‘As long as possible’: Inside Republicans’ power play to keep Texas red amid wave of blue

Republicans in the Texas legislature recently passed two bills that will affect how elections will be run in the state’s largest county, Harris County — a Houston-centered Democratic stronghold. “They’re targeting Harris County in an attempt to suppress the vote, put their elections under the control of the Republican statewide leadership and potentially risk future elections being overturned or results being questioned,” says Sawyer Hackett, a democratic strategist in Texas. “This is one of the bluest counties in Texas essentially being put under state control in a state that’s dominated by Republican politicians.” Hackett says he believes Republicans are trying to keep Texas red “as long as possible.” Texas isn’t absolutely destined to turn blue, Hackett says, but he thinks Republicans are very concerned that it could turn significantly more blue in the not-too-distant future. “National political leaders on the right pay attention to what happens in Texas, because they’ve been able to stave off the state being flipped and put under Democratic control largely because of these efforts to suppress the vote.” At present, there’s not much Democrats in Texas can do to stop Republican efforts to overhaul how elections are run in places such as Harris County, considering that conservatives significantly outnumber liberals in the legislature.