If Democrats still believe a blue wave is coming this fall, they may want to write off Texas and concentrate on other states. Turnout in the recent gubernatorial runoff was extremely weak for Democrats.
The Texas Tribune reports:
Voter turnout in a Texas Democratic gubernatorial runoff hasn’t been this low in nearly 100 years
A tiny fraction of Texas registered voters had an outsized impact on the May 22 runoffs. Here’s a look at what you need to know about Tuesday night’s election returns — and what they mean for the November general election:
Democrat Lupe Valdez will take on Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in November.
Lupe Valdez has made history. Some 14 years ago, the liberal, gay Latina set her sights on an unlikely goal: Dallas County sheriff. Now, she’ll take on an even bigger challenge — running against the popular incumbent Republican governor.
Valdez officially accepted her party’s nomination Tuesday night, narrowly defeating Andrew White with around 52 percent of the vote. But she faces an uphill battle against Abbott, who touts a high approval rating and a $41 million war chest in an ultraconservative state.
Democratic voters made some history of their own. And it wasn’t pretty.
As of 11 p.m. Tuesday, just 415,000 Democrats had cast ballots in the gubernatorial runoff. For reference, that’s a decline of almost 60 percent from the 1 million Texans who cast ballots in the March Democratic primary.
Governor Greg Abbott will likely win re-election this fall in a landslide.
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