Taylor Rehmet, third from the right in the top row, came in first in a three-way race against two Republicans in a supposed GOP stronghold district. His race now moves to a runoff. | Image from @TaylorRehmetTX via X
DALLAS—The stories of how progressives won major victories Tuesday in New York’s mayoral race and the gubernatorial contests in Virginia and New Jersey dominated headlines, but there were valuable lessons to be found in other elections as well, including Republican-dominated Texas.
Labor and progressives in the state celebrated the victory of Proposition 50 in California, which will allow redistricting there in retaliation to the illegal gerrymandering started in Texas. The Texas AFL-CIO organized phone-banking of California voters, getting its members totally invested in the West Coast vote.
Another interesting aspect in the fight over Republican redistricting has emerged, however. Looking for some kind of silver lining in the gerrymandered disaster, a small number of progressive Texans concluded that the GOP’s redrawing of the map might yield some unexpected opportunities.
The new districts suddenly and magically proposed by Republicans were based on the results of the last presidential election, when Trump was riding high. Today, with Trump’s approval ratings sinking fast, the districts created to be Republican strongholds may not be as impregnable as they first appeared.
If the Republicans get past all the judges and manage to create the new districts they desire, the argument goes, they could end up making some formerly “sure-fire” districts more susceptible to penetration. That’s because some Republican voters will inevitably have to be sliced off of existing strongholds in order to bolster GOP support in the newly-drawn districts.
By watering down GOP power in one place to strengthen it in another, some believe the ruling party may inadvertently open itself to attack.
Not everyone is convinced, to be sure, and the general consensus is that Republican gerrymandering remains a net negative for progressives and Democratic electoral odds overall. But one race in Texas on Tuesday showed possibilities remain open for beating Trump-aligned candidates even in supposedly solid GOP districts.
Texas Senate District 9, which was redistricted to be a haven for Republicans, comprises the northern half of Tarrant County and includes much of Fort Worth. Trump carried the district by 18 points last year. Nov. 4 featured a special election there featuring two heavily-financed Republicans (at least $3 million between them) and one lone, under-financed Democrat who raised only $150,000. His highest donation was $10,000 from his own union.
The Democrat was Taylor Rehmet, state president of the Machinists Union. Flushed with cash, the two Republicans campaigned on tax cuts, while Rehmet maintained a theme of working-class needs and solutions. He had the endorsement of the Texas AFL-CIO.
The Central Labor Councils in his own Tarrant County and in nearby Dallas County tried to help, but Rehmet was mostly on his own against some of the richest Texas billionaires, including Miriam Adelson, the MAGA Republican and casino mogul from Las Vegas who recently angered North Texans by buying the Dallas Mavericks.
The long-running story in Texas, since the 1990s, is that progressive voters get their hopes up during campaigning and then cry and commiserate when Republicans eventually stomp them on Election Day. But Rehmet turned the tables on Nov. 4, capturing nearly 48% of the vote against the two Republicans. In the three-way race, the two GOP competitors split the rest of the vote between themselves.
Rehmet will now carry his lead, the voters’ newly-found confidence, and the entire Texas labor movement, including retirees, into the runoff with him. The date for the final vote has not yet been set.
Labor is also sure to be involved in another major runoff election in Houston. After a succession of Democratic congresspersons died in office, a special election there drew a long list of aspirants. There were too many for labor to make an endorsement, but the one with the highest votes (29%) was Christian Menefee. He had been endorsed by some of the most progressive political figures in the state, including Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Dallas.
A final positive point out of Texas: Though still low, turnout was above average for an off-year election. More than 2.9 million people, about 16% of registered voters, cast ballots—about 400,000 more people than in the 2023 constitutional amendment election.
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