Texas Republicans admit there's a problem

[brooklynite]

Axios

The retirement of six House Republicans from Texas at the end of this term shows their pessimism about winning back the House majority in 2020, GOP strategists tell Axios — and foreshadows bigger Republican fears in the nation's second most populous state.

The big picture: The GOP recognizes they can no longer ignore their Democratic opponents and count on coasting to re-election in this previously-reliable red state.
- Mac Thornberry, who announced Monday he's not running for re-election, is different from the others because his retirement was expected, per the Texas Tribune.
- Still, the six-pack of GOP retirements in one cycle is hard to ignore.
- "We need a new Republican Party because the one we have is getting our asses kicked in House races," one Texas GOP strategist, who works with various campaigns and asked to speak anonymously to be candid, told Axios.
-President Trump will rally in Dallas on Oct. 17 to celebrate "the good news of the Trump economy" and "vast" accomplishments, his campaign announced Monday night.

The backstory: The 2018 midterms spooked Texas Republicans after they lost two congressional seats, saw closer-than-expected margins in a number of other races, and watched Beto O'Rourke surf a blue wave built in part on the state's shifting demographics.

Democrats are giddy at the fact that a GOP super PAC is trying to raise $10 million to register 1 million Republican voters in the state. "Republicans' answer so often is just to throw money at it," said Rep. Cheri Bustos of Illinois, who chairs the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

[Gothmog]

1. Texas will be a battleground state

[DFW]

2. One of those Texas seats they lost was in my district

Back home, I'm in TX-32, a gerrymandered DeLay creation. It knocked out 13 term Martin Frost, who did a great job for us in our part of Dallas. For a LONG time, we had the odious Republican toady, Pete Sessions. Last year, we finally voted in Colin Allred. Shifting demographics finally canceled out the Bible Belt outlying districts that DeLay incorporated into our part of Dallas, and they should be staying that way. The extremist right isn't changing, but there are now less of them than there are of us.

[Demovictory9]

3. stop being bigotted a-holes