Texas
Texas is one of the most successfully gerrymandered states in the country. As the table below shows the GOP has gerrymandered 2.9 million democrat leaning voters (DLVs) into red districts. They also packed democrat represented districts with 1.9 million voters - so many democratic voters that democrats often win their districts with more than 70% of the vote.
….But the majority of democrats are gerrymandered into GOP districts. They have been disenfranchised. Their votes don’t matter in the general election, because the outcome of the general election has been predetermined by the GOP.
In the red districts, the only election that matters in the GOP’s primary election. That election determines who will represent the voters in congress.
Fortunately for the GOP, the democrats haven’t figured out how to vote in the GOP primaries!
If only there were a way……
In short, the DLVs are voting in the wrong election!
The only election that matters in these districts in the GOP primary. That is where the district’s congressional representative is chosen. The DLVs are not part of that process. They wait to vote in the election the election whose outcome has already been determined - the general election.
lf they want to have a red say in choosing their representative, they would be registered republicans and vote in the GOP primaries. To remain a democrat and vote in the general election hoping to elect a moderate or liberal representative in the general election is an exercise in wishful thinking.
| District | GOP | % of the vote | DEM | GOP Primary | Dem to Primary Ratio | Previous Primary | 2022 Primary | Uncontested | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TX (23)(2) | ||||||||||||
| U.S. Representatives | ||||||||||||
| Louie Gohmert | 1 | 219,707 | 73% | 83,007 | 83,887 | 0.99 | 2020 | 49,144 | * | |||
| Dan Crenshaw | 2 | 197,300 | 57% | 148,727 | 19,430 | 7.65 | 2018 | 36,630 | ||||
| Van Taylor | 3 | 230,512 | 56% | 179,458 | 45,475 | 3.95 | 2018 | 31,168 | ||||
| Pat Fallon | 4 | 255,541 | 77% | 77,618 | 53,796 | 1.44 | 2018 | 41,297 | ||||
| Lance Gooden | 5 | 173,687 | 63% | 100,635 | 57,253 | 1.76 | 2020 | 47,304 | * | |||
| Jake Ellzey* (Ron Wright) | 6 | 179,507 | 55% | 149,530 | 12,747 | 11.73 | 2018 | 22,135 | ||||
| Kevin Brady | 8 | 277,155 | 74% | 97,303 | 75,044 | 1.30 | 2020 | 34,019 | ||||
| Michael McCaul | 10 | 217,214 | 54% | 187,682 | 60,323 | 3.11 | 2020 | 63,057 | * | |||
| August Pfluger | 11 | 232,568 | 81% | 53,394 | 56,093 | 0.95 | 2020 | 61,230 | * | |||
| Kay Granger | 12 | 233,853 | 66% | 121,250 | 43,420 | 2.79 | 2020 | 28,573 | ||||
| Ronney Jackson | 13 | 217,124 | 81% | 50,477 | 36,612 | 1.38 | 2020 | 71,199 | * | |||
| Randy Weber | 14 | 190,541 | 62% | 118,574 | 51,837 | 2.29 | 2020 | 35,665 | ||||
| Pete Sessions | 17 | 171,390 | 58% | 125,565 | 18,458 | 6.80 | 2020 | 30,184 | ||||
| Jodey Arrington | 19 | 198,198 | 77% | 60,583 | 71,234 | 0.85 | 2020 | 68,232 | * | |||
| Chip Roy | 21 | 235,740 | 53% | 205,780 | 18,088 | 11.38 | 2018 | 50,611 | ||||
| Troy Nehls | 22 | 210,259 | 54% | 181,998 | 36,065 | 5.05 | 2020 | 31,359 | ||||
| Tony Golzales | 23 | 149,395 | 52% | 137,691 | 12,346 | 11.15 | 2020 | 22,697 | ||||
| Beth Van Duyne | 24 | 167,910 | 51% | 163,326 | 32,067 | 5.09 | 2020 | 33,594 | ||||
| Roger Williams | 25 | 220,088 | 57% | 165,697 | 63,146 | 2.62 | 2020 | 68,660 | * | |||
| Michael C Burgess | 26 | 261,963 | 62% | 161,009 | 51,312 | 3.14 | 2020 | 41,790 | ||||
| Michael Cloud | 27 | 172,305 | 64% | 95,466 | 15,041 | 6.35 | 2018 | 45,618 | ||||
| John Carter | 31 | 212,695 | 55% | 176,293 | 53,070 | 3.32 | 2020 | 46,436 | ||||
| Brian Babin | 36 | 222,712 | 75% | 73,418 | 75,277 | 0.98 | 2020 | 58,167 | * | |||
| 4,847,364 | 2,914,481 | 1,042,021 | ||||||||||
| U.S. Senators | ||||||||||||
| Ted Cruz (2024) | 4,260,553 | 51% | 4,045,632 | 1,315,146 | 2.22 / 3.08 | 2018 | ||||||
| John Cornyn (2026) | 5,962,983 | 55% | 4,888,764 | 1,470,669 | 1.98 / 3.32 | 2020 | ||||||
| Greg Abbott | 4,656,196 | 57% | 3,546,615 | 1,389,562 | 2.09 / 2.55 | 2018 | ||||||
| Ken Paxton (Attorney General) | 4,193,207 | 52% | 3,898,098 | 569,034 | 6.85 / 5.12 | 2014 |
The additional benefit of registering republican in these districts is that in statewide primaries such as those for the U.S. Senate, the Governorship, the Texas Secretary of State, and the U.S. Presidency the almost three million democratic voters stuck in GOP districts could ensure that moderates win in the primaries (vs. Trump or Trump-like candidates). As many as two million voters vote in the GOP Primary, with the GOP’s winning candidate rarely winning more than 1.5 million votes.
Disenfranchised moderate votes in GOP districts who are/were independents or democrats could help ensure that a far right candidate like Trump is not the GOP nominee. There are 4.8 million whose primary votes hardly matter in the democratic primaries.
Vote the Issues, Not the Party!
If you are an issue voter, and intend to lend support to the efforts underway to address climate change, a woman’s right to choose, or voters rights, electing GOP representatives in the safe GOP districts is a pragmatic strategy. Nationwide, there could be causus of GOP representatives who owed part of their primary victory to moderates who believe strongly in those issues. And those representatives could support ground-breaking bi-partisan legislation to address these and other pressing issues.