"Do Texas Democrats want to win statewide elections? I'm sure they'd prefer it to losing them. But the question is whether they actually care enough about winning to take the necessary steps-or even whether winning elections ranks among their top, say, five priorities."
"During the Obama era, Democrats pointed hopefully to the state's growing Latino population as a source of strength that would propel them inevitably back into majority status. This expectation of an emerging majority may have paradoxically caused the party to avoid making any accommodations to the state's conservative-leaning electorate-why compromise their values to win when they could just ride the demographic wave?"
"I understand that James Talarico had the temerity and the audacity to say to a Black woman that he had signed up to run against a mediocre Black man, meaning me, not a formidable, intelligent Black woman, meaning Jasmine Crockett."
Texas Democrats have lost every statewide election since 1994. During the Obama era, the party relied on projected Latino population growth as a path back to majority status and avoided accommodating conservative-leaning voters. Latino voters shifted rightward in 2024 and displayed more moderate views on issues such as immigration than progressive activists anticipated. Recent dynamics, including voter fallout from Donald Trump, have created a potentially winnable environment for Democrats. Persistent internal disunity and public intra-party conflicts, exemplified by contentious endorsements and personal attacks during the Senate primary, undermine the party’s ability to capitalize on favorable conditions. The party’s organizational choices and priorities remain central obstacles to statewide success.
Read at The Atlantic
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