Texas Republican state Rep. Rick Miller has opted out of his reelection bid after his derogatory comments about his primary challengers lost him the governor’s endorsement and attracted national attention.
Wow, an actual timely, magnanimous apology and withdrawal. From a Republican. Miracles do occur.
The whole series of missteps leading up to it is 100% classic Republican behavior:
Did I say that, or just think it?
More please…
Those dang yellow hordes.
The Republicans are starting to feel, if not panic, a lot of concern in the urban areas of Texas. They find they can no longer be the political heir of George Wallace and win. Not that they are really changing their stripes but rather hiding it better.
“In trying to make a point about the campaign I used a poor choice of words …" I’m sorry but WHAAAATTTT???
Man those GOPers spend a lot of time apologizing for shit they spew. It must be exhausting.
Wannabee fascist gets ahead of the narrative. Blows the racist victim punt. Heads to the showers whining.
It wasn’t me who started up that crazy Asian war…
A paltry 3,000 additional votes would flip this district blue. If we can flip this seat, we’ll be well on the way to flipping the Texas House of Representatives, thereby stopping the 2021 gerrymander and probably picking up 7-10 (D) seats in Congress as a result. Please consider supporting this Beto-endorsed group targeting the 17 seats that the bad guys won last year by single digits.
In the late 70’s when Vietnamese refugees came here many moved to the Texas Coast where they applied their apt fishing and shrimping skills and became successful.
Many of the goobers weren’t pleased and gave them a hard time to the point where David Duke and his Klanners harassed them.
In 2018 Miller won the general election by just 5 points, vs. by 15 points in 2016 and by 39 points in 2014.
The times they are a-changin’.
I miss Molly Ivins. She’d have had a field day with this.
This is correct, although this House District 26 is a good ways inland of the coastline. Fort Bend County’s immigrant population is mostly much more recent than the '70s.
Gov. Greg Abbott (R) withdrew his endorsement Tuesday after previously calling Miller a “principled conservative.”
“He’s a Korean,” said Miller of Jetton to the Houston Chronicle. “He has decided because he is an Asian that my district might need an Asian to win. And that’s kind of racist in my mind, but anyway, that’s not necessary, at least not yet.”
I dunno. Now sure why Abbott’s dropping his suport - seems like race baiting has been a consistent conservative principle for at least 50 years now.
The mid-term voter drop-off from 2016 to 2018 was only about 2,000 votes (~68,000 vs ~66,000). But Miller’s vote total dropped by about 5,100, and the Dem’s vote total increased by about 2,400 over the 2016 race. Given that next year is another presidential cycle, this seat is 100% ripe to be flipped.
Fort Bend County is a demographic nightmare for the GOP. It’s a mix of the kind of suburban white voters who have been trending blue, plus a whole lot of non-whites. Voter registration can clinch this seat.
https://flipthetxhouse.com/map (zoom in just southwest of Houston to see HD-26).
Miller thought he sounded politically correct because he didn’t say “oriental”.
Many of those suburban counties have been trending blue since both Bush campaigns.
Mostly because of immigration but also moderate moms.
It’s hard to chalk up the suburban changes to individual factors. I knew Dallas County was going to stay solidly blue for the foreseeable future when all our county-wide elected officials weathered the Tea Party storm of 2010 pretty comfortably. For reference, the county was still solidly red until 2006.
2020 feels to me a lot like 2006 did – lots of swing and ( R ) voters out there are sick of Dubya/Drumpf’s bullshit.
ETA: And every downballot Dem candidate is likely to benefit from that discontent.