# Is it me, or are the Texas Democrats producing particularly weak candidates lately? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 14, 2022, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-are-the-texas-democrats-producing-particularly-weak-candidates-lately/974898 "2022-11-14T15:44:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2022, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-are-the-texas-democrats-producing-particularly-weak-candidates-lately/974898/21 "2022-11-15T15:51:29Z")
I don’t know that I’d go that far. More like 49% _dislike_ Abbott enough to vote for Beto, rather than they particularly like him in any way, shape, or form. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2022, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-are-the-texas-democrats-producing-particularly-weak-candidates-lately/974898/22 "2022-11-15T15:55:01Z")
That 49% (rounded up from 48.3) was from back in 2018 when Beto ran for senate against Ted Cruz. He did significantly worse this time around against Abbott. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2022, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-are-the-texas-democrats-producing-particularly-weak-candidates-lately/974898/23 "2022-11-15T15:57:40Z")
Well, Cruz is at least 5% more odious than Abbott, so I’m not surprised. Part of the issue is that the Governor isn’t a particularly powerful position in Texas government. Rick Perry, and to a lesser extent, Greg Abbott have expanded that, but it’s fundamentally not all that powerful relative to those of other states. So it’s relatively easy to look good as a Governor without actually doing anything concrete either way. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2022, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-are-the-texas-democrats-producing-particularly-weak-candidates-lately/974898/24 "2022-11-15T16:12:02Z")
I’m not at all an expert on the Texas political scene, so I’m curious if there’s a particularly bright spark the OP thinks would have a decent shot in the state? The Party needs to start showcasing and prepping their younger faces ASAP in my opinion. The top leadership ain’t getting any younger. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2022, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-are-the-texas-democrats-producing-particularly-weak-candidates-lately/974898/25 "2022-11-15T16:43:00Z")
Not really… and that’s part of the problem. Democrats in Texas seem to be concentrated in a handful of places- city and county governments, and as the minority in the State Legislature. Some of the issue is that the ones identified in the past as “rising stars” sort of flamed out. Annise Parker, the Castro brothers, Leticia Van De Putte, Jason Stanford, and Wendy Davis were all tagged [in this 2013 article as “the next generation of the Texas Democratic Party”.](https://www.npr.org/2013/07/03/198262132/texas-democrats-aim-for-a-bright-future) Eleven years later, and Parker is in private life after a successful municipal career in Houston, Davis and Van De Putte seem to have faded into obscurity after losing a few elections, the Castro brothers seem to be happy as a pundit and Congressman, and Jason Stanford ended up as a columnist without ever running for office. That’s the problem- the people most expected to carry that torch are pretty much out of the game, leaving the party to choose from old retreads like Collier and inexperienced and unqualified people like Luke Warford. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2022, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-are-the-texas-democrats-producing-particularly-weak-candidates-lately/974898/26 "2022-11-15T16:58:07Z")
> [@FlikTheBlue](#): > > Beto only got 43.4% this time. That 5 plus % is likely to include a large contingent of people who are pro-gun and who hold various other conservative positions, but couldn’t bring themselves to vote for someone like Ted Cruz despite agreeing with him on the issues. Accord to [CNN’s exit polls](https://edition.cnn.com/election/2022/exit-polls/texas/governor/0) 55% of Texan voters do support stricter gun control, but they only broke 75/25 for Beto. ---
**Author:** ![ParallelLines](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/parallellines/32/3575_2.png) [@ParallelLines](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParallelLines)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2022, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-are-the-texas-democrats-producing-particularly-weak-candidates-lately/974898/27 "2022-11-16T04:04:48Z")
For the record, we aren’t the only ones noticing this - > **[Texas Democrats admit to faltering on messaging and voter turnout,...](https://www.texastribune.org/2022/11/11/texas-democrats-midterm-loss-border-turnout/)** > > Beto O’Rourke lost by double-digits on Tuesday night and so did every other statewide Democrat. That has left Democrats in a familiar position: wounded after a disappointing election night while contemplating their strategy and their future. > And secondly, the Democratic bench for statewide office is concerningly thin. Beyond O’Rourke, the names mentioned for future statewide runs include Hidalgo, U.S. Rep. Colin Allred of Dallas and the San Antonio Democratic brothers Joaquin Castro and Julián Castro, who have been touted as rising stars for over a decade now but have repeatedly passed on statewide campaigns. > > But it is unclear how much financial backing any of those potential candidates could garner from donors underwhelmed by the Democrats’ latest statewide results. This year’s gubernatorial race cost north of $140 million. And the party has for years shown an inability to groom candidates for higher office or convince potentially viable candidates to make a run. I think in part it’s a feedback loop. Few serious candidates can campaign against the entrenched interests and pre-existing roadblocks, so they don’t even bother, or do and get drubbed, which further decreases interest and makes fundraising difficult, which leads to even more losses, and so on and so forth. And I think @FlikTheBlue is likely also correct, that the sheer swamp of deep red drowns out the light blue of the urban areas. I spent more time than I like to consider decades back in the panhandle, the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex, and Austin. FTB is correct, only Austin would I consider true blue, DFW is light blue at best, and they’re a lot more interested in not rocking the boat then real change, and the rest . . . hoooo boy. Scary stuff. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2022, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-are-the-texas-democrats-producing-particularly-weak-candidates-lately/974898/28 "2022-11-16T14:26:57Z")
From a bit further down in the article, we’ve got a political scientist basically saying the same thing I am: > “It boggles the mind that a state this big that has a large Democratic party and lots of Democrats in the big cities in the state, that they can’t find somebody and build up a series of people over time to strengthen their hand,” said Jon Taylor, a political scientist at the University of Texas at San Antonio. “They literally seem to be the people who can’t shoot straight.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-me-or-are-the-texas-democrats-producing-particularly-weak-candidates-lately/974898.md?page=1)