-Angela Valenzuela
#BlueWave #TexasBlue #Vote2020 #Resist
A secret recording reveals GOP fears that Texas state House could turn blue
Should Democrats flip the lower chamber, they'll play a role in redrawing the state's congressional and legislative maps.
In June, Texas state House Speaker Dennis Bonnen took a meeting with a conservative activist to discuss a possible deal: media credentials for that activist's organization in return for assisting Bonnen in defeating a handful of fellow Republican lawmakers in next year's primary.
A scandal and a
lawsuit — brought by Texas Democrats alleging that Bonnen ran afoul of
campaign-finance laws — ensued. And while strategists note the episode is
unlikely to damage GOP prospects in 2020, especially with President Donald
Trump at the top of the ticket, a secret recording of
the meeting revealed a rattled Republican Party struggling to counter
Democratic hopes of turning the state into a battleground.
"The whole meeting's premise was that the different
factions of the Republican Party and the conservative movement needed to find a
way to band together to defeat Democrats in 2020," Brendan Steinhauser, a
Texas Republican strategist and campaign veteran, told NBC News.
"The threat of Texas turning blue had a lot to do with why
this meeting happened in the first place," he added.
Changing demographics, an influx of young professionals from
outside the state and difficulties for the Trump-led Republican Party in the
state's suburbs in 2018 have contributed to Democratic optimism up and down the
ballot. Though defeating Trump remains a tall task, the recording, released two
days ahead of Trump's planned campaign rally in Dallas, highlights a key fight
for control of the legislature's lower chamber ahead of a high-stakes
redistricting process that hinges on the results of the 2020 census.
"I just think we've got to get through 2020, guarantee if
we try and hold this majority — which, with all due respect to Trump, who I
love, by the way — he's killing us in urban-suburban districts," Bonnen
said in June, according to the
recording made public by the activist, Michael Quinn Sullivan. (Bonnen has denied any
wrongdoing and claimed vindication that he did not act untoward
in the meeting in light of the tape's release.)
Democrats, who haven't controlled the state House since 2002,
already made inroads there in 2018, picking up 12
seats. Kier Murray, a longtime Texas Democratic strategist, told NBC News that
Bonnen's meeting with the activist put on display the "discord"
that's existed between more conservative Republicans and the "business
establishment types" for some time.
"They've largely been able to keep those problems inside
the tent over the last few years, but they're not able to do it anymore,"
Murray said. "And I think it's somewhat reflective of the stress they feel
generally about the state and losing their grip on it, that they're starting to
fight among themselves."
U.S. Rep. Brian Babin, R-Texas, called hanging on to the
majority in the state House in 2020 "extremely important" because of
the voting maps.
"I think it'll be a big deal, I really do," Babin
added. "I'm old enough to remember when the Democrats held sway in the
state of Texas, 100 percent nearly. Of course, as the Republican Party grew,
redistricting became a very, very important issue. Now that the Republicans
have the majority, and we control the redistricting lines, I think it's all
important.
"Each state is going to draw those lines to the benefit of
their majority party. I think it's going to be an extremely important issue
that is going to be hinging on whether we continue to have the majority in our
state government, in the state House."
Murray told NBC News that flipping the state House would give
Democrats the ability to put redistricting front and center in the next
session.
No comments:
Post a Comment