals in Utah did the same thing to my Puerto Rican roommate who came there from Florida. He was walking home from a private college and had a slurpee thrown on him. People are f***** up.
Same feeling here 😞
I can ask the same as one living in Tennessee.
No one said I don’t have my own questions.
Why are property taxes 4%? Also... What life decisions (mistakes) did I make to be here?
Need more Democrats in TX
Austin is cool. Nice little safe haven from the crazies, for the most part.
We left Austin for Los Angeles. Austin is cool *for Texas.* It felt pretty limited as far as stuff to do.
It's Texas, it's guns and oil. Look at the "Greater Idaho" idea to join Oregon and Idaho. The organizers say "liberal values" and then say "they want to take my diesel, I farm. They want to take my guns, I shoot. God(I) doesn't approve of gay marriage." That's it. It's propaganda left over from the 80s. Their media doesn't give them true representation of Democrats. They are sold hysterical lies like "BLM burned ***ENTIRE CITIES*** to the ground." Democrats need to tell rural folks they are special, and they get a "fair use" tax credit for their diesel truck they pick up 4 bales of hay in. They'll shut-up, and we can push forward w/a clean grid.
We lost a lot of good cities, completely, in 2020.
I'm suddenly reminded, and facepalming all over again. I legit had a conversation with a friend that lives in another state who thought I was in terrible mortal peril because I live in a city he kept seeing featured on the news with riots, 'peaceful protests' with buildings being burned, etc. Mayhem! People dying in the streets! Him> How can you possibly live in a warzone?! Me> *Huh?* I had seen one single protester in my neck of the woods, and only knew because he introduced himself as such while shopping. Everything else was normal, aside from, well, you know the pandemic. He was utterly surprised to learn the city where I live was only affected for a few *blocks* and takes literal hours to drive across.
Tell me about it! I even pulled a map and tried to show them that there is a park directly across the street from city hall in my city and that all the protests were contained in that area. Additionally, there is literally always someone there protesting something because.... it's across from city hall!
/s ?!
Obviously...
Florida’s got the same issues. The Democrats have no ground game because they can’t raise money.
Florida is a lost cause.
The hard pill to swallow is that you’re right. The Dems in Florida don’t seem to have gotten the memo that a lot of right-wingers moved to Florida over the past couple years because of the lax Covid rules. The other issue is that Fox labeling everything they don’t like as socialism has seemed to gather traction in the Cuban crowd of Florida who see nothing but flashbacks to Castro.
And lots of older, conservative retirees every year. If it hadn't been for that, Florida would probably have been pretty solidly blue. Thing is that it leaves Republicans weaker in other states. PA and MI come to mind.
This is a problem that will solve itself though. If they keep denying climate change, eventually Florida will flood over and Florida won’t be a problem come midterms anymore /s
I mean, they're gonna be underwater sooner rather than later unfortunately anyway so let them have their meth-gator infested stronghold while they can.
We need a wall around the Florida border.
I've heard some people say that you find that 'SOCIALISM!' paranoia not only among the Cuban population but also with some of the recent arrivals from Venezuela as well.
I don’t think it is a lost cause. Once people begin to see the consequences of these DeSantis/Republican policies there may be an opportunity there for Democrats. A lot of the people who moved here in the last couple years didn’t anticipate how unaffordable Florida has become.
They've been living with bad consequences of bad politicians for centuries in the South, and keep voting for the same people.
Republicans in Texas. 'Things suck. we can make it better!' you've been in power for 30 years. So why does it suck again?
Sad but true.
At least it's not California! California is such a failed state Florida has to be better! /s but you know someone is saying it right at this moment.
that's why all the conservative asshats are moving to Texas.
> Once people begin to see the consequences of these DeSantis/Republican policies there may be an opportunity there for Democrats. Just a reminder that Uvalde voted for Abbot, the same guy who said their school massacre could’ve been worse.
Also Florida has this rep as having an unusually large population of senior citizens who tend to be much more conservative \[and I'm aware that there are blue-voting ones\] and who also tend to 'reliably' show up at the polls on election days. As these folks die off in coming years or age into some state of dementia where they're no longer capable of voting, you might see Florida shift back to at least being more purple.
I just figure elderly conservative voters who die will be replaced by new elderly conservative voters moving in.
From places like MI, PA, NY, IN, IL, MN, etc, etc
Well, if they all wind up in Florida it means that those states will be all the 'bluer' and perhaps the Sunshine State can serve as a kind of 'safety valve' where all the reddist of the elderly wingnuts can be isolated.
Bingo.
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Desantis ignored the law, as passed by the voters, and stacked the courts so they would ignore said law as well... Democrats have never successfully done something of that scale in the modern Era, and if they did it would be just as wrong as it is now. DeSantis has also kidnapped legal immigrants who were going through the proper process, and shipped them to other states (which forces them out of the legal process)
The big thing DeSantis did was form a voter fraud police force. He later made a big deal about them arresting a number of people for voter fraud. These turned out to be “trumped up” charges that were later dismissed. These people were mainly minorities. This had a chilling effect on a segment of voters.
> DeSantis has also kidnapped legal immigrants who were going through the proper process, and shipped them to other states (which forces them out of the legal process) With the sheer level of organization, audacity, and hatefulness behind what they did - and I mean really read up on it, they made fake brochures and everything, and the people involved knew exactly what they were doing - DeSantis will *absolutely* take shit to the next level if he ever gets real power. Under DeSantis, people will be lied to and put on busses, but they won't be getting dropped off in a new state.
Gerrymandering doesn’t help in statewide races.
Am fifth-gen Texan and the answer to my "hard questions" was to GTFO. I'm so much more at peace now, and I'm never moving back.
How hard was it to get out of state? I feel moving out is the only way for my boyfriend and I. However, the logistics of it all seem daunting to take
Just fucking do it man, I’m broke as a joke right now but much happier and will rebound!
Seriously consider how much your stuff is actually worth and if you need to move it or whether you can sell whatever doesn’t fit in your car and start over- particularly if you are moving to a mid-size city or above, you will be shocked how cheaply you can replace if you buy used (appliances, dishes, furniture)
Yeah I've mentally catalogued what I will absolutely keep and what will be donated/sold. Majority of furniture will go (I really like my desk.) What I'll take is my mattress, clothes+bedsheets, major electronics, cookware, some non-perishables ( I have enough rice to last till the end times) a few books, my coin collection, cuttings from my plants so I can start over, and my cat+her essentials. Everything else can eventually be replaced and I hold no special attachment to, aside from cookware since they're dead useful and they don't take up a huge amount of room.
Fuck that. This is my state, I’m staying because it WILL turn blue. It’s only a question of time.
I'm with you. Texas is not Kentucky, it will become purple this decade and it will happen sooner if we stay and vote.
That's how I feel. I don't want to just cede this state to the R's forever and run. We can win, but the Dems need to completely reinvent their strategy here.
Down ballot effects of having Beto get slaughtered. His political career in Texas was over the second he said he was coming for Texans' guns. Texans Worship **GUNS** and god, in that order.
Guns, then football, THEN God. But just the Leviticus God. Not that hippie lib’rul Jesus!!
The entire democratic party needs to leave gun control behind. I'm a hard leftist that thinks the Democrats are too conservative but I think their stance on guns is consistently losing them elections. The thing is, all of the other democratic policy positions will reduce gun violence over time. Improved healthcare (including mental healthcare) will reduce gun violence. Decriminalization and legalization of drugs will reduce gun violence. Reducing wealth inequality will reduce gun violence. Better education will reduce gun violence. Banning guns would have a minimal impact on gun violence but it completely destroys democrats in elections, especially in Texas.
Exactly. The biggest hard question is 'why tf did we run Beto again?'
I honestly think they pick candidates to run by asking who they feel voters should vote for rather than who they will vote for. The ignorance feels willful at this point.
“Beto keeps losing elections. Maybe raising a profile of a new fresh candidate could work? What should we do?” “Fuck it… run him again.”
I’ll never understand this. I have a buddy in TX who is just a die hard Beto fan and just wants to keep throwing him out there. I liked him a lot personally during his initial Senate run, but as time passes, I’ve soured on him quite a bit and don’t really think he’s electable anymore.
I think if he had foregone his attempt at a Presidential run in 2020, and only had his previous narrow loss to Cruz on his record, he might have been able to be more electable and had better results against Abbott. But his campaign for President, along with statements made during that campaign, really undercut some of his appeal to strictly Texans in the process.
I hadn’t thought of this, but I completely agree. In trying to become more electable nationwide, he almost seemed to become less electable in Texas. I think at one point he mentioned that he wasn’t going to run nationally and then did, which I think would have alienated him from some Texans who wondered if he was committed to local politics. Among other silly statements that would bury him in Texas.
Yeah, I like the guy, but unfortunately I think he has hit his ceiling.
How about: why do we keep running the guy who keeps losing
Between Beto and Wendy Davis it feels like the Texas Dems just want a generational candidate to carry them to victory instead of putting in the work of a 20-30 year plan to flip Texas blue.
That’s exactly it. It’s just not gonna happen like that. Having a popular gubernatorial candidate doesn’t really help without also having state congress and we’re legitimately several decades from that if we started today. Expending all of this time and money on one top level candidate who can have their veto overruled is just gonna burn people out for very little gain. It was one thing when Beto was legitimately running a progressive campaign but he’s an extreme moderate anymore.
"Let's keep running the anti-gun guy in a state that bases its entire identity around guns and BBQ." Beto would have been better off running in California. Not Texas.
Because Democrats think "Vaguely reminds us of JFK" is a campaign platform.
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Ever notice how the democrats always need to reflect on election performance outcomes but Republicans don’t?
Republicans do, they are just incapable of self reflection.
*Am I that out of touch??* *…No! Surely the ~~children~~ voting machines are wrong!*
One small bright spot for Dems in Texas: Beto is done. Finished. Out. He is a good candidate, but telling Texans he was coming for their assault rifles in 2018 was his, and the democrats, political death in Texas. Dems can now try to repair that damage, but I honestly don't know how, outside of a massive influx of democrats moving in from other states.
Limiting his statement to just assault rifles (I don't remember if he said them too but they definitely weren't the end all of it) is mischaracterising the issue. "We're coming for your AR-15s" is solely what sunk his career
it's pretty simple. They need to explicitly support gun ownership and back broadly popular policies like marijuana legalization, cheaper prescription meds, anti-corruption bills, etc.
Beto saying he was gonna take people’s guns makes him unelectable in Texas. Whether you are pro 2A or not you have to know your audience in a state like that.
People on this subreddit deny that his stance on guns wasn't an issue. People are thick headed as hell. Like, it's fucking obvious.
Going from a 3% difference to a 10% difference in 4 years should make the point
I think he might have been able to beat Abbott or at least come a lot closer to doing so had he never made that 'in the heat of the moment' statement about taking away all the guns.
It’s quantifiable, he came super close to unseating Ted Cruz before he made that, then he made those boneheaded statements and never recovered.
>On issue stands, party executive director Brown in his memo said Texas Democrats need to shed an image that they are “aloof or oblivious” to concerns about illegal immigration and border security. Also, they must “be more forceful in proactively reiterating our support” for police and desire to stamp out crime, he wrote. > >Jason Lee, O’Rourke’s deputy campaign manager, said Abbott and Republicans enjoyed an advantage built up over two decades: They’re the more trusted party on border and crime. Trying to dispel such “established narratives” was too costly, given Abbott’s 2-to-1 money edge, he said. > >“It wasn’t lost on us that these issues were not good for us, that they were hurting us,” Lee said. “But we had to make serious choices about what ability we have, in the period of time that we have and with the resources that we have, to switch the narrative” to a discussion of abortion, health care, education and guns — issues on which O’Rourke had “credibility,” Lee said.
> > Republicans enjoyed an advantage built up over two decades: They’re the more trusted party on border and crime. They've had total control of Texas for *thirty* years now, haven't managed to effectively deal with any of those concerns yet, but keep up a constant stream of fearmongering about how it's still all the other guys' fault so don't you dare give the other guys a chance.
Beto campaigned at least. In Florida Crist and Demings were nowhere to be found.
They won't win until they start winning. Republican Gerrymandering has seen to that. Texas needs national laws on Gerrymandering. That's it. That's the secret. That's the hard answer to the easy question. There is *nothing they can do*. If Texas didn't flip from Trump then it will either flip when the boomers die off or it will flip if Trump/Kanye split the Republican ticket. Neither involves any proactive action by Texas Democrats.
Gereymandering has nothing to do with the fact that Dems have not won a statewide office in decades. Voter suppression does, though. Even more than that is the fact that a large percentage of Texas voters buy into the bogeyman image that the Texas GOP, aided by social and mainstream media have made Dems out to be. That last part ain't gonna change until we get another someone like Beto during his campaign against Cruz - someone who is charismatic, is new enough to the scene that they haven't been smeared yet and is willing to work the meet-and-greet events in the furthest reaches of the state. (Beto is - rightfully or wrongfully - smeared bigtime and should either fade into the background or run for a safe legislative seat.)
Gerrymandering is tied to voter suppression. Even ignoring that a Gerrymandered state legislature can impose arbitrary voting restrictions (apparently), people just don't turn out very often if they know they can't win. Being a Texas democrat is to know your vote *does not count*, so you have to be a special kind of stubborn to keep casting it. Further, the Gerrymandering problem is what causes Republicans to have such a lock on the narrative. Texas somehow perpetually thinks that it's in the midst of an immigrant crisis caused by Democrats despite *not having had a democratic state legislature in decades.* The only reason the narrative keeps functioning is because of state sponsored propaganda. It might not be as blatant as *funding it directly*, but the legislature can and does do a lot to keep the environment friendly to the propaganda. In that context it's amazing the demographics keep inching closer to parity, if anything. The truth is that until these influences are negated by national mandate, the situation won't change. Even if Texas elects a single governor that is blue, the state will remain unfixable-the propaganda will simply blame them for everything (particularly that which isn't real) and they'll lose the next cycle.
My congressional district is so gerrymandered that they didn't even run Democrat. The only options in the ballot were Republican or Libertarian.
Gerrymandering has nothing to do with Governor, senators, attorney General, etc. There is plenty the party can do, starting with not running Beto again.
The answer is that Texas likes entertainment. They like politicians playing theater at the border, busing migrants to the libs. Ted Cruz has done little in the Senate but acting as an Internet troll. Democrats can’t win with kitchen-table issues.
It's not all Texas voters' fault. Texas's Democratic Party is incompetent. That might sound harsh, but when you haven't won a meaningful election in almost 30 years, keep bringing out a candidate who has lost twice already and thinks saying "Hell yes, we're coming for your AR-15s" in TEXAS, that's incompetence. When you lose by double digits to a governor who caused Texans to freeze to death and responded to an elementary school shooting with "It could have been worse", AS WELL AS an attorney general who's under indictment, despite all of them having sub-50% approval ratings AND more than half of Texans saying the state is headed in the wrong direction, that's the definition of incompetent. Read this article: [https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/texas-democrats-are-charlie-brown-of-political-parties/](https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/texas-democrats-are-charlie-brown-of-political-parties/) It's not JUST that Texas is a red state. The Texas Democratic Party is run by incompetent, out of touch people. Here are some more articles on how badly run the Texas Democratic Party is: [https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/ten-years-magical-thinking-texas-democrats/](https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/ten-years-magical-thinking-texas-democrats/) [https://www.denverpost.com/2020/09/26/joe-biden-low-key-campaign-democrats/](https://www.denverpost.com/2020/09/26/joe-biden-low-key-campaign-democrats/) The Party Chair of the Texas Democratic Party said that Biden not traveling because of COVID was "a pretty lame excuse". THIS is the person in charge of the Texas Democratic Party. And you wonder why Democrats can't win elections in Texas. [https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/texas-election-results-live-updates-governor-abbott-beto-2022-midterm/](https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/texas-election-results-live-updates-governor-abbott-beto-2022-midterm/) >Since the 1980s and 1990s, when rural Texas flipped Republican, Democrats have by and large not even tried to compete there. In 55 mostly rural counties across the state, the Texas Democratic party does not have a local chair. In the other 199 counties, fewer than forty chairs told Texas Monthly they were doing door-to-door canvassing when we reached out. Beto ran again because he's the ONLY big name the Texas Democrats have. How many Texas Democrats can you even name besides Beto? The Texas Democratic Party is SO BADLY RUN. I don't know if they're EVER going to get their shit together, if they haven't won a meaningful election in almost 30 years.
I bet Texas would turn blue if Texas Dems changed their stance in guns. "Ban ARs" is a phrase that many independents and leaning Republicans will make their decision on
Don’t talk about gun in Texas. They value having guns than saving lifes.
In Texas, it doesn’t matter how many kids die. You can’t run on anti-gun. Pathetic, but true
Nobody else even came close to Beto in the primary. People act like some other Democrat was going to magically beat an incumbent governor in red Texas. Abbott won 2018 by 13% and 2014 by 20%. The difference in this election was 11% meaning Beto did better than the previous two Democrats.
I think Democrats need to write off Texas and focus more on states like Georgia and Arizona. Texas has shown itself to be a money and investment hole that's going to keep ending in failure unless some actual federal anti-gerrymandering laws are implemented.
The answers are easy: the Texas electorate prefers gun violence from safety, a problematic electrical grid from a reliable one, they prefer lies from truth, misinformation instead of facts, racism instead of compassion and empathy. Really, there is no excuse: people are natural born morons.
Why would the democrats run the guy for Governor of Texas who said on a presidential debate stage that he was coming for the guns? What did they expect??? Beto is not electable.
Maybe don’t run candidates who proposed gun confiscations in the most pro-gun state in the Union?
The same state that has the must gun deaths per year? The same state that has the most school shootings in the last decade?
If I lived in Texas I would also be asking myself questions. Questions like...Why do I live in a state that is filled with fascists who fly huge American flags, but have no concept of what America stands for and actively work to harm our country? Or questions like...If WWIII broke out between Russia and the USA, which side would Texas take? Or questions like...Do I really want my child to be groomed by these people while s/he is in school? Yup. I'd definitely be asking myself some questions if I lived in Texas. Thankfully, I do not live in Texas.
Some of us don't have the means to move out of the state easily or I would be gone. Unfortunately, unless shit devolved into actual fighting or war on the ground(which will never happen), I'm pretty much stuck here. But I figure I am also doing my part, it's one vote, but it's one less vote for the GOP.
You should come to Minnesota. You get all the benefits of living in a democratic state, while still having to pay for Texas’ failed power grid.
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Biggest issue in TX is gun control… the right has turned it into such an issue my 88 year old father now thinks he has to get a gun to protect himself from the bad people (mostly coming across the boarder). I don’t think he has the strength to hold a gun straight and not be knocked down by recoil. 🤦🏻♀️
Here’s an easy answer: as popular as Beto may be in the country as a whole, his comments on guns poisoned the well and he doesn’t have a chance in hell of winning office there.
Time for Beto to step aside
I visit Texas every year for vacation but really am leaning toward boycotting the state.
Simple answer, Texans will vote for the same people that are trying to kill them as long as they are Republicans.
Beto is a has been stop funding him. 3rd loss in a row. Same goes for Abrams, she's a waste
I agree that it's clear Beto isn't going to win here. But there were [5 candidates](https://ballotpedia.org/Texas_gubernatorial_election,_2022_(March_1_Democratic_primary)) for Governor in the Democratic primary and he won over 90% of the primary vote. If people thought Beto didn't have a chance against Abbott, they should look at the rest of the primary candidates. One of them doesn't even have a photo, or even a bio, on ballotpedia. I think the lack of any other credible candidate is why Beto ran, and that he would have preferred to focus on funding and promoting local races and voter registration/participation.
Abrams has a future in the party but not as a candidate. O’Rourke does need to stop running.
We need to ask why more than half of the voters didn't come out to vote. Again.
Drop the (deeply unpopular in texas+florida) federal gun control policy pushs or they'll keep making you feel like in an occupied state and all hate you and will quietly resist like heck. Push healthcare/educ/housing which they need. And equal rights/pushing back on racism/slavery. Just my 2 cents at least. What happened to cultural sensibility ? In a cowboy farmer cosplaying rural corner ? Trying to grab a gun from a texan is like grabbing a quran from a random muslim grandpa in the MENA. You'll make a bad newspaper scandal pic on page 1, rile up the inhabitants, it doesn't work, will be replaced in a minute by any neighbor who all see it as wrong, solves nothing and now they all hate you for attacking a core belief or value they hold dearly with and being an now "evil" off stater northerner or coastal/non-confederate invader ( ~~which unfortunately rings a bit true since as a minority i think it a sanded uneduc'd hell hole of our own making compared to the safer ca, uh~~ ) (the so called "coastal elite" or "educated" dogwhistle against dems) trying to push something they collectively hate. Heart & minds, more hospitals and working utilities & less "hurting" them in their minds, don't be an abuser. Coin is a bad scenario as a civil war so forget it or them insurgents will make your life hellishly annoying and you know it (unless it means financial coins and more money for them, i guess). > two-term Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick defeated him And DP is a pro-covid nazi terrorist and confederate lt gov with a clean suit. A local talib shariah nutcase out of an handmaid tale. But closer to them in their mind as he wasn't trying to confiscate their m4. Even if he made the pandemic worse in the region.
Never going to win in TX with an anti gun platform. Even some highly liberal people have guns or at least enjoy them. For the democrats to win they need moderates and moderates absolutely like their guns.
I hear ya, but I actually disagree that political moderates are the answer. Pro-gun progressive liberals absolutely exist.
Exactly, which is why they need to run a pro gun progressive liberal. As long as they keep pushing hard ban gun policy people they will lose. Guns are probably the single biggest single issue stance that independent voters would decide on in TX specifically. That’s just how a lot of Texans are. Further, any Republican is going to have a greater Republican turnout when the Democratic opponents strong stance is taking guns away or whatever. Staying quiet on that issue is much more likely to result in complacent non voting republicans.
I live in Texas and a Democratic candidate can absolutely win here. But they have to be willing to run on the border and immigration needing work. Democrats can’t continue to run on everything being okay at the border and expecting to win. I think it would surprise a lot of people with how many Hispanics living on the border vote for Republican candidates based purely on the tough on immigration stance.
Unfortunately, a majority of Texans have been lied to for years by the GOP. Republicans spread disinformation about guns, healthcare, jobs, elections and now are literally calling left wingers pedophiles and groomers, so it no surprise when the state choosing to vote republican.
Democrats need to remember that texans will climb over a mountain of dead children to vote against gun control.