Texas Republicans brace for 2020 drubbing

[RandySF]

Now, at least eight House seats are in play there, and Sen. John Cornyn is bracing for a competitive reelection race. It’s not out of the question that Democrats could make a play for the state’s 38 Electoral College votes, which would all but clinch the presidency if they were to succeed.

“Republicans need to be very concerned about Texas,” said Texas Republican Rep. Brian Babin. “Texas is definitely in play. We need to take this very, very seriously.”

Aware of the potential gains in Texas, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee opened an office in Austin in April and put six Republicans in the state on its 2020 target list. The DCCC has placed 10 staffers on the ground in Texas.

The campaign arm is treating Texas much the way it did California in 2018 — ripe for pickups. Democrats see the increasing diversity in the state, and frustrations with Trump in the suburbs over health care and immigration, as catalysts of a changing political landscape that could play in their favor.

Keir Murray, a longtime Democratic strategist in Texas, credits Trump for putting the state in play. Democrats expected the state would eventually start to move in their direction as more minorities moved there, but they thought that was still five years away, give or take.

Trump, he said, has “accelerated the process.”

In 2018, 59 percent of female voters went for Democratic candidates, compared with 40 percent for Republicans. That change, coupled with “a browning of the suburbs,” said Murray, is a boon for Democrats.

Democrat Sri Preston Kulkarni, who is running to replace retiring Rep. Pete Olson in Texas’ 22nd Congressional District, is focusing on expanding the electorate by engaging with minority communities he said are often overlooked.

“It’s very difficult to do a multicultural campaign, but I think that’s what we need to do in these urban [and] especially suburban areas where there is a huge amount of diversity,” he said. “Immigrants are usually talked about as an issue or an object, rather than talked to like voters.”




https://www.politico.com/story/2019/08/12/texas-republicans-2020-elections-1456161

[philf99]

1. Voter Registration

Should be priority one

[vercetti2021]

2. As Texas goes

So does the Republicans presidency for decades. But Trump did accelerate the process. El Paso possibly pushed it over the brim.

[Liberal In Texas]

3. If nothing else

it's going to cause the repubs to pour tons of money into the state next year. That money being used up here is going to keep the money from being used in other states in their elections.

A big deal is that we might take back the lege and get some of the crazy repub laws repealed.

[sacto95834]

7. "lege..."

RIP Molly Ivins. That phrase made me think of her. Wonder what she would have thought about US politics today.

[Takket]

4. It amazes me....

Drumpf ‘s popularity is underwater in all the battle ground states, the Dems are seriously looking to take Texas, reps are retiring in droves...

The ship is taking on water for one reason only: drumpf. And the entire party just goes right on groveling at his feet and worshiping him as a god.

Maybe they all just know Putin is going to deliver for them again.

[duforsure]

5. They're running from them in Texas, and ones I know

Are tired of the lying, the corruption, and the policies they promote hurting them and others. Especially their cruel immigration policies.

[Gothmog]

6. Texas will be a battleground state