Texas is Turning Blue and The Republican Party May be on the Verge of Extinction…

[TexasTowelie]

This map makes me feel like I'm tripping!

Don’t mess with Texas!!”

This saying is one of Texan’s favorites. And while it applies to a diversity of situations, it certainly applies to politics and presidential elections. When it comes to voter support for the Republican party, no state in the U.S. has as much power as Texas. With 38 electoral votes, Texas has established itself as the engine of the Republican party. Without Texas’ support, it’s likely that no Republican candidate would ever win the presidency again… In a perfect world, right? It’s no surprise then that Republicans are becoming extremely concerned by the fact that Texas is becoming bluer and bluer every year.

Let’s put some of this into perspective: If, during the 2012 elections, Texas had voted Democratic instead of Republican, Romney could have taken all of the Northeast and still have fallen very short against Obama’s campaign. By the same vein, if Texas had voted Democrat, Romney could have taken all of the Great Lakes area and still have lost the 2012 presidential election. And if Romney had taken all of the West Coast, but had lost the support of Texas, victory would still have eluded him. this is all to say, Texas is the linchpin of Republican success. Without Texas, victory is unlikely for any Republican candidate. In both the 2000 and 2004 elections, George W. Bush’s loss would have been inevitable if Texas had turned blue.

This issue is unique to Republicans, as the loss of California in 2008 and 2012 elections wouldn’t have affected Obama’s win. Even though California has 55 electoral votes, the loss of those votes isn’t {wouldn't} have been enough to take the win away.

There’s no denying that if Texas’ shifted politically, from red to blue, Republicans are in for a beating. And this is precisely what seems to be happening. But why? How? Texas is known for staunch conservative beliefs. What is spurring this sudden shift?

Read more: http://www.greenvillegazette.com/fb/texas-is-turning-blue-and-the-republican-party-may-be-on-the-verge-of-extinction-3/

[Iliyah]

1. Gosh, I hope true!

[RKP5637]

2. I hope so. Texas would be so much better if blue. More and more Texans are likely realizing how

badly the republicans screw them over and over again.

[Blus4u]

3. Hope we show the progress...

...in 2016!!


Peace

[CanonRay]

4. I hope you are correct, but...

they recently elected the farthest right, craziest, asshole governor yet. And I thought Bush and Perry were bad.

[Iliyah]

6. Thats true, but Texan's may be waking up to the insanity of the GOP in their state.

Over 100,000 women re: self-induced abortions. High % of Texans uninsured - healthcare. Falsified school textbooks especially in history. . . . on and on.

[getagrip_already]

5. would love it!

But I'm not expecting it any time soon. First, you have to convince them to register, then to vote. All of that in the face of active voter suppression efforts.

They will fight with all their crazy to prevent it. Legal or not.

[PDittie]

9. BINGO

[Jarqui]

7. I think this is true:

While Texas may not become a Democratic state today or even in the next couple of years, it’s certainly something we can expect to happen in the near future.

Latino population is growing quickly. I think they may surpass the white non-Hispanic population in Texas in the next 10 years or so. Might take a little longer for them to reach voting age - not sure.

Then all the GOP positions calling Latinos rapists and wanting to round them up will come home to roost.

I do think it's a key thing to keep an eye on because as the article suggests, once Texas turns blue, the racist GOP as we know it will start to become politically extinct because they cannot win the White House without Texas.

I think Nixon is the only Republican since 1924 to win the White House without Texas in 1968. He'll probably be the last one to do so until the GOP changes their policies towards non-whites.

[PDittie]

8. I've been reading articles and books like this since the late '90's

I hate to point this out, but since I've heard it for almost twenty years without any actual evidence to suggest it's happening, it sounds like the same old fairy tale to me. Remember Ruy Teixeira's book?

http://www.amazon.com/Emerging-Democratic-Majority-John-Judis/dp/0743254783

That was in '04. I've been working in statewide campaigns since 2006. Municipal (Houston) campaigns in the off-numbered years. It was great helping Annise Parker get elected, but the truth is she's a corporate Blue Dog. A fiscal conservative. She laid off city employees rather than raise the water bill or assess a garbage collection fee, both among the lowest in the state.

I'm currently working my precinct trying to get the blue vote out for Sylvester Turner, and it's like pulling hen's teeth. Same thing in the summer of 2014, when I had middle-aged female neighbors tell me that thy weren't going to vote because they didn't see the point. D primary voting history but they weren't going to vote for Wendy Davis.

My (almost inside the Loop) precinct in six years has gone from blue to purple to red, all because the Democrats don't turn out. Sorry to pee on the parade but the Latinos don't look as if they're going to show up in my lifetime to save us (and I'm in my mid 50's).

[Melissa G]

12. I am skeptical votes are being counted acurately in Texas.

It is too big a state for candidates to afford to recount.

We are of a similar age and experience.

While you are certainly correct about the challenge of getting voters of a certain demographic registered and to the polls, it is still a question to me of who is counting the votes and more to the point what they are being counted on.

Votes can be stolen and we can't do a blasted thing. The ditching of the precinct model makes vote padding even easier.

[whatthehey]

10. Turning? Sure. In next generation? Doubtful.

[bvar22]

11. When LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act (1964),

he said we would lose the South for a generation.
Well, THAT generation is OVER.
Time to turn the South BLUE.
There is certainly enough poverty and desperation here to sell the Democratic Party (IF the Democratic Party returns to its foundations).
Part of the "Blue Revolution" in Texas is due to Latin immigration,
and it is spreading to my state, Arkansas.

Lagniappe.... the food is getting better, at least down in the SW corner of Arkansas next to Texas. We drive 80 miles to get decent Mexican Food, but during that drive,
we can observe more signs in Spanish, and celebrate more & more businesses owned by Latin immigrants getting closer to OUR town.

It is only a matter of time.

[Spew]

13. Would be great

I've been hearing this a long time and thought we had a chance with a seeming groundswell of excitement around Wendy Davis. Unfortunately, she didn't run a great campaign and ended up losing by a larger percentage than the previous election's democratic challenger. Worse yet, she lost even among women who voted. It was up and down the ticket one of the most thorough GOP wins to date.

From what I hear, Texas isn't so much a red state as a low-turnout state. I wish we could figure out how to motivate turnout among more than the angry and reliable GOP base. Only that will make blue Texas a reality. Then, as mentioned above, any dreams of a GOP presidency will evaporate leaving some kind of disgusting residue.

[TexasProgresive]

14. whaaat is this for real

Aggieland (Brazos County) is BLUE.