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.
Demographics is destiny?
My sister in Houston despises Dewhurst with a purple passion. She says he is the only well-known figure in the Texas GOP who would make Sen. Cornyn or even former Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson look like a fire breathing right winger by comparison.
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/johnny
/johnny
DoWorst has proved to be a prime slimeball. Trust nothing he says, it will prove to be only to his benefit.
/johnny
Or if he is elected...
So, who is the conservative alternative to Dewhurst in the Lone Star State?
God forbid conservatives sit this one out and let someone like Wendy Davis romp...
Dewhurst has no clue, just like he had no clue when he was debating Cruz. A person as dumb as Dewhurst should not be our Lt. Gov.
It WILL turn blue if we continue to keep the border open.
THAT IS A FACT
Lt. Governor is the strongest elected office in the State of Texas, even more powerful than the Governor.
Todd Staples seems to be the FR preferred candidate, but Jerry Patterson is in the race, too.
Texas is a run-off state, so the more the merrier at the beginning of the primary.
/johnny
Texas will turn blue if we don’t change our immigration policies. Demography is indeed destiny.
It has less to do with an open border as it does with our LEGAL immigration policies. We bring in 1.2 million legal immigrants a year, two thirds of whom are Hispanic. And two-thirds of the Hispanics are Mexicans.
The problem with the whole turning Texas blue narrative is there is absolutely zero evidence that it is occurring. Its not as if GOP are getting slimmer and slimmer margins in the state. If that were the case then there would be justification to be worried. Also Hispanics in Texas do vote more Republican and the GOP outreach is much better than in much of the rest of the country with the only exception being Florida. True complacency is dangerous but again there is no evidence that Texas is likely to flip in the near future especially given that it is a great of attractor of those who are conservative with more moving into the state all the time.
The thing Democrats should be worried about is the fact that Texas will continue to pick up more Electoral votes as blue states lose them. Current migration trends which are often cast as the downfall of the GOP are poised to deflate the influence of large blue states. The future of blue states is is very likely to be that of economically depressed wastelands. They will be like little Cubas.
Staples seems like the front runner to take Dewberry out.
I saw something truly sickening this morning...an ad by Cornhole Cornyn saying "Only 5 votes needed to stop 0Care...please call Senators Landrieu, Hagan, Begich, Manchin" and one other...and listed their phone numbers. What a disgusting POS...when HE was one who voted FOR cloture.
What we need is a good, strong opponent to Cornhole, as well.
Not meaning to hijack your thread, Johnny...just mad as h#ll that I saw this VERY RECENT Cornball ad (paid for by Texans for Senator John Cornball, Inc.)
He is a total slimeball but that doesn’t mean he isn’t right on this. The blue folks are moving into red states to turn them and you all know it
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