Republicans attempting 'sweeping power grab' in Texas’ most Democratic county

23 May 2023

If residents of Houston, Austin, Dallas and El Paso had sufficiently voted in 2020's presidential election, President Joe Biden would have easily won Texas' 38 electoral votes.

Texas' large urban centers are heavily Democratic, but Republicans have a strong ground game in countless rural counties in the state. And Rural Texas has played a vital role in the majority that Republicans have maintained in the state government.

Nonetheless, a nagging question on the minds of Texas Republicans is: What if Democrats find a way to build on what they have in Houston, Austin and El Paso? Biden lost Texas to former President Donald Trump by about 6 percent in 2020, but during the 1990s and 2000s, double-digit losses were the norm for Democrats in presidential races there.

According to Mother Jones' Ari Berman, Texas Republicans have a plan for preventing Democratic gains in their state: a "sweeping power grab" in Democrat-leaning Harris County, which includes Houston.

On Monday, May 22, the GOP-controlled Texas State Legislature passed some bills that, Berman reports, give Republicans more control over elections in Harris County. Senate Bill 1933, Berman says, would allow the Texas secretary of state to remove local election officials if there is "good cause."

SB 1750, he adds, "abolishes the position of election administrator in counties with a population of more than 3.5 million" — which describes Harris County.

Attorney Emily Eby French, who works with the Texas Civil Rights Project, told Mother Jones, "If they can do this in Houston, they can do it in Austin. They can do it in Dallas. Targeting one official in one county is a horrible precedent to set."

Texas demographics have become increasingly less Anglo and more Latino in recent years. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, non-Hispanic whites comprised only 39.4 percent of Texas' population in 2021.

During the 1990s and 2000s, some prominent conservatives — including President George W. Bush and GOP strategist Karl Rove — believed that Latinos were the key to keeping Texas Republican. Meanwhile, Democrats are hoping that registering more Latinos will eventually make them more competitive there.

Berman argues that Republicans need voter suppression to keep Texas from becoming bluer.

"Texas is already the most difficult state in the country to vote in," he observes. "Unlike 40 states, it has no online voter registration, and an individual must be deputized by the state every election cycle to register voters, which makes large-scale voter registration drives nearly impossible…. Only voters who are over 65, out of town during the election, or have a physical condition that prevents them from going to the polls can cast a ballot by mail. These laws explain why Texas ranks near the bottom in voter turnout every election cycle — and why the state's changing demographics have yet to lead to a shift in political power in a red state that should be a political battleground."

Mother Jones' entire report is available at this link.

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