Blue Wave Recap: The "Beto Bump" in Texas

The Blue Wave on November 6, 2018 included so much good news it was difficult to process it all.  Over the next few weeks, Smart Dissent will attempt to recap the progress we made together including well-publicized topics and less covered ones.

Our fifth post recognizes that Beto O'Rouke's Senate loss was tough to swallow but not without tremendous progress associated.  The "Beto Bump" was very real and will have lasting impacts for Texas.

While many Democrats were disappointed with Beto O’Rourke's loss, the state saw a small wave sweep through on the local level..... 

Though Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke lost to Republican incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz Tuesday, a small blue bump was seen locally across Texas.  Democrats picked up two seats in the Texas state Senate.  In the Texas House, Democrats — mostly women — flipped at least 11 red seats.

Possibly the biggest blue win for Texas was when Republican US Rep. Pete Sessions, who has represented the area since 2003, lost to Colin Allred in Dallas County’s 32nd Congressional District.

Per Nate Silver of 538.com, "Although he lost, a lot of the anti-Beto takes are looking pretty dumb. Dems will pick up 2-3 House seats in a very gerrymandered state. Massive increase in turnout."

Harris County is the largest county in Texas and the third largest county in the US. The county effectively turned blue, with all 38 district judges elected being Democrats, including the 19 black women who won.

Harris County also elected Democrat Lina Hidalgo, who is an immigrant and just 27 years old, to be their county judge over incumbent Ed Emmett, a Republican who has held the position for more than a decade.

 

Not only these wins noted above, but also a lot of races that went to the Republican candidate were way closer than they were supposed to be.  Texas Democrats showed up like never before.

 

Source:

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/mbvd/black-women-judges-texas

Date: 
Monday, November 19, 2018
Tags: 
Justice