Will Rogers famously said, “I belong to no organized party; I am a Democrat.”
Nowhere is that quote more applicable than in Texas. The Dems have lost every statewide race since Ann Richards was elected governor in 1990. Today all of our state’s leaders are Republicans — from governor down to land commissioner. And we keep electing and re-electing them.
In 2022, in the last statewide elections, Gov. Greg Abbott won by better than 10 percent. In politics that’s a landslide. Lite Gov. Dan Patrick and Ken Paxton, our indicted, impeached attorney general, did the same. Most places in Texas all you need to lose is a D by your name on the ballot. In the Texas Senate, there are 19 Republicans and 12 Democrats. The House has 86 Republicans and 64 Democrats. Both of our U.S. senators are Republicans. We have 38 slots in the U.S. House of Representatives. Of these, 25 are GOPers and only 12 are Dems. The late Shelia Jackson Lee’s seat is open, but will probably be filled by a Dem.
The last great hope for the donkeys was Beto O’Rourke in the 2018 U.S. Senate race against Ted “Cancun” Cruz. O’Rourke came within 2.5 percentage points of defeating Cruz. This time the Dem candidate for the Senate is Collin Allred, but every poll shows he is behind.
Yes, Texas is definitely a Republican stronghold, so much so that presidential candidates don’t bother campaigning here, and come only for the money. The line is that Texas is both parties’ ATM. In 2020, Trump beat Biden by almost 6 percent.
How the mighty have fallen. Democrats ran Texas longer than the communists ran the Soviet Union, longer than the PRI ruled Mexico. This is the party of Sam Rayburn, who controlled the House while Lyndon Johnson ran the Senate for years. In those days, we made out like a bandit: dams, roads, most of our military bases were spared from closing and can we ever forget NASA? (More aptly named the Johnson Space Center.)
What happened to the Texas Democratic Party? Where are their Johnsons and Rayburns? In Texas, such Dem leaders as Phil Graham, John Connally and Rick Perry switched sides with the explanation: “I didn’t leave the Democratic Party, it left me.” Today any realistic Texas pol who wants to be elected statewide or even in any of the 232 of the 254 counties that voted for Trump in the last presidential election has to run as a Republican.
OK, let’s say you are the chairman of the Texas Democratic Party, masochist that you are, and need to start winning. In the current presidential campaign, we keep hearing that the outcome will be decided by — take your pick — Gen Z, Latinos, Blacks, suburban housewives or Pennsylvanians. That’s all self-important twaddle, but I suggest you start nominating Gen Z Black Latinos who just moved here from Pennsylvania. Campaign on being anti-abortion, pro-guns and charter schools. You are for a balanced budget, which should be cut except for the military, which needs more funds to build whatever weapons are produced in your district. You have the backing of Friends of Smog, the NRA, Swifties and God (a Christian god, of course). You are against Haitians who consume dogs, cats and geese, but exclude gardeners, maids and workers in both restaurants and construction.
Dem candidates, however, have a tremendous obstacle: Texas Republicans. They have run our state so well that our public school teachers are overpaid and thousands of applicants are desperately trying to land jobs in Texas classrooms. Our air and water are crystal clear. Convicts approve living in un-air-conditioned cells during an August afternoon. We have almost no power outages.
Led by the GOP, Texas has a record that is the envy of other governments — Chad and Somalia, for instance.
What are we to do? Texas voters had the thoughtful, cheerful Republican Party of Ronald Reagan and Ike Eisenhower. But it has been hijacked by mean-spirited extremists bullying their way through scandals and corruption and they have succeeded wonderfully well. On the other hand we have the Democrats of Larry, Moe and Curly whose ineptness, disorganization, lack of leadership and meaningful opposition clearly renders the Dems worthless.
To quote another observation by Will Rogers: “Democrats are the only reason to vote for Republicans.”