Voters in Texas sustained the Republican majority in the state’s House of Representatives despite millions of outside dollars poured into races.
Texas Democrats promised 2020 would be the year Texas turned blue, the Texas Tribune reported on Wednesday.
“But 2020 proved another disappointment for the state’s minority party as Republicans remained dominant in Texas, appearing poised to maintain victories in all statewide offices and both chambers of the Legislature,” the Texas news outlet reported. “In what has become a familiar refrain, Texas Democrats pointed to 2020’s narrow losses as symbolic victories — signs that the state will one day change in their favor.”
Dave Carney, chief political consultant for Texas Governor Greg Abbott, told reporters in a conference call that “Democrats over-promised and under-performed” in the 2020 General Election. He called their performance the “worst caucus campaign ever.”
The campaign to replace the Republican majority in the Texas House drew more than $30 million from outside the state, Carney stated. Despite this massive influx, Democrats did not flip a single seat as of this writing.
Texas Democrats did not describe their loss as a disappointment, the Tribune reported. Instead, they called their losses “hopeful omens for next time.”
Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo was more direct in his reaction to the statewide losses.
“Texas Democrats can thank ‘socialist democrats and defund the police crowd’ led by @GregCasar, @JimmyFlannigan and the rest of the Austin City Council,” Acevedo tweeted. “Fact, Americans and Texans want better policing, not de-policing, and they don’t want anything to do with any form of socialism.”
Carney said Governor Abbott’s political campaign spent $6 million to help protect the House Republican majority. The campaign identified key districts and issues for those voters and developed ads to focus on the issues important to those voters, he explained.
Carney said Texas voters soundly rejected the message delivered by failed senate and presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke. “That just doesn’t sell in Texas,” Carney said.
Instead, he said, Texas Republicans focused on recruiting “real candidates” and focused on “real issues.” He said Republicans recruited the most female candidates and most minority candidates.
In addition to keeping their majority in the Texas House, Republicans also maintained control of the Texas Senate, the Supreme Court, the Court of Criminal Appeals, and the Railroad Commission.
U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) won in his re-election campaign against Democrat MJ Hegar by more than 10 points.
The promised flipping of Texas into the blue column for Joe Biden also failed to materialize. President Donald Trump carried the Lone Star State.
Republican control of the Texas Legislature allows the party to continue to direct important issues during the upcoming session. Those include redistricting, law enforcement, criminal justice reform, property taxes, and other issues voted on by Texas voters. Legislators will also be selecting a new Speaker of the House during the opening of the 2021 legislative session.
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.
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