Texas Is Still A One-Party State

While the voters in America may want divided government, Texans do not. There may have been a Democratic wave in this election, but that wave stopped at the Red River. Last night, the Democrats were not able to win a single state-wide race in Texas.

Of course Texas has traditionally been a one-party state. When I was younger, that party was the Democrats. At that time, no Republican stood a chance of election to state-wide office. They had to console themselves with a few state reps and senators [and US reps] from Republican enclaves within the state.

A few years ago that flip-flopped. Now the Republicans seem to be the official party of Texas, and no Democrat is able to win a state-wide race [even such great candidates and campaigners as David Van Os, Hank Gilbert, Bill Moody and Barbara Ann Radnofsky]. The Democrats now have to console themselves with a few state reps and senators [and US reps] from Democratic enclaves within the state.

Here are the percentages of votes won by Democratic state-wide candidates:

Barbara Radnofsky..........35.95%
Chris Bell..........29.76%
Maria Luisa Alvarado..........37.38%
David Van Os..........37.19%
Fred Head..........36.98%
VaLinda Hathcox..........40.88%
Hank Gilbert..........41.74%
Dale Henry..........41.69%
Bill Moody..........44.93%
J.R. Molina..........43.29%

Those are some pretty anemic numbers. None of these candidates even came close to winning. I know that we'll hear some Democrats whining that Bell could have won if only Kinky and Grandma hadn't been in the race, but I don't believe it. There is no reason to believe that Bell would have done any better than his fellow Democrats [some of whom were far better campaigners than he was].

The truth is that Texas is still a one-party state. I just wish it wasn't the Republican Party.