Posted on 09/30/2013 7:16:37 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
I haven’t heard much from (or about) Texas Lt. Governor David Dewhurst since he came in second in his Senate primary race with Ted Cruz. But he’s still on the job in the Lone Star state and taking an active role in state politics. He probably raised eyebrows yesterday when he issued a potentially dire warning to his fellow Texas Republicans.
AUSTIN, Texas — Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said here on Saturday that Texas could turn blue if Republicans get “complacent.”
“If we’re complacent, yeah, it could happen,” said Dewhurst, who last year lost to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) in the state’s GOP Senate primary.
Dewhurst, speaking at the Texas Tribune Festival, said efforts to flip the deep-red Lone Star State to the Democrats probably wouldn’t be successful “today,” but could eventually pan out. The state is home to Battleground Texas, an effort to turn the state blue led by Obama veterans.
It’s no secret among Democrats either locally or inside the beltway that this is one of the crown jewels they are veritably drooling over in the next few presidential election cycles. If the Democrats could somehow flip Texas into the D column it would be the same type of bombshell as the Republicans carrying California or New York. It would turn the starting advantage for the Democrats in the Electoral College into a virtual lock with essentially no path for the Republican candidate to win the national contest. Of course, as Dewhurst notes, that day isn’t here. But might it be coming?
There’s been a lot of talk since the last election about the shifting demographics of the country, particularly the growing Hispanic – and uncomfortably Left leaning – population surge in Texas. But there’s another, and far more ironic side to this story which doesn’t get discussed as much. I spoke to one Lone Star politico during the aforementioned primary who brought up a different factor which is diluting the conservative base there. Texas, he said, may become a victim of its own success.
The basic idea he expressed was that Texas has been one of the few state to experience relatively robust growth during the recession which has gripped the nation since 2007. One of the beneficial effects of this is that many new businesses have opened and others have relocated from other parts of the nation to set up shop in their more favorable business climate. But the new businesses bring a lot of people with them and then they recruit to fill jobs from all across America. The states getting hit the hardest with job losses – through no coincidence at all – are, in many cases, some deep blue ones, full of unemployed workers ready to pack up and move to where the paychecks are. So this has resulted in a new influx of fairly liberal blood strains moving in, working, buying homes, shopping… and voting. Combined with the previously mentioned demographic shift, it could eventually play out just as Dewhurst warns.
Talk about your unintended consequences.
/johnny
Dewhurst is the problem, if not a BIG part of it.
Glad to see your post.
I worry that it could be like Colo, which went from +5 Bush 2004 to +5 Obama 2012. A huge, fast swing.
Likely due to in-migration of illegals, and liberals.
Dem’s hate Texas. Out of work Dem’s move to Texas.
Texas has already turned blue with this guy as Lt. Gov. I am so eternally grateful that Ted Cruz smoked this guy in the US Senate race.
The only thing that can turn Texas blue is RINO bastards like David Dewhurst and Joe Straus remaining in power.
A lot of libs are leaving California because of high costs, and winding up in Az, Co, Tx, etc.
And being replaced in Ca by legal and illegal liberals.
Texas COULD turn blue?
It is almost a certainty considering the many out-of-state license plates that can be seen in Houston alone.
I’m willing to bet that the biggest cities in Texas are ALREADY blue...
Beware because eventually, the big cities tend to overwhelm the rest of the state ( See California and Colorado ).
The only way Texas will turn blue is if RINOs like Do-Worst and Cornyn continue to play major roles in the Texas RNC.
Having useless liberals like those two in any position of power makes the base stay home.
Imagine if Cruz hadn’t beat Dewhurst in the primary last year.
RINO insider.
Texas must not trade its soul for gold in order to prove a point for “business friendly”, while being slammed by invasion of illegals on the border.
Soliciting business start ups in Left states is a precarious business.
Recalling as a side note, that goon who was connected on the outside, but to the Hillary campaign (and recently nabbed for illegal campaign activities) paid “workers” to hustle the Hispanic vote for Hillary against Obama in Texas, with an avalanche of materials sympathetic to the border crosser families here.
Dewhurst is worming around again. We hardly need him to inform us of the Blue threat.
Stop voting for RINO’s... they are the complacent ones
We would be seeing it already. We would have seen it clearly in 2012 but we didn’t. Its good to keep an eye out and never be complacent but right now its all blue smoke and mirrors. Texas isn’t getting less conservative and as for liberals Texas is the last place they want to relocate to. I think there is a greater likely hood to see some blue states to begin to fracture politically which we do see evidence of in Wisconsin and Michigan.
If he can stand up to the cheap labor lobby, he can stand up to Democrats.
If Dewhurst simply changed parties, that type of behavior would be considered resume enhancement for a Democrat.
It is almost a certainty considering the many out-of-state license plates that can be seen in Houston alone.
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The cities of Houston, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio already vote blue along with the counties along the Rio Grande.
And this is why obama wants amnesty for the Mexicans. Perry should declare an emergence and activate the national guard.
Dan Patrick talked and talked on the radio like a strong Christian conservative. Then he got elected to the state senate. I’m not saying he didn’t vote like a strong Christian conservative after he got in office. But he jumped on the GOPe bandwagon and supported Dewhurst. Just the other day he was slamming Cruz.
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