Democrats are in shock and are responding to a critical pickup by the Republicans in a traditionally Democratic and heavily Hispanic house district. Politico. The Democrats had held onto the 34th Congressional district for almost a century but lost the seat in a special election. Mayra Flores defeated Dan Sanchez in the special election. The victory may be short lived due to redistricting which means Flores will go up against Vicente Gonzalez, an incumbent, in a much stronger Democratic district. However, Democrats are furious that Flores won at all. Republicans spent heavily in a district that was not considered competitive until recently. Sanchez got very little support from national Democrats. Republicans have made huge gains among Hispanics since 2020, and have captured several majority Hispanic districts.
My Comment:
This is largely a symbolic victory for Republicans as the new district that is going to replace the 34th will be a lot more favorable for the Democrats. That doesn't mean that it isn't in play. The current district was fairly biased towards Democrats but Flores won 51% to 43%. The new district won't be the same but it's possible that Flores could win again.
But even if the victory is temporary the election is causing panic among the Democrats who are already facing major problems in 2022. This election shows that formally safe districts are in play and could be lost in 2022 as well as the more competitive districts.
This is a huge problem for Democrats because they are going to have to defend more seats now. For example is the 34th district. On paper it is safe but now Republicans can and will contest it and I bet Flores will get a lot of money. She's a new Republican rockstar, attractive and a good speaker, she's bound to get money. The Democrats have a tough choice, do they spend money on a seat that might be safe anyways? Or do they spend money to counter Republican spending leaving less resources to go around?
But it's not spending that is the real problem here. The fact is that Hispanics are sick and tired of the Democrats. There are different reasons for this but I think in this part of Texas it's pretty obvious why. The border is a huge problem there and just because people are Hispanic does not mean that they love illegal immigrants. And even the ones that do like their fellow Hispanic illegals may not be so happy about all the various other ethnicities and groups that are coming in. The Democrat's "solution" to this problem is to either ignore it completely or, even worse, openly encourage it.
The economy is playing a role as well. People of all races remember that before 2020 our economy was doing great. 2020 was a bump but things really went off the rails after Biden took the White House. The Democrats don't seem to have much to say about this either, with what little attention they are using is wasted on tone deaf "advice" like buying a $70,000 electric car to deal with high gas prices.
It do have to mention that the Democrats are pushing Hispanics away with their wokeness. Most Hispanics are economically liberal but socially conservative. But the Democrats are doubling down on the wokeness. The best example of this is them trying to push "Lantinx" as the replacement of Hispanic and nobody is going for it. Indeed, most Hispanics are offended by this push and hate it. And that's just one example.
I do think that the Democrats are heading for a wipeout in 2022. They have not been able to change course at all and with Biden in charge he's dragging them all down. It's not just Hispanics that disapprove of Biden and his party, it's almost everyone and that means they are pretty much guaranteed to lose control of the House and will likely lose the Senate as well. And that does not bode well for them in 2024.
No comments:
Post a Comment