Texas 2022 election post-mortem

The Trib notes that some suburban "collar counties" that had been trending more blueish reversed that trend. Fort Bend County was the biggest reverser, of counties it samples, followed by Denton County, in my area, which had been close to getting purplish but now is not again. I continue to blame Beat-0 the Muleshoer. Denton is exactly the type of place he should have been not just doubling down on, but tripling down on, in his campaign. And, he never should have lost Tarrant, which turned slightly blueish in the two previous elections.

These things had downballot results, too. Tarrant County might have a Democratic county judge had Beat-0 spent more time there.

Meanwhile, Jamarr Brown, who is the executive officer for Gilligan Hinojosa on SS Democratic Minnow, openly admitted Dem leaders were a fail on GOTV and messaging. Hello, in that story, even Gilberto himself admits the party has problems. Turnout was at 47 percent, which the Trib gives a smiley face by noting that, while below 2018, it was better than previous midterms.

At the Monthly, Michael Hardy compares Texas Dems to Charlie Brown, as in, especially, of Lucy pulling away the football scenes. This:

Carroll Robinson, a Houston law professor and chair of the Texas Coalition of Black Democrats ... is one of several state Democratic leaders who told me the party needs to improve its campaign infrastructure, especially in rural counties, where it performed even worse than in 2018. But when consumers haven’t purchased your product for nearly three decades, it raises the suspicion that you are selling them a lemon. When Ford took its infamous Pinto subcompact off the market in 1980, it wasn’t because the company lacked a robust dealership network but because the Pinto had a well-documented tendency to explode.

Is all you need.

As far as "dealership network," Hardy notes that, despite Beat-0 the Pander Bear, Dems did WORSE in rural Texas than 2018. But, nobody, not Brown or Robinson, is talking about making Gilligan Hinojosa walk the plank yet. Well, Kim Olson, who lost the party headship race to Gilligan this summer, did just that, via retweet, but nobody's followed her lead. And, a Scott Uhl ConservaDem's idea of who should lead the party? Pass. Besides, as I noted at the time of that election, Olson herself is a hypocrite. And, yeah, per a political analyst in Hardy's piece, Dems are close to hitting permanent minority party status. That's between the old BS about "demographics as destiny" and the new BS about "nonvoters being sekrut Democrats."

As for the "bench" for 2024 to challenge Havana Ted, count Hidalgo out, IMO. The contracts cloud will probably still be over her head. The Castro bros will continue to take their hard passes. Nobody of the few Dems in the state Senate is interesting. Maybe a Clay Jenkins, not mentioned in that link two paragraphs above above, steps forward?

As for next year's Lege, Republicans appear to have added one seat in each chamber. Surely not enough for Tony Tinderholt to oust Dade Phelan as House speaker, but the extra seat on the Senate side will just embolden Danny Goeb more.

Forrest Wilder, in his run-Dems-up-the-the-flagpole-and-salute mode, blames GOP redistricting.

Dan Solomon goes worse and says Dems need a celebrity candidate. First, weren't Beat-0 and Loopy Lupe Valdez kind of that? Second, he ignores that Matthew McConaughey took a hard pass. As for ones he suggests? Gregg Popovich could be covered with Primo stench in two years. Eva Longoria ain't doing it.

Kuff weighs in with his own surprisingly good thoughts, starting with having some D officials from "battleground states" do a review of the Texas party, which he acknowledges isn't likely and also may only have a long-term, not short-term, solution. But, it's a good one. Look at how purplish Aridzona's become in relatively short time. Why can't Texas do that? He also notes that this may involved tougher federal action on the border and immigration, which Texas Ds may not like. Well, Aridzona's also a border state, and it's been turning purplish even in the face of all this. So, while Kuff I don't think intended it that way, that part could be seen as a bit of excuse-making for Texas Ds.

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At least Texas Dems aren't Texas Greens, who suck, full stop, and probably have no more plans to do real change than do Dems.

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Side note: Harold Cook, Democratic campaign whisperer and more, and apparently in ill health after a stroke a couple of years ago, is dead. Stace has a personal reminiscence. 

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If the likes of Greg Summerlin think critical race theory is some secret tool to make all white schoolkids hate themselves, to expand on his comment and my response? Greg, I'm glad you're an EX HCSO deputy. And, if you think Beat-0 was some wild-eyed radical, when did you leave the Republican Party? If you really think this is a problem with Democratic gubernatorial candidates? I give you, in order:

• Republican-voting Tony Sanchez;
• Chris Bell, Republican in sheep's clothing;
• Bill White, bland national neoliberal apparatchik before becoming bland neoliberal Houston mayor
• Wendy Davis, Capitol-connected insider and grifter
• Loopy Lupe Valdez, a "centrist" Dem to the degree she had much in the way of articulated positions on anything, and ex-military and tough on crime
• Beat-0 the Pander Bear.

There. You need not darken my doorstep again. And, a more detailed take on Summerlin's plaint is here.