Do Texas Democratic Candidates Really Want To Win ?

Texas hasn't had a Democrat elected to statewide office in over twenty years now. That makes it one of the reddest states in the nation. Why is this so? Do Texans really love the failed policies of the Republican Party that much? Or have they not been given a real choice -- with the Democratic Party running weak candidates who are afraid to stand up for progressive values and instead run tepid campaigns that make them look like slightly more palatable right-wing candidates?

I firmly believe it is the latter. It has become almost a tradition among Democrats to move far to the right once they are nominated. There seems to be a belief among party leaders in the state that you cannot win by espousing progressive values -- that Texas is so conservative that only a right-winger can win a statewide election. And those leaders have convinced the party's candidates (even some with progressive credentials) to hide their beliefs and run as a conservative. That doesn't give Texas voters (most of whom don't know the candidates until election time rolls around) much of a  choice -- support a right-wing candidate (Republican) or a right-wing-lite candidate (Democrat).

This, of course, has resulted in a long string of losses for Texas Democratic candidates. After all, if the voters wanted a right-winger, then they know that the Republican Party offers that. Why would they vote for a Democrat who offers basically the same thing? They wouldn't. Trying to appeal to the right-wing voters is now, and always has been, a losing proposition for Texas Democrats. The right-wingers will always vote Republican, and other voters will mostly stay home in exasperation.

There are 13,601,324 registered voters in Texas (71.9% of the voting-age population). Do you know how many voted in the last gubernatorial election in 2010? A pathetic 38% (less than 5 million voters). That means 62% of registered voters didn't bother to vote -- probably because they didn't see much difference between the conservative Republican and his only slightly less conservative Democratic opponent. There was no real choice, and a majority of voters knew that.

And that was not an anomaly at all. Democrats have been posing as conservatives, and most voters have been not bothering to choose between the candidates (who seem very much the same) for several gubernatorial elections. In 1998, 32.4% of registered voters showed up on election day -- and in 2002 it was 36.2%, and in 2006 it was 33.6%. I don't know about you, but that looks like a pattern to me -- a pattern that needs to be changed.

A few months ago, I thought Texas Democrats had learned this lesson -- and were finally willing to offer the voters a real choice. Wendy Davis (top picture) was talked into running for governor, and Leticia Van de Putte (bottom picture) was encouraged to run as the party's candidate for lt. governor. Both of these women have a progressive record they could run on, and they sprang to statewide prominence by defending women's rights. Finally, it looked like the voters were going to be offered an alternative to the failed policies of the right-wing.

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be working out that way. Both women, at least so far, have run tepid campaigns that seem to position them as moderately conservative. They seem to have fallen for the same old fallacy that has infected Texas Democratic candidates for 20 years (and insured they would lose). Look at their website, and peruse the issues they are telling the voters are most important to them. They are the same old issues that any candidate (regardless of party) could run on -- better education, better economy, help the veterans.

Wendy Davis doesn't even mention women's rights on her website (the issue that propelled her to prominence), and Leticia Van de Putte mentions that almost as an afterthought. Neither mentions taxing the rich and the corporations, neither mentions opposition to fracking or stopping pollution, neither mentions expanding Medicaid (even though an April poll showed only 35% of Texans opposed it), and neither mentions the minimum wage should be raised (although that same poll showed 55% support for a $10 an hour minimum wage). Where are the progressive issues? Where are the issues that show they would make a real change from the current policies in place in Austin?

Frankly, with each passing day, I become more afraid that the Democratic candidates in Texas are opting to go down the same losing road that others have trod for the last twenty years. They are trying to pose as conservatives, afraid to stand up publicly for progressive values -- and it is going to result in another election where the turnout is in the mid-thirties and the Republicans win. I'm starting to wonder if Texas Democratic candidates really want to win (or believe they can win).

I hope I'm wrong, and after the state convention both Wendy and Leticia stand up for progressive values -- offering the voters a real choice and a reason to go to the polls. I think they would find a lot of Texas voters have been waiting for that.