Texas Dems Set Their Eyes on the 2020 Prize

This trip down memory lane reminds us of the high stakes in the campaign to flip the House – the power to stop the curdling ooze of GOP culture-war bullshit from tainting the entire state, and especially the power to keep redistricting after the 2020 census from turning into another assault and battery upon the non-GOP electorate. However, the 2020 narrative is not about turning back the clock, because Texas is such a different state now – in ways that work heavily to the Dems' advantage.

Ed Espinoza, the executive director of Progress Texas, has been making that case since 2017, when he produced a report highlighting "a lot of good stuff that happened in 2016, that people didn't notice" in their Trump-induced anguish. "I did that to try to change the mindset and inspire people to run for office. I don't nearly have the problems now I did two years ago; people are on board now and they truly believe."

Flipping the House is not a fait accompli; it requires the Dems to retain seats gained in the last two cycles (12 in 2018, four in 2016), then capture nine more red districts. The good news is the list of competitive 2020 Texas House races is much longer than that, based on trends and fundamentals at this point – before any candidates have even filed, mind you, let alone competed in the Democratic primary in March.

As you know because you read the Chronicle, one seat is in play right now – HD 28 in Fort Bend County, the west Houston suburbs, to be filled in a special election to replace retired GOP Rep. John Zerwas. Dr. Eliz Markowitz, an educator and first-time candidate, is the sole Democrat in the race against six Republicans and thus will almost certainly make the runoff, if not win outright, on Nov. 5. HD 28 is one of 22 seats targeted by the Texas Democratic Party to flip the House, based on the results of the 2018 Senate race between O'Rourke and Ted Cruz, who won the district by a scant three points (Zerwas himself won by eight). Nine of those House seats – exactly the number Dems need – are held by Repub­licans in districts that Beto won outright.




https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2019-10-25/texas-dems-set-their-eyes-on-the-2020-prize/