 TEXAS’ Widest Circulated and Read Newspaper with a Black Perspective |
TEXAS’ Widest Circulated and Read Newspaper with a Black Perspective |
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| Back to reality in Texas; U.S. |
| The Dream Team has given way to the hard cold
reality: Texas isn’t quite ready to be governed by anything other than conservative
White males. But, as Senate Candidate Ron Kirk said on Election Night, we were right to
have a dream. In the election, Republicans won all the statewide races for the second
consecutive time. Republicans control the Texas Legislature for the first time since
Reconstruction. A Republican was elected to the Travis County Commissioner’s Court
for the first time in history. Although gubernatorial candidate Tony Sanchez consistently ran behind Rick Perry, who won his first election as governor, polls showed Lieutenant Governor candidate John Sharp and Attorney General candidate Kirk Watson within striking distance of beating their Republican candidates. But Democrats walked away from statewide races empty-handed in Texas. Few reports have yet spoken to the African- American turnout, but Hispanic turnout statewide increased from 15 to 18 percent. Increased minority turnout, however, could not stem the tide of White voters who supported White candidates. But another issue for future elections is the loyalty of African-Americans to a party that often takes them for granted. A recent report by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies found that African-Americans now identify themselves as Democrats 63 % of the time, compared with 74 % of the time in 2002. The number of African-Americans who identify themselves as Independents rose from 20 % in 2002 to 24 % this year. The number of African-Americans who identify themselves as Republicans is still tiny -- 10 percent --but that is more than double the number of African-Americans who identified themselves as Republicans in 2002 -- 4 percent. Is the Democratic party paying attention to these shifts? What, if any, steps are they taking to shore up a long, loyal constituent base? Beyond what the Democratic Party may or may not do, a longtime Democratic political activist and analyst wondered, “Are African-Americans trying to send a message to the party?”After all, Kirk didn’t do as well as expected in Dallas, Harris and Travis counties. In Harris County, for example, few residents of the 5th Ward turned out. And, that lack of turnout, coupled with the White Democrats who crossed party lines to support Rick Perry and John Cornyn instead of Sanchez and Kirk signaled the death knell for the dream team ticket. Will a lesson be learned here? Now that the Republicans have solid control of the Lone Star State, they have a big task facing them: they must govern. And they must govern the whole state, not just those who elected them. |
| November Archives |