From the article:
The bill’s sweeping, alleged purpose is stated in its opening sections: “returning sovereign regulatory powers to the state where those powers belong.” However, closer examination suggests that the legislation’s real intent is both narrower and potentially more profound than just upending city ordinance-making powers.
I live in Texas, so I absolutely do vote. More Texans voted for Biden than New Yorkers in 2020, when we had 66% turnout.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_United_States_presidential_election_in_Texas
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_United_States_presidential_election_in_New_York
Paxton himself said Biden would have won Texas if he hadn’t shut down mail-in voting.
https://www.newsweek.com/texas-ag-says-trump-wouldve-lost-state-if-it-hadnt-blocked-mail-ballots-applications-being-1597909
So I reject the idea that Texas is a lost cause. If we were, Republicans wouldn’t still be trying so hard to suppress our voice. If we could just get the turnout we would win the state-wide offices. Then we could tackle the gerrymandering and have a representative legislature. We just have to actually get out and vote, instead of the craptacular 2022 midterm <50% turnout that saw Abbott, Patrick, and Paxton all reelected.
I also live in Texas, and I do vote, but it’s hard to get myself to do so and even harder to believe it’s actually making a difference. I didn’t mean that democrat voters feel that it’s a lost cause, it feels like the party itself views Texas as a lost cause or is treating Texas like a heel. The reason is because the politicians they send tend to either actively push for gun control or have done so in the recent past. That’s an extremely hard sell in Texas. Sure, you could say, “oh, but people would still vote against them because they’ll just assume that said politician is anti-gun 'cause they’re blue” but that itself seems like a bit of a lost-cause mindset.
Idk, I guess my point is that it feels like the democrats are putting forward politicians without actually looking into what would be successful in Texas. Combine that with me having become cynical and jaded, and I have a hard time believing that they’re actually trying if not straight-up using Texas as a heel for more liberal states.
Edit: tried to fix some phrasing.
In the case of Beto in 2022, I think you’re right that the party wasn’t doing anything to compete in the state. But I think Beto only ran because the DNC wasn’t putting up anyone. The primary was 5 or 6 no-name folks with zero experience. One didn’t even have a web site. So Beto won the primary with over 90% of the vote. He didn’t really look like he wanted it at all, because clearly his comments on gun control during his presidential run tanked any future state campaigns.
We need someone like Howard Dean back in charge, with the fifty state strategy that paid off in 2008 and 2012. I think Beto can do that for the party within the state, if other candidates will step up. Seems like we have decent options to take on Cruz in 2024.
God damn, that would have been a hell of a thing to see.
Yeah. Keeping hope alive for 2024.