Posted on 10/12/2013 7:53:13 PM PDT by ziravan
On the surface, Texas is one of the reddest of red, Republican states. Republicans control every statewide office. In fact, no Democrat has won a statewide office in nearly 20 years nor has Texas voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since 1976. Republicans also control both houses by large majorities. The tradition of Texas being a Republican state seems secure enough that outgoing Governor Rick Perry bragged that “the University of Texas will change its colors to maroon and white before Texas goes purple, much less blue.” So, with all of this power locked up in Republican hands, does this mean that Texas Democrats have very little opportunity to accomplish anything?
The answer would be quite the opposite, and no, I am not talking about Wendy Davis’ filibuster. While it did accomplish one thing, showing how a yelling, screaming, heckling audience could paralyze Republican Senators and the Lt. Governor, it did not stop the law in question (HB 2) from being passed. However, Democrats in both the Texas House and Senate are very successful at getting laws passed and enacted.
(Excerpt) Read more at hardhatters.com ...
"One explanation would be Democrat-friendly leadership within the House. As shown in the graph, only 39% of the bills coming out of the Senate were Democrat-written or co-written, but 51% of the laws sent to the governor’s desk from the House were Democrat-written or co-written. This means the MINORITY party in the House, outnumbered by nearly 2-1, was the MAJORITY when it came to laws passed. How can this be? There is one probable answer: Speaker of the House Joe Straus. He was elected as House Speaker in 2009 by every Democrat and 11 Republicans and has remained in power ever since. How? You see, to become Speaker of the Texas House, you only need 76 votes. So, with 55 Democrats, Straus only needs 21 out of the 95 Republicans to side with him. In order to keep Democrat support, he has appointed many of them to chair and vice chair committees."
The Ann Arbor of Texas LOL
Most of the people who live in Austin used to live in California.
Doesn’t surprise me one bit. It’s the one, unwashable stain on a nice red carpet.
Not surprising.
Just another instance of keeping Austin Weird.
The “word” “CalifAustin” springs to mind.
I have read that there is a concerted effort to ‘recolonize’ Texas with Democrats. The Dems have been pretty successful at getting their ‘’own’ to move to previously Red states and turn them. Colorado, etc. Stay strong, Texas!
Keep in mind a lot of Texas Republicans used to be Texas Democrats. Rick Perry for instance.
Colorado was a left wing Democratic state not too long ago. Gary Hart and Pat Schroeder were Colorado Senators.
And Phil Gramm.
Here’s my answer: PRIMARY THE MAN (Strauss)! Go!
I haven't read that, and it would be pretty unusual to pick the second most populated state to try to talk people into moving there just to change the voter numbers, especially a state that liberals nationally, consider a hellhole.
If mass immigration continues, Texas is eventually bound to go blue, because Mexican-Americans vote overwhelmingly Democratic.
A wealthy businessman in his district spent millions trying to defeat him in 2012, to no avail. Straus’ seat is a suburb of San Antonio.
I believe Straus’ family owns the Retama racetrack on I-35 just north of San Antonio.
Good observation. There is absolutely no question that THE problem in the Texas House is RINO Joe Straus. You correctly state how he gained power. Basically, his support base in the House is Democrats.
One standard by which to measure how weak Texas is with respect to enacting laws that truly further liberty: Texas still does not permit open carry (of hand guns, that is), and — as far as I know — it still does not allow CHL holders to carry on college campuses.
For that matter, why do we require a CHL, with all its red-tape and nonsense: It is a closed door for many without the money to both register and attend a class which forces firearms instructors to teach phoney psychology lessons as part of the regimen. How about “Constitutional Carry,” as Vermont, Alaska, and some other states have.
Joe Straus is, unfortunately, a McCain-type Republican, and a very wiley political tactician to boot..
He was primaried, by a good man, but Straus is powerful and has the media and money behind him.
Maybe next round.
The cheap labor lobby is very powerful in Texas. A few years ago they were trying to pass a sort of weak version of the Arizona law and a couple of cheap labor magnates shot it down.
EL Bumpo
Bump!
They are always bragging about “keeping Austin Weird”.
In Texas it sure is weird in Austin.
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