… #Texas #Republicans haven’t been washed like this since the end of Reconstruction, when Black Texans were overwhelmingly Republican & the state #Democratic Party was run by a secessionist. The last time a #Democrat won a #Senate election in TX, the Soviet Union was still in Afghanistan, Big Daddy Kane & Salt-N-Pepa had just released new albums, & Americans poured into theaters to watch that *classic* of…cinema, Crocodile Dundee II.
1/
#USpol #BlueWave
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/11/texas-blue-democrats-win/689278/?gift=guxsrl_dAdXUP9zqbQPWxSLJ5KYXLCXwcEu0MapoWVw
The old saying is that the #states are the labs of #democracy. But for the past decade, #Texas has been more of a
laboratory for #autocracy, testing out new forms of #RightWing state #repression. TX has been an innovator in using #VotingRights restrictions & in #gerrymandering to entrench the #power of the governing party.
2/
#USpol #BlueWave #TXpol #CivilRights #WomensRights #ReproductiveRights #LGBTQ #TransRights #HumanRights
#Texas lawmakers have pioneered *restrictions* on #FreeSpeech by passing #BookBans, #censorship of #HigherEducation, & demanding the firing of #PublicServants whose views offend their sensibilities (such as the CEO of the Alamo Trust, who was forced out after a social-media post recognizing #IndigenousPeoples’ Day [fer real — y’all]).
3/
#USpol #BlueWave #TXpol #CivilRights #WomensRights #ReproductiveRights #LGBTQ #TransRights #HumanRights
#Texas has pioneered draconian anti #abortion measures—passing its own strict ban with nearly unusable exceptions & a #bounty #law encouraging Texans to snitch on their neighbors, & also trying to bully other #states into enforcing its anti-abortion laws. TX lawmakers have engaged in the outright persecution of #trans people & their families, including triggering investigations by the state’s #CPS into parents if their child was even suspected of transitioning.
These #Democratic wins mean that, at least temporarily, #Texas will no longer be a safe environment for these kinds of #autocratic experiments. [awwwwww yeeeeaaaaah]
… In his victory speech last night, #Talarico addressed this … directly. “We are tired of being told to #hate each other,” Talarico said. He might not have spoken for every Texan, but he was speaking for most of them.
[thank you #AdamSerwer]
5/X
#USpol #BlueWave #CivilRights #WomensRights #ReproductiveRights #LGBTQ #HumanRights
That gets things backwards.
So many of these "autocratic experiments" were ones that the people wanted. And now we see that the people wanted a change and they got that too.
This theory of a draconian antidemocratic Texas just doesn't hold up to observation.
Yes, often enough the people want dumb things. That they get those dumb things isn't antidemocratic but the opposite.
Yay democracy.
