Republicans will keep their one-party grip on Texas for at least a third decade after a clean sweep Tuesday for Gov. Greg Abbott and other statewide incumbents. Red voters are celebrating, and with good reason: To the victors go the spoils.
My view is that gubernatorial hopeful Beto O’Rourke and the Texas Democrats are not the only losers.
A two-party state where elected officials would have to moderate extreme views in order to stay in power would better serve all citizens, but Tuesday’s results clearly show that is a reality well beyond our grasp for now.
Unfortunately, all citizens do not bother to exercise their right to vote, so all citizens do not find themselves benefitting from representative government. Less than 44% of the 1.2 million registered voters in Bexar County bothered to vote in this year’s midterm election. Yes, most eligible voters stayed home.
Why? A voter suppression bill passed in last year’s special session by Republicans limited the power of county election officials to offer innovative paths to the polls. It made it much harder to vote by mail with assured success. Voter registration options remain stuck in the last century. Many marginalized citizens do not realize their vote could actually empower them and lead to improvements in their lives. Others are turned off by the toxic nature of politics in the state and country, and some are, presumably, simply too lazy to participate.
In the end, we all lose.
Were Texas to become a true two-party state, free of the political gerrymandering that limits back-bench victories in legislative contests, more people would be excited to participate in elections. Women would enjoy greater freedom over their reproductive and family planning rights. Aggrieved teenagers would be unable to purchase assault weapons and unlimited caches of ammo.
Millions of uninsured Texans would find a path to affordable health care. Immigrants and asylum seekers would not be treated inhumanely. Investment in public education, mass transportation, environmental protections and mitigation of climate change would take precedent over political grandstanding.
Instead, we watch passively as billions of dollars are spent on ineffective border policing, while politicians in Austin compete to keep the focus on socially divisive issues. Texas builds more highways for more vehicles, ignoring global warming and the need to invest in alternative modes of transportation.
Texas can’t even manage a single new train line from San Antonio to Austin in this one-party state. So citizens endure three-hour drives of 75 miles, further contributing to worsening air quality and inflationary spending at the gas pump.
My views will be seen by some as the bitter complaints of a Democratic voter. But I consider myself a pragmatic independent voter forced by extremists in office to vote largely in protest.
There is nothing partisan about observing how poorly Texas ranks in public education and public health investment, how it leads all states and democracies in the per capita number of citizens locked up. More than 250,000 people are behind bars in Texas, a number equal to all the people who live in Laredo.
One of the best new voices in the state is the nonprofit Texas 2036, a data-driven public policy organization focused on the state’s growth and welfare, and its many opportunities and challenges, as the bicentennial approaches in 2036.
While Abbott and other politicians focus on job growth, the state’s pro-business culture and rich energy sector, what’s ignored is that 1 in 4 children in Texas live in poverty. Fewer than 1 in 3 high school graduates is college-ready.
The state’s fiercely proclaimed and misguided sense of sovereignty has left it terribly exposed to extreme weather events, be it a harsh winter freeze or a prolonged summer drought. Many Texas cities experienced the hottest summer on record this year. Such climatic events go unacknowledged by state leaders who persist in misleading citizens that Texas is immune to catastrophe.
Energy ratepayers have been saddled with billions of dollars in debt resulting from the failure of the state’s power grid in 2021. Voters failed to hold the state’s top elected leaders accountable, so future failures remain inevitable.
The headlines this week so far focus on the failure of Republicans nationally to register a red wave of coast-to-coast victories. That may be true, but here in Texas, we remain a one-party state. That might be good news in the minds of those who voted red, but in the end, I think we all have lost — and sooner than later, those who voted and those who didn’t alike will pay for it.
Disclosure: The San Antonio Report’s board chairman, A.J. Rodriguez, is the executive vice president of Texas 2036.
