For a quarter century, Texas Republicans have run a ruby-red state, building a conservative bastion where government is limited.
Now, the mounting tensions of racially motivated rhetoric, a polarizing president and Republican infighting have rocked Texas’s political leadership to its core. And the state may soon face a tipping point brought on by shifting coalitions of voters who want change, in Austin and Washington.
The tumult is creating turnover that has startled even the closest observers of Texas politics. In just the last week, Reps. Kenny Marchant(R), Pete Olson (R), Will Hurd (R) and Mike Conaway (R) have said they will retire rather than seek a new term in 2020.
The nation’s attention has been focused on Texas this week because of the killings of 22 people by a long shooter who attacked a Walmart in El Paso. The shootings were even more disturbing for a manifesto allegedly written by the accused shooter that described an “invasion” of immigrants.