by Frank Holmes, reporter
President Donald Trump’s re-election seemed certain when it looked like the economy would stay red-hot through November, when he’d face a 78-year-old socialist who can’t stop complimenting Communist dictators.
Things have changed, and Democrats are making the most of the new electoral landscape by going for the big prize: DNC strategists want to flip the state of Texas in 2020 — and onward.
“I want Texas to turn blue,” said 2014 Democratic candidate for governor Wendy Davis, “and I’m going to do everything I can to make that happen.”
Texas is the largest state that regularly votes for Republican presidential candidates. California, New York, and Illinois are deep blue Democratic states—and have been for a generation.
If the Democratic Party could bring the Lone Star State into its column, no Republican could be elected president in the foreseeable future.
This isn’t a fantasy. Democrats are serious… and they’re already off to a furious start.
The Democrat turnout of six key House districts has doubled since 2016, according to an analysis from Politico.com.
That comes after Beto O’Rourke came within striking distance of beating Ted Cruz for his U.S. Senate seat.
The last Texas Democrat to win a statewide race was Ann Richards…and that was 30 years ago.
Republicans George W. Bush, Rick Perry, and Greg Abbott have held the governor’s mansion since 1994.
But Democrats say the state is ripe for a takeover.
“The Republicans have plateaued,” said Sima Ladjevardian, a former advisor to O’Rourke who’s challenging Rep. Dan Crenshaw for his Houston-area U.S. House seat.
Democrats are buoyed by a combination of Trump’s “unpopularity in the suburbs,” an “amped-up Democratic base,” and “rapid demographic change” in the state, according to Politico.
Illegal immigration is a factor. But legal immigration has massively changed the state.
Texas has 1,000 new residents a day—most are foreigners…and the biggest increase is from China and India.
“Over the 2000s, we saw a pretty significant opening of China” and India, state demographer Lloyd Potter told the Texas Tribune.
State firms hire foreign graduates instead of American workers. “Once they get a green card, then they can start sponsoring their family to come over as well,” Potter said.
These new citizens can often vote before they can speak English. The U.S. House campaign of one 2018 Houston Democrat, Sri Preston Kulkarni, produced materials in 15 languages—and it paid off. Democratic turnout in the district more than doubled.
Millions of Americans are also moving to Texas from blue states like California, New York, and Colorado…but they’re bringing their liberal views with them.
The shockwave came in November 2018, when Beto O’Rourke came within 200,000 votes of beating Cruz.
Republicans have laughed it off as a fluke. Since it was a midterm election, Democrats nationwide poured money into the Texas race, giving O’Rourke a $40 million fundraising advantage.
O’Rourke received more contributions from donors outside his state than any other member of the House – almost half of his war chest in all. Democrats won’t be able to do that this year.
That race was “clearly an anomaly that will not be repeated,” Texas state GOP chairman James Dickey told Politico.
And in 2020, the Republicans have a Trump card.
“There’s definitely Trump voters that didn’t come out in 2018,” said Congressman Dan Crenshaw, R-TX. “They will come out this time.”
But Democrats are playing the long game, hoping to eventually win control of the White House for a generation.
And they’re willing to win it by any means necessary.
Rep. Jerrod Nadler, D-N.Y., said that Democrats plan to “change the rules of our democracy,” according to the agenda of a meeting of the Democracy Alliance, a shadowy group of left-wing megadonors founded by George Soros.
The group held a recent meeting in Austin, Texas, and one of its sessions was called, “Bigger than Beto: Turning Texas Blue.”
Former Mexican President Vicente Fox discussed how illegal immigration could overwhelm state voters and change its politics from conservative to left-wing.
Experts believe there are 1.6 million illegals in the state—and ICE keeps releasing hundreds more at a time in Texas, even under President Trump.
Gov. Greg Abbott has said, “The GOP needs to take the Soros network and the Holder, Obama, and Pelosi alliance seriously.”
“The integrity of the people’s vote is at stake,” he warned.
More than the future of Texas is at stake.
If conservatives lose Texas, they lose America.
Frank Holmes is a veteran journalist and an outspoken conservative that talks about the news that was in his weekly article, “On The Holmes Front.”