Why MAGA’s Texas trouncing was only the beginning

Although President Donald Trump won Texas handily in 2024 with a 14 percent lead over Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, he performed especially well in a district that includes the Fort Worth suburbs — which he won by 17 percent. Yet in a recent special election for a Texas State Senate seat that same district, Democrat Taylor Rehmet defeated Trump-backed Republican Leigh Wambsganss by 14 percent.

In an op-ed published by The Hill on February 11, Kim A. Snyder (director and producer of the PBS documentary "The Librarians") and Texas-based librarian Audrey Wilson-Youngblood (who appears in the film) argue that book bans and attacks on librarians by the far-right group Moms for Liberty played a key role Rehmet's victory. But Snyder and Wilson also stress that Rehmet's win was not an anomaly, but rather, a reflection of widespread anger against Moms for Liberty and others in MAGA World.

"We hope voters will realize that this issue is far from settled," Snyder and Wilson-Youngblood write. "Rehmet and Wambsganss will face-off again in November for the full term. And Texas is not an outlier, but a preview. In North Texas and in communities across the nation, we have seen how easily our rights to intellectual freedom can be taken away. We must stay vigilant to ensure history does not continue to repeat itself."

They continue, "There is a reason groups like Moms for Liberty — which has financial backing from Patriot Mobile — have made a coordinated effort to weaken public education, hollow out civic institutions and target vulnerable communities. This is a deliberate strategy that undermines trust in our government's ability to serve its citizens."

Moms for Liberty have been drawing criticism not only from liberals and progressives, but also, from right-wing libertarians and Never Trump conservatives. And Snyder and Wilson-Youngblood, in their op-ed, emphasize that book bans should be viewed strictly in Democrat-versus-Republicans terms.

"We, as Americans, also need to reframe the issue of book bans away from partisan talking points, so that our fellow citizens understand what is at stake," Snyder and Wilson-Youngblood argue. "It is not about red versus blue — it is about democracy versus authoritarianism. There is a reason polling and local elections show that parents broadly oppose censorship and do not want politicians or school boards dictating what their children read. Parental rights should mean deciding what is right for your own child, not the right to impose restrictions on everyone else's."

Snyder and Wilson-Youngblood add, "We are proud to stand with courageous librarians who never expected to find themselves at the forefront of this fight to defend democracy. These librarians may be vilified for defending the freedom to read. But doing so is anything but radical — it is patriotic."