This fall, Democrats across the nation succumbed to Beto fever, watching enthusiastically as Beto O’Rourke, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Texas, came much closer to unseating incumbent Republican Sen. Ted Cruz than seemed possible a year ago. …
Are the state’s demographics finally turning it blue, as Democrats have long hoped? Or were this year’s results a blue blip for what will remain a reliably red state?
Our research suggests that the former is true: The state’s diversifying electorate and young people’s leftward shift appear to be weakening the GOP’s grip on the Lone Star State. CONT.
Juan Carlos Huerta & Beatriz Cuartas, Monkey Cage