I’m not from the states so not really qualified to comment but I would have thought low taxes and large population (including diverse cities like Housten and true blue areas like Austin) would work in its favour.
Other places in the South seem to have all the downsides you mention but none of the positives.
Yes, Texas is actually purple, but it is gerrymander so bad there is no way to win. A perfect example is the district I used to live in, Texas 26. Is was basically Denton County with a little tail going into the Tarrant County to keep it red. Then Democrats got close in a couple of elections. So they redrew the map to cut out the city of Denton, which is a city with a huge liberal arts college. Then they extended it north and west into more republican areas.
Meanwhile the city of Denton was added to the 13th district, which is 40,000 square miles and extends all the way to the panhandle. People in the city would have to drive 325 miles just to visit their representatives office.
I’m not from the states so not really qualified to comment but I would have thought low taxes and large population (including diverse cities like Housten and true blue areas like Austin) would work in its favour.
Other places in the South seem to have all the downsides you mention but none of the positives.
Yes, Texas is actually purple, but it is gerrymander so bad there is no way to win. A perfect example is the district I used to live in, Texas 26. Is was basically Denton County with a little tail going into the Tarrant County to keep it red. Then Democrats got close in a couple of elections. So they redrew the map to cut out the city of Denton, which is a city with a huge liberal arts college. Then they extended it north and west into more republican areas.
Meanwhile the city of Denton was added to the 13th district, which is 40,000 square miles and extends all the way to the panhandle. People in the city would have to drive 325 miles just to visit their representatives office.
Texas 26 Before 2021
After 2021
Texas is five different states held together with scotch tape. If it ever split up, you’d have three blue states and two red.