Texas Democrats Surge to Polls, in Show of Anti-Trump Sentiment

Very funny! Democrats "surge" to polls but are outnumbered by Republicans. Guess republicans don't "surge"? Perhaps republicans are just as energized as democrats? Maybe even more so?

I hope Texas DEMs remember that WINNING elections is what matters. Winning primaries is not enough. The party must nominate candidates that are able to reach beyond the party to find support from centrists, undecideds who could vote either direction. If, in doing so, the Left members of the DEMs become too unmotivated to bother to vote then they are to blame for the loss. DEMs need to learn that that "big tent" must extend not just to the Left, but well into the middle ground as well.

" ... Republicans still cast more ballots over all thanks to their rural strength." A strength amplified by serious gerrymandering. In my Houston area district, the U.S. Representative lives in a town of 2,500, about a two hour drive from most of his 700,000 constituents. Tom Delay's abuse of power survives: " ... Texas' 2003 Congressional redistricting, which added five Republicans to the state's delegation. The plan, engineered by the former House majority leader Tom DeLay, is rightly being challenged as partisan and discriminatory against minority voters." (NYTimes, 14Dec2005)

I know a liberal who voted in the Republican primary to vote against Ted Cruz. Believe me, this guy is anti-Trump too.

It is about time that Mr Cruz is voted out of office all he does is vote against the voters and creates bills in congress that hurts everyone out there. Democrats win these primaries we are all going to vote these lawmakers out of office they have been in office too long and have forgotten where they came from.

The actual numbers reported here show republicans winning - handily. Facts should matter.

There is no party registration in Texas. So, it's possible to vote in either party's primary. Voting in the dominant party's primary is a very old Texas tradition. When I was a kid (60s-70s) many of the few Texas Republicans voted in the Democratic primary in order to skew the already conservative Democratic party to the right. Then, they'd vote Republican in the general election. These days many Democrats are returning the favor. So, take care not to over-interpret yesterday's voting numbers.

So I was an early voter in this primary. Here in Texas, we are issued a voters registration card.....but that won’t get you in the voting booth. As I walked up to the table I was asked for my drivers license. The person put it in a machine that scanned the information....for what I know not. Then the next question is “what party are you going to vote in”.....more information for someone’s use. Sad. Also I am in Blake Farentholds district (he isn’t running because of sexual misconduct and a payoff from an “ethics” fund $83,000) that is totally gerrymandered and half of the candidates just recently “moved” into this district from other districts. Sorry blues, guess we are getting another red unless we get out and vote!

And they still lost.

Um, the Republican turnout set records, the Democrats didn't. Republicans got 500,000 more votes than the Democrats. Talk about the Dem surge is more delusion from the left. The big wave now looks like a small ripple. That won't stop the spin, of course. Facts are pesky things. A great day for Republicans. A bad day for Democrats. The Dems are so sure they will take back the House. They might, but the odds are they won't. Once the Resistance- who are just as certain of a House takeover as they were of a Hillary win- is disappointed by not taking the House, what will they do? Perhaps the States should consider making grief counselors available in case of Republican win.

l am a Democrat, l live in Texas, and l was one of the approximately 1 million people who voted in the Democratic primary. About 1.5 million people voted in the Republican primary. Republican turnout in midterm primaries in Texas shot way up in 2006 and has stayed up. Democratic turnout in midterm primaries in Texas has fluctuated dramatically since the mid-1990s. Yesterday’s elections were a recent peak for Democrats—but if we want leaders who represent us, we have to do significantly better. I know there are more than 1 million Democrats in this state. Where were y’all yesterday?

Texas is more urban than outsiders would realize. However, suburbanites, especially outside of Houston and Dallas, are more conservative than in other states. Also, there are several smaller cities, such as Wichita Falls, Bryan/College Station, Waco, and Tyler where Rs win 70-30. This really runs up the margin where urban votes in Houston, DFW, Austin, and San Antonio can not overcome it. This combined with extremely low voter turnout among Hispanics and Hispanics in Texas being much more conservative than in other states, leads to R dominance. The demographics are changing, but it will unfortunately take 15-20 more years before Democrats can win.

Once again, the Clinton-aligned Democratic machine is trying to drive out a popular progressive candidate (Moser) and install a Wall Street friendly candidate who will, in turn, turn off the demographic that is energized and frightening to the Republicans. This is a self-destructive strategy that has turned a Democratic majority into a shrinking, meaningless minority. Middle of the road Democrats and disenfranchised Republicans are not motivated enough or numerous enough to deliver victory for Democrats. It is the true progressive and liberal voters that will fill campaign coffers and turn out in droves if the DNC and DCCC will get out of the way. If you don't believe me, take it from a national Republican candidate who is running against a true blue Democrat. Ted Cruz just announced his fear is that "we are going to see historic turnout from the extreme left in November." Of course, the Republican nightmare depends upon representatives of the true left being on the ballot. The Pelosi/Schumer old guard and their new found friends like Gillibrand, seem as determined as ever to remove that obstacle for Trump supporting Republican candidates. Like the Republicans, the Democratic old guard is more concerned about hanging onto their sliver of power than trusting democracy and following the will of the people instead of attempting to manufacture consent.

They will always have more GOP voters because the Texas Republican Party makes sure to stop minorities from voting along with any others that they can stop if they believe that they are Democrats. When will we stop the cheating Republican Party from cheating? Know that the Supreme Court will never help with that.

To win in Texas a Democrat will have to be conservative, support The Second Amendment, Smaller Govt., Etc. No problem with that!

Good Job, Texas! The article says, "Nearly 886,000 Texans cast ballots early in the state’s 15 most populous counties, the highest early-vote turnout in a nonpresidential election year in state history. And more Democrats statewide voted early this year than even in 2016, the year that Donald J. Trump, a Republican, was elected to the White House." This is what we need - unprecedented voter turnout across America to purge The Con Don and his Robber Baron brethren OUT of OUR governments at every level and return to sanity in The United States of America. Even better new - Socially Conscious Women are running and winning! Thanks to organizers of the historic Women's March, Emily's List, #MeToo, Time's Up, and all the other organizations/movements that are giving women the courage to step up and take one-half the power in OUR country and the world. The world needs balance. Smart, Socially Conscious Women in power are the key.

Great to have some hope from these many candidates running to change the landscape of Texas and most interesting to read of the continuing strength of the rural vote even as most of us are urban. I live in Austin where Beto O'Rourke is a tremendous favorite, and it surprised me to read he lost what you write was a "substantial number of votes to two little-known opponents." I've lived in almost all the cities in Texas, now Austin, grew up in west Texas where conservatives rule, and forget the bubble that is Austin. Slight as these wins were, the surge in voters from the Democrative party show the desire for a bigger change from the top down. I hope, like the constant hope for rain here, that the O'Rourkes and other highly qualified and excellent candidates reach their goals. This is 2018 and we need progress for a future that addresses the many problems the state faces. GO BETO GO!

What is NOT reflected in these results are all of the Democrats who had to vote on the Republican side in order to cast a ballot for local races, like my own rural district’s hotly contested JP race, in which only Republicans were running. The hyper partisan and ridiculously gerrymandered Texas system requires voters to cast ballots only within a chosen party, rather than being able to elect candidates from a bipartisan pool. We “sleeping” Democrats will rise in the general election, when we are able to vote with a ballot listing ALL of the candidates, not just the ones running in a particular party.

While yesterday's results make it doubtful that Texas will turn blue on a statewide basis in the near future, they do suggest that the Dems will have a decent shot at picking up several more urban and suburban districts.

Texas is a deep GOP state. GOP has fallen under Trump's spell. Look at Ryan ;he whimpers about Trump but does everything Trump says. The GOP voters follow Trump no matter how mean and crazy his policies are. GOP sold their souls for tax cuts and a supreme court position;a very high price indeed. Ray Sipe

It's all about turnout. Turnout and the Sons of San Patricio of course.

the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee took the rare step last month of publicly attacking her as “a Washington insider ********* The argument during the most recent presidential election was that Bernie wasn't a Democrat, that he was simply running on the Democratic ticket. Okay. But Laura Moser *is* a Democrat. Do these people - the DCCC (and the DNC for that matter) really not have a clue? Do they not realize how voters view this sort of behavior? Are they going to attack Moser in the run-off? I can hear it now "It's not that we don't trust the voters, but........................."

I presume those people standing in line at the Austin grocery store are doing so to vote, thereby illustrating another problem for Democrats: Do rural, Republican leaning voters, ever have to wait in long lines to vote?

To anyone who says it is the fault if the millennials aka "Bernie Bots" for the Democratic infighting, look no further than the Texas DCCC. They have created a divide by attacking Democratic candidates they don't like instead of letting the voters decide. Perhaps a candidate is too liberal to win. But...maybe not. Maybe a more progressive candidate will excite more voters. How will we know if they can't even run? It's not just about winning. It's also about allowing every candidate and every voter to be heard fairly. The DNC should not be standing in the way of democracy.

By now one would expect Mr. Trump to be isolated and abandoned by anyone capable of moral and political reasoning. It is stunning and confusing that a candidate, especially one named Bush, would even bother to align himself with Trump, and disheartening that it seems, now and in the past and in the most likely in the future, that it actually works to gain him a great deal of support among the state's—and the nation's—voters. These voters are obviously angry and disenchanted, but they aren't political or cultural nihilists. They really believe MAGA is real and that our country is on a pathway to reclaiming some kind of primitive, bygone greatness. I'm at a loss to understand how anyone could still think that.

The reason for the GOP rural strength is what is wrong across rural America: lack of media acess and skewed reporting. Democrats have to start controlling and investing in rural media outlets across the country. How many people in rural areas watch nothing but FOX? Do they even know that FOX News is run by a family who dont even live in the US? A family who interferes in our elections without impunity? These are things we Democrats need to invest in. Remember "Vote them out!

The thing that surprised me was the amount of money. I saw more money being spent on political ads in Texas than I saw spent on a Presidential election. The primaries have probably already reached into the hundreds of millions of dollars. And it was all derision and dog whistles. Texas politics is just a well-funded cesspool.

You didn't cover the contests to fill Lamar Smith's vacated Congressional seat in Texas House District 21? On the blue side, centrist soldier-turned-entrepreneur Joe Kopser will face pure liberal gay math-teacher-minister-mom Mary Wilson in a runoff. Wilson beat Kopser 30% to 27% in their four-candidate primary. Kopser may have a better chance in the general election in a district where Republicans out-voted Democrats 71,400 to 50,600. On the red side, Chip Roy, ultra patriot former Ted Cruz staffer, will run off against Matt McCall, whom Roy beat by 10 percentage points in the crowded Republican primary, 27% to 17%. District 21 is sometimes listed as 88% white and 30% Hispanic, apparently due to ethnic ambiguity. Through stark gerrymandering, it includes only part of "blue dot" Austin and part of 56%-Hispanic San Antonio and thousands of square miles of rural Texas (the district is shaped a little like the state of Massachusetts, with Austin as Provincetown). That kept the district safely Republican for many years. Now it's open. Why aren't you watching this race more closely?

Texas has been so poorly represented in congress it looks and sounds like a third world country.

You say that Beto O'Rourke is little know, then give him his first mention in the bottom of the article?

Have you completely lost your mind?? Dems got destroyed yesterday. Cruz received more votes than all candidates, in both parties, combined. Bush “tough primary challenge”?? Hilarious. He won EASILY. Much “blue wave” turned out robe no more than stepping in a small puddle of water.

It would be a miracle if Texas turned blue again after so many years of highly conservative politics. I hope voters realize that this is really to their benefit. After suffering morons like Daniel Patrick and Ted Cruz, maybe Texans are beginning to realize how the balance has severely tipped toward very contentious and questionable choices that have not been in the interest of the state's citizens.