The Democratic brand is broken. The infrastructure bill isn't fixing it.

[TexasTowelie]

114. I don't have any complaints about Taylor being awarded the factory or the incentives offered to

get the factory, but I will also point out that there were a lot of local GOP officials that made those incentives possible too. While I haven't lived there in awhile, I was in Austin throughout the nineties and a frequent visitor of Williamson county until about ten years ago. I still have politically active friends that live there and communicate with them occasionally, while the tide is turning at best it is a purple county.

The estimated number of employees for the new Samsung factory is stated to be at more than 2,000. However, I doubt that all of them will end up in Williamson county. There will be some people that will choose to live in Travis county for the amenities of the city or to be within their social communities, while there are also three rural counties (Bastrop, Lee, Milam) that are within a 20 minute commute. Housing will be more affordable in Lee and Milam counties compared to Williamson county. There are also underlying racial tensions between the whites and blacks in Taylor that don't receive much media attention which make the city unappealing. There might be an effect on city elections in Taylor with new residents, but at a countywide or legislative district level the influx of new people isn't going to change anything unless they vote 80%-90% Democratic which isn't realistic.

While Williamson county voted for Biden in 2020, I don't consider the county to be blue in any shape or form. One election result does not change the fact that the county has voted Republican in every other election since at least the eighties when I was a student. Nearly every elected office at the municipal, county, and regional levels is held by a Republican. The Democratic party apparatus at the local level isn't very strong while the GOP is well organized with multiple organizations active in the county; meanwhile, the largest base for liberal thinkers is at Southwestern University.

As far as being cynical is concerned, I have lived in both rural and urban areas of the state (e.g. Irving). The last time that I've had a Democrat represent me in any political body (local, regional, state, or federal office except for president) was in 2000. I've learned to read the political landscape pretty well which makes me a pragmatist. While I hope that the county becomes reliably Democratic, I'll need more than one election result to be convinced that Williamson county is firmly in the blue column.