Texas Dems. Can y'all please talk to me?

[Shell_Seas]

I've been trying to talk about this all week with me Dem friends on Facebook and Facebook groups. No one wants to talk about it. Mostly, people keep saying, it's too soon. Let's enjoy the Biden/Harris win. I think it's fantastic that we're getting Trump out. More than fantastic. But we were supposed to slaughter the right in Texas this year, but instead, we were slaughtered.

That means, next year they redraw the maps in their favor. That means no healthcare for us, no legalization of marijuana, no criminal justice reform, corruption, and racism will continue to run unchecked.

IMO, the state Democratic party hasn't been focusing on the wrong things and their messaging has been way off. I've felt this for a while but I didn't want to publicly drag them, not in an election year. I still don't know if I'll write about them, but there's so much that went wrong.

First of all, Texas Dems put all of their eggs in one basket. They had some great candidates they put a lot of effort into, almost none of who won. But they also had really fantastic candidates in a rural area that they didn't give any attention to, from what I saw. Like Patrick Henry in HD26, was a fantastic candidate and got literally no help from local or state Dems.

Then there were 26 house Republicans that ran unopposed. Twenty-six.

Now, some of y'all may say that a lot of blame should go on the county parties. You're probably right. Because of my blog, I know a lot of people in county parties all around the state. Between lack of money, lack of a focus on the youth vote, and lack of inclusion, most county Dem parties are falling flat.

Take Parker County for example. There is a separate progressive group, not affiliated with Parker County Dems, that has way more members, and focuses on political issues locally, as well as community service, and getting on the vote for Dems. I really have never heard anything about Parker County Dems, except that they suck and don't do anything (from Parker County Progressives).

Then in other counties, like Cooke, the progressive group and the Dem party should be working together, but mostly they act like frienemies. They really need each other, but don't seem to like each other much, they constantly fight.

And Collin County has more drama than Beverly Hills Housewives. There is an ex-member who has stolen both their name and branding and uses it to trash other Democrats. Maybe there has already been legal actions to try and stop it, but it's hurting the county party. Then the attempted mutiny against Mike Rawlins was just messy. But there is a big ideology split in Collin County Dems, as there is with all Dems in Texas.

Half of the Dems are saying that the party is too moderate, the other half of them is saying it's not moderate enough. And I personally know of (multiple) left-leaning groups in rural Texas...like far left-leaning... Who are planning on infiltrating with far-left candidates and pushing the party further left. I'm not entirely sure I disagree with them, either.

Y'all are not about to like what I'm going to say right now, but Beto doesn't need to run anymore, he needs to stay behind the scenes organizing and fundraising. For one, he's lost two races already, and for two he does really well organizing and fundraising. I think that pushing him to run for governor in 2022 will be a mistake and cause Dems to lose again.

What's the solution to all of this? I really don't know.

Gen Z and Millennials are now out voting Baby Boomers. They live in an entirely different world than Boomers did. If the party doesn't move left, Dems are not going to win them over. If the party does move left, then they have to fight the meaning of words better. Words like socialism, defund, and Black lives matter.

Something has to be done about better rural outreach, for sure.

I really want to hear how everyone else if feeling about this right now. I'm still processing.