There is a room with three doors. Each bears a label: “Latino Vote,” “Purpling Suburbs,” and “Big City Turnout.” This November, Texas Democrats opened these three doors, and behind all they discovered a Cerberus from Greek mythology with the heads of Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, and Greg Abbott. Then the monster ate them.
That pretty much sums it up, so feel free to stop reading now. But, if you insist, I’ll elaborate.
On November 5, past and future President Trump carried Texas by 14 percentage points. That is the best Republican performance in the state’s top-vote-getting race since 2014, the rout that brought Governor Abbott into power. Put another way, Kamala Harris’ performance was the worst for a Democratic presidential hopeful in the state since Barack Obama’s in 2012, and she even fell short of Obama’s ’08 margin. Put a third way, Texas Democrats have been set back a decade.
