Democrat James Talarico is projected to win a Senate seat in Texas, defeating Republican Ken Paxton and delivering his party their first big Lone Star state win in decades, according to a projection by Decision Desk HQ (DDHQ).

    • theedqueen@lemmy.world
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      I’m loving Abbot getting the boot too. Eat shit asshole

      When is Cruz’s ass up for re-election? I’d love for Jasmine Crocket to take the other seat. Plus Cruz being felled by a black woman would be delicious.

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        First time hearing about that ladder-pulling discount-Davros scumbag and feeling joy for a change.

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        I always thought Abbott was an ineffective governor, and that the only reason he’s been in office this long is that the Texas governor’s election is always in off-years, when people who have trouble getting to the voting booths are even less likely to go.

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          wtf aren’t they usually an anchor state, always at least 90% red?

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              They were saying Kansas’s was like 1930-1939 or some shit, yet they appear to have actually put one in according to the numbers out so far. Crazy to think 2 World Wars, Vietnam, Korea, Afghanistan, Iraq (multiple times), (should mention all the South America shit but the list is getting to long) never considered a change but now something has sparked some kind of change for them

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              As an outsider watching from afar, I’m very happy for everyone who wanted this outcome, the majority have had a hard slog for the past 2 years in particular.

              Hopefully this is the start of the turning point where the average American has had a fire reawaken within them, to push harder for a genuinely better Amercia, beyond casting their vote; a complete contrast to the puke pizza that everyone’s been witnessing since its first term.

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            They did a bit. They prioritized it more than Florida, with Obama making ads for Colom.

            I don’t think they did much for Angie Nixon in Florida though. I think they stopped at the endorsement.

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            Florida has gone to the right in the last 10 years but before that they always swung back and forth.

            Like if you look at who Florida voted for, it was pretty much who won president except the Trump 2020 election.

            Election Year Winning Candidate Party Margin of Victory

            1960 John F. Kennedy D -0.2%

            1964 Lyndon B. Johnson D +27.0%

            1968 Richard Nixon R +5.0%

            1972 Richard Nixon R +27.0%

            1976 Jimmy Carter D +1.9%

            1980 Ronald Reagan R +10.0%

            1984 Ronald Reagan R +20.0%

            1988 George H.W. Bush R +10.0%

            1992 Bill Clinton D +2.0%

            1996 Bill Clinton D +5.0%

            2000 George W. Bush R +0.01%

            2004 George W. Bush R +5.0%

            2008 Barack Obama D +2.8%

            2012 Barack Obama D +0.9%

            2016 Donald Trump R +1.2%

            2020 Donald Trump R +3.4%

            2024 Donald Trump R +13.1%

            • 13igtyme@startrek.website
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              I moved out of Florida after COVID. I can tell you with certainty it will be a very long time before Florida goes blue. The people flooding that state for no COVID restrictions combined with the multiple bullshit from Michael Flynn he helped push are going to keep it deep red for a while.

              • LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world
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                Yeah if you look at 2000 in particular Bush “won” by .01%.

                If you are familiar with that election that is when Al Gore won the popular vote in the U.S., a recall was called in Florida twice and conspiracies surround how Bush’s own brother was the Governir of Florida.

                Basically first count said Bush won by 1784 votes ~.009%. That triggered and automatic recount by the machines. Which came back saying he actually only won by 327 votes, meaning the room for error was wider than the election. His brother helped stall a manual recount, they sent it to the Supreme Court and the U.S. supreme court decided it didn’t matter because hand counting them would take time and awarded all 25 elector votes to Bush, making him President of an election he had not one neither the population, nor possibly the electors… But we’ll never know.

    • nop@lemmy.world
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      I’m out of town/timezone at the moment, so nice to wake up and see this. Not just a win, but a resounding win.

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    This is step one in a very long road.

    I hope all these newly elected democrats have the inclination to do the right thing, and the stamina to continue doing it long enough to actually have a positive impact.

    • rumba@lemmy.zip
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      This is step one in a very long road.

      Probably more like a dance move in Thriller. Forward, backward; looks like forward but goes backward. High kick; looks like backward but goes forward.

      It took things to get that bad before they flipped. I don’t expect them to stay there, but I have blind optimism.

      Now let’s just hope there aren’t so many DINOs that we actually have a majority because i do NOT have blind optimism there.

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    As a progressive Christian, I’m SO THANKFUL to finally see a US politician who doesn’t wield his faith as a tool of division and hate but as an inspiration for change that helps people in need. I wish him all the success at flipping tables and fighting the power.

    • Richard@lemmy.world
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      Holy shit am i tired of cristofascists. We need more kind generous christians in politics ASAP.

      Matthew 22:39 is a passage less christian politicians need to stop ignoring!

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    Wow, I’ll take some good news even if a little premature. How nice of Elon Musk’s few hundred million spent in Texas was completely wasted.

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    Kind of in disbelief right now. A far cry from how I felt back in November of 2024. If only I knew back then how severe the backlash against Trump would be in the midterms, I might not have been so despondent at that time. South fucking Carolina, and possibly FUCKING MISSISSIPPI have elected Democratic senators. Like…what???

    Edit to add: Almost forgot, but Alaska might be going blue as well. Un fucking real.

    • andrewrgross@lemmy.today
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      I remember folks asking in 2024 “What do we do if Trump wins?!?” and my answer was “The same thing you should be doing if Kamala wins: the same thing you should be doing now.” Which is organizing locally and building outward.

      If you have a union, participate in it. If you don’t, get to know your coworkers and normalize talking about what you’d like collectively. Organize your apartment building to get together on the holidays. Know who your city council member is, and your county supervisor. Participate in mutual aid and lobby for laws in your own backyard. Think about not just what you don’t want – Republicans in national office – but what you really, really want: a shorter work week. Guaranteed access to living essentials. And then find the people, both inside government and out who have ideas for how to do this and ask how you can help. And keep doing it through the ups and downs.

      Because your despair at Trump’s victory can be just as ephemeral as your joy at Paxton’s defeat if this is just sports. But if we have a purpose and a plan, every step forward or backward is part of a journey in which we can see our progress towards something that matters more than just the latest poll.

    • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world
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      Its because people who voted for fascism are upset that fascism is hurting them, personally, instead of hurting just poors, blacks, and immigrants.

      Thats all.

      This isnt some great revolution of liberal enlightenment amongst the American populace, or the end of right wing extremism, the death knell for white supremacism fueled fascism.

      Its nothing more than grocery and gas prices turning trump believers into a temporary vote for the other side, and as soon as that pressures gone they’ll go back to supporting the lowest common denominator and continuing the rocket train to hell.

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      I love to see it. I also loved seeing r/conservative melting down.

      Turns out $7/gal diesel isn’t popular. Hmm who would have thought.

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        I was there and took a look and hoo boy, it’s gonna take more than a few xanax for them to calm down.

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      Most of us don’t suck. I keep hearing this rhetoric that because I live here, because I was born ans raised here, that I am a fool or complicit.

      I am trans, hispanic, and atheist and I can’t leave for many reasons, but amongst those reasons are because

      this. Is. My. Home.

      I love my city, my culture, my Home. I will fight in the face of the worst of us because I know we can be better here.

      Do not damn us all, we’re fighting

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        Good job!! Me and my uterus abandoned Texas years ago, and every time my daughters ask me when we can move to Texas to be with the rest of our family I tell them never.

        Maybe that can change now.

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        I’ve frequently felt that there are good people in Texas. You all fought well. Keep them in check. Here in my state of KY, I sadly have to keep fighting. From the depths of my soul, thank you for fighting.

        • CH3DD4R_G0B-L1N@sh.itjust.works
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          Kentucky native now a Texan. I always check up on you guys with a little bit of hope. Keep fighting. If we can do it in Texas you can turn the grass blue again, I believe it.

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            <3 I blame the racists here for our loss. But thank goodness we flipped the district. Please investigate our state as much as you can. Especially with all that nonsense with Mitch the Bitch.

        • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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          As someone who once lived in Kentucky keep up the good fight. I’ve got a soft spot in my heart for Appalachia and I hope someday y’all can return to your roots of unions and telling the government to get the fuck out of your personal lives

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        As a northerner, my fear and hate of southerners is confined to republicans and what they’ve done with the place. That y’all we’re able to turn it blue is cause for shocking celebration. Maybe this place (the US) does have a future. There’s still gonna be a huge fight because of course there will be, but a huge congratulations are definitely in order. Maybe if things continue to change, I, too, will be able to travel, and go see parts of the country I’ve never seen and honestly didn’t expect to ever be able to.

      • Ann Archy@lemmy.world
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        I always hated that dumb saying, “if you don’t like it, go somewhere else”. Like, no, I want to improve this right here where I am and make it better. In fact if YOU don’t want to make it better then YOU might wanna leave.

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        Hell… fucking… Yeah… I’ve been saying for 20 years that Texas was winnable we just needed to invest in good candidates. Everyone kept saying i was delusional. People without any awareness of what Texas is culturally view it like its Alabama, when its more like Wisconsin (fiercely independent and down to earth), IMO.

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        I’ve got family in Texarkana (both sides of the border!) that definitely did not help and I had kind of sworn off the state altogether but I can reconsider now.

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        As someone who fled Ohio, I’m deeply sympathetic to you for that. I long for the day my issues with Texas can be primarily aesthetic, no different from how everyone I grew up around felt about Michigan.

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    Congratulations to all Americans! I can finally type your countries name with a capital “A” again. Looking forward to your healing and cleansing. Canada is quite forgiving, give us at least a few years though. Surely a better day and future for the American people. Phew! Take this opportunity to tighten up those authoritarian loopholes. The only way you should fall is from total external invasion, not from within, like trump and his enablers were trying to do.

    • Ann Archy@lemmy.world
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      “You can trust the Americans to do the right thing once all other options have been exhausted”

      • kent_eh@lemmy.ca
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        at least one Canadian doesnt hate us.

        We are still taking a “wait and see” approach with the USA.

        You guys dumped trumpism once, then brought it back again in an even worse version.

        The USA will have to regain our trust, and that takes a lot of work over a very long time.

        This is step one on a very long road.

        We’re not letting our guard down yet.

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          Yep totally. I’m still absolutely baffled (but not really considering the average american) it took high gas and groceries and a war to make people think.

          Not 40+ felony conviction and rape and almost certain proof of Epstein island visits. The Americans didn’t care about that one bit. Or killing brown people or kidnapping children. Until it affected them.

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      Respectfully to you personally as your heart is absolutely in the right place, Americans do not need or at this point want Canadian forgiveness. Canadians have their own problems with their far right neighbors that they will continue to underestimate until it’s too late. And when that happens, the majority of Americans — who respect and support Canada and its people, who were outraged over the governments treatment of Canada, and who turned that outrage into action through protests and yesterdays rejection of the current government, will remember how Canadians turned on them.

      The global rise of far-right authoritarianism defies borders and those of us standing against it should have been standing shoulder to shoulder, but instead Canada would rather blame all Americans while burying its head in the sand and pretending like the same thing couldn’t happen there. As if America is somehow uniquely susceptible to a problem that has been plaguing the entire world. First they doubted Americans would deliver on the rejection of its government, and now that they have, they disqualify it.

      We should and we have to put things to rights with Canada because it’s the right thing to do, and it’s what our northern neighbors deserve, but frankly the holier-than-thou pearl clutching that has dominated online Canadian-American discourse has sucked the well of Canadian sympathy dry for a lot of people.

    • lmmarsano@fedinsfw.app
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      Not how that works: without supermajorities in the legislature to override a veto or convict an impeachment, the president can still block all legislation.

      • Bubbaonthebeach@lemmy.ca
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        Time to find 12 Senators that are up for re-election in 2028 and remind them that backing Trump led directly to GOP Senators losing yesterday. They need to step up and start doing their job - working for American citizens.

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          While I would love that, the more moderate republicans who argued to impeach & convict Trump last time were ousted, so that leaves the Trumpiest core to work with. GOP shittiness & general hostility to the government working in any sense for the American people can’t be underestimated. Plus, convicting Trump results in Vance replacing him.

          I think some highly guarded optimism is warranted. Blocking hideous legislation and Trump appointments isn’t too bad of a check if they’re unable to pull off anything better.

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      I am not is forgiving. Just because they voted some progressives which this politician in this post is not i won’t forget that it is still an evil empire that destabilize the whole world

      • TaterTurnipTulip@lemmy.world
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        As an American, you should definitely not forgive us or lower your guard. We voted Trump in twice. And even beyond that we’ve been a scourge on the world for a long time. A small blip here does nit change that. And the Dems that got elected have to show that they will actually try to change things. I doubt they will.

      • Ann Archy@lemmy.world
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        It’s like being in a bipolar relationship. One day it’s sunny, the other it’s rainy, another USA is run by an oligarch pedophile cabal.

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      Calm yourself, they aren’t any closer to healing. They haven’t changed anything. They haven’t even showed that this will have any effect. The regime ignores the courts and congress, so this doesn’t make any difference.

      The US is still a regressing democracy and have an obvious and seriously dangerous fascist problem. They are not our allies.

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          Let’s thank Zelensky and Ukraine for taking out a bunch of internet troll infrastructure as well! They were part of winning this election.

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          This is the victim mentality that makes me say this… muricans can’t take responsibility, so they are not even close to healing.

          Not everyone criticizing a fascist regime is a russian bot.

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            It’s most important to remember that us Americans very well might have been okay with the corruption and fascism if the admin just weren’t fucking stupid about it.

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              The fact that you guys reelected the most blatantly corrupt president you’ve ever had isn’t forgotten by the rest of the world.

              It will take a lot of work over a very long time for the USA to remove the stink of Trumpism.

              Electing a few better politicians is step one. Let’s see how effective they are able (or how willing) they will be to improve things.

               

              And then let’s see what the American people do in the next 2-3 elections.

              We were cautiously optimistic when the Americans elected Biden, and we all know what happened 4 years later.

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            Look, this is them making an effort. Let’s pat them on the back. They did well. There is still a lot of work to do, but today, let’s just celebrate progress.

            LORD KNOWS how much shit we give them, always, and always will, but let’s be happy for our brothers and sisters that democracy prevailed one more election.

            A threat to democracy anywhere is a threat to democracy everywhere. Likewise, a victory for democracy anywhere is a victory for democracy everywhere. Tonight, democracy won.

            Wooo! USA! USA! USA!

            • europeancricket@lemmy.world
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              Yeah, it is a small victory, and I’m glad. I am basically just quoting Mamdani from last night - now is not the time to rest.

              • Ann Archy@lemmy.world
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                And he is absolutely GOD damned right. Strike while the iron is hot, this is exactly the time to go bustin caps in asses. But tonight… We celebrate and be merry. We have all gone through a lot over the past decade. We earned this.

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        I’m calm. I’m also very happy for the American people. They deserve a bit of peace and quiet after all the bullshit spews that constantly seem to go on forever, including yours. Be happy for them. Take the little wins and dance in the sun.

        • Ann Archy@lemmy.world
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          Trump gave me high blood pressure and I have to take pills now. I’m not joking. This thing has been so stressful for me over the past two years that I developed cardiovascular issues, I got the results today. I know the nightmare is not over, but at least now I feel like maybe at some point we’ll wake up from it and have a few beers and laugh about the whole thing and go on living and try to fix ourselves and our planet together.

          Tonight I dream.

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          They are too close to invading me and my allies to give them peace and quiet. They are dangerous. Now is not the time for rest.

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    If Texas flipped, any state can flip. Why it matters is that’s where 1/2 of the U.S. Billionaires fled too, so as too avoid the California Billionaire Tax. Perhaps these new Texas Democrat leaders should consider a Texas Billionaire Tax.

    BTW – the other half of the Billionaire carpet baggers escaping California either went to Florida or left the country.

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    I know I’m very skeptical but many of those states only turned blue because guys like Talarico would pretty much run as a Republican 15 years ago. Texas didn’t suddenly turn progressive, it simply didn’t turn as fascist as the general MAGA movement. For example Talarico still run on hiring more Border Patrol agents and has a border security plan endorsed by republican Sheriff. On energy he still wants to “protect good-paying oil and gas jobs”. If you look at his program it’s mostly “I will push back against the worst parts capitalism while protecting most of our values”. Which is great but it doesn’t really reflect change of direction as much as different pace at which red state go full fascist.

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      As a Texan, I don’t fully agree. Talarico isn’t perfect, but I’ve not in my lifetime ever seen a pro choice, pro LGBTQ, pro workers rights Republican. Texas, fucking finally, just voted for all three. This IS a sign of progress, and hopefully some healing.

      • booly@sh.itjust.works
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        This is just another flavor of that lazy “both parties are the same” nonsense. We are in the midst of a Trump-driven party realignment, and that means both parties are moving in different directions on different issues, and there are debates within both parties about where to go.

        A generation ago, it was an active debate about whether sex acts between two people of the same sex should be a crime punishable by prison. We pushed real reforms through, from decriminalization to allowing them to hold security clearances and serve in the military, legalizing same sex marriage and recognizing their parenthood of children. We made it illegal for employers to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or transgender status. In all this time, these positions on LGBT rights shifted from far left fringes to internal divisions within the Democratic Party to mainstream views within the Democratic Party to influencing divisions in the Republican party. And although I’m disappointed in many Democrats not doing more to defend against active hostility towards transgender people, their positions aren’t actually less transgender friendly than the norm even 10 years ago (much less 25).

        On abortion, we’ve moved the party towards pro-choice, even as we’ve lost ground on the battlegrounds in the courts and in state legislatures. It used to be a fairly normal view to be a pro-life Democrat. Not necessarily the party majority, but there were enough elected Democrats who would vote against abortion rights, and compromises with them led to at least federal funding restrictions of abortions. At this point, pretty much any elected Democrat will not only fight for abortion rights, but are ready to bring the fight on putting government resources behind abortion access.

        The active debate right now, within the Democratic Party, about Israel and Palestine, is so much further pro-Palestine than would be recognizable 20 years ago. For the first time, we have elected officials who are publicly against military aid for Israel, and in favor of prosecuting war crimes against senior Israeli government officials.

        It’s not every issue like this, though. Union membership is no longer a reliable indicator of Democratic Party support, and labor rights are a bit more muddled within the party. Lots of economic issues have gone from being partisan coded to mixed coalitions (tariffs and trade, environmental and energy policy, financial markets and banking regulation, health policy). And Democrats have backslid on immigration/border issues, much to my disappointment.

        But most of it is just that Democrats have lost on policy issues over the last 10 years, and so the debate between Democrats on lots of these issues feel only theoretical rather than practical. Are there Democrats fighting for reducing carbon emissions, shoring up social security and the safety net, raising taxes, replenishing the middle class? Yes, sure, but they don’t have the opportunity to actual discuss the details because they’re mostly an opposition minority party fighting to stop the bleeding on destructive Republican policies going the other way.

        Let’s win some fucking elections so that we can actually have the debate. I’d love to see Democrats control a trifecta so that the coalition can churn out something like what Pelosi/Reid/Obama accomplished between 2009-2011 and listen to the left complain that the sausage making was too corporate/neolib/etc. That’s the debate I’d like to have, from the position of having actually won back power.

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        2 days ago

        It’s obviously an improvement and very important strategic win but let’s keep in mind:

        • Paxton was a terrible candidate. Republicans didn’t think they have to seriously fight and selected the worst possible candidates in many places
        • Trump absolutely fucked Republicans over. He did everything he could to lose those elections
        • Even for a “good” Republican candidate it would be incredibly difficult to someone distance himself from Trump and not lose MAGA votes
        • The terrible economy pushed all the other issues to the back. This elections were over inflation and corruption, not LGBT or abortion.

        In this context Talarico’s win is not that shocking. He simply perfectly positioned himself as the most palatable Democrat. He still focused on religion in a way that gives any European voter the creeps (same playbook as Adam Hamilton, who until 2020 was a registered Republican). For me all this means that Republicans will not have to work very hard to turn Texas red again. Just find a candidate that’s not comically corrupt.

        Then again, as long as MAGA is the main movement inside the party it may be harder than it seems. So maybe Republicans will be forced to go back to the usual levels of corruptions from the era before Trump… If this is the begging of the end of MAGA it’s great news but I think we have to see what will happen during the primaries to see where all this is going.

        • Ravenheart@lemmy.zip
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          2 days ago

          With respect, I think you’re wildly underestimating the ignorance and obstinance of Republican voters in the US. Have you ever interacted directly with a MAGA, evangelical Christian? Their hatred, arrogance and ignorance are genuinely baffling to behold. They live all around me, I interact with them every day, and not even I understand why they are the way they are. Despite all the valid issues you raised, still millions of them voted down party lines yesterday. A couple of Democrat wins would have been shocking, but the full sweep we got is just… there’s no word to describe how incredible it is.

    • Akuchimoya@startrek.website
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      3 days ago

      This is basically Mark Carney, the current Prime Minister of Canada. He ran and won as a Liberal, but he would have been a Conservative two decades ago. He’s been working against the interests of every day Canadians, but the thing is that if the alternative is Pierre Poilievre and his Conservatives, I’d still vote for Carney 10/10 times, because at least Carney isn’t a homophobic, transphobic racist. He’ll defend your human rights while robbing you.

      Carney looks great on the world stage because he’s juxtaposed against Trump. And yes, we’re definitely better off with Carney at the helm than with Poillievre who was trying so hard to emulate Trump, but the entire world had been taking a pretty hard shift to the right.

      • mad_lentil@lemmy.ca
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        3 days ago

        Yeah I hate Carney with all my guts because he’s pushing through shit that conservatives wish they could get away with, but he’s acting nice and reasonable while selling off our future.

        The conservatives are basically sitting there dumbfounded because they have nothing to oppose. Only the loonies who foam about trans people or immigrants have anything to complain about, and those are not serious people.

    • withabeard@sh.itjust.works
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      3 days ago

      From outside (I live in the UK) and only knowing Texas through media. At some point you have to run on what supports your state/district/town. You can’t run a state with a lot of jobs tied in oil and gas by destroying all of those jobs, without causing massive harm.

      Separately, Texas as a state had a lot of sunlight and land, and a lot of that energy production could be (should be?) transferred to solar.

      While great for the planet, the job loses and associated lack of grassroots income would take a massive change in society.

    • Boost@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      Talarico isn’t perfect but he’s a serious improvement over the cartoonishly evil Republicans who are usually in charge of Texas. There are certain positions which are political suicide in Texas (being anti fossil fuel and anti cop) so it’s a given that any candidate who actually wants to win will support that. Basically everything else about him is a huge swing to the left for Texas. I thought there was 0 hope of turning Texas into a blue state, it’s a huge achievement.

    • RBWells@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      I’m old enough to remember Ann Richards, and Lawton Childs here. Texas, and Florida too, are still close to 50/50, just gerrymandered to hell and back. It’s nice for Texas, I am happy for them, and Georgia too. Sorry that we couldn’t get enough people out, I kinda like Angie Nixon, it would have been great to have a progressive voice for FL. 4,207,947 votes for Moody (the traitor) 3,969,186 for an honest to God progressive.

    • futurefossil@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      Texas is still Texas. There is no way they were going to New York or California. At least they’re moving forward?

    • A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      i would argue it did turn fascist, a long time ago

      its just that the fascism they voted for ended up hurting the wrong people, themselves, which is why they voted for the closet Republican over the overt Republican

    • SippyCup@lemmy.world
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      3 days ago

      This is mostly a sign that the overton window has shifted so far to the right that Democrats are palatable again.

      He was a Republican 15 years ago. He hasn’t changed. The Democrats just came to meet him.