Red State Democrats are kind of like an atrophied immune system, when shit gets real they aren't up to the task
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An additional wrinkle in this, which doesn’t forgive them but does help explain why this is what they did, is that being a Texas Legislator pays literally sub minimum wage and all of them have to have second jobs which they can’t afford to lose.
aug 18, 2025, 8:25 pm • 24 1 • view
Ok but pritzker is a billionaire Or they could have crowdfunded
aug 18, 2025, 8:29 pm • 12 1 • view
Yeah. I don’t know behind the scenes or personal life stuff but I wish they had at least explored other options besides just going back after a couple of days.
aug 18, 2025, 8:37 pm • 10 1 • view
how do you know that they didn't?
aug 18, 2025, 8:42 pm • 0 0 • view
ok just saw someone explaining that staying 30+ days out would constitute a potential vacancy of residence under state law so, yeah, balance works out to “they really can’t just stay longer as an effective tactic”
aug 18, 2025, 8:45 pm • 2 0 • view
Im sure there are all sorts of legal complications but like... yall got teams of lawyers and were physically sheltered from arrest. Fuck around.
aug 18, 2025, 8:41 pm • 0 0 • view
I think the biggest problem by far is that they needed to hold almost the entire caucus because Texas Rs only needed 5 to break and there are plenty of DINOs in the Texas House
aug 18, 2025, 8:40 pm • 33 1 • view
All or most of the RGV Dems are all going to switch parties in the next 5 years potentially. Who knows if there will be a swing back?
aug 18, 2025, 8:42 pm • 0 0 • view
it's difficult to imagine a universe where things *don't* swing back in South Texas
aug 18, 2025, 8:46 pm • 0 0 • view
We shall see. Cultural conservatism will likely keep them in line.
aug 18, 2025, 8:47 pm • 0 0 • view
you're very confident about something for which there's no evidence, Trump's approval with hispanics is hilariously bad
aug 18, 2025, 8:49 pm • 0 0 • view
Maybe I’m pessimistic. Traumatized by the stupidity of 2024
aug 18, 2025, 8:50 pm • 0 0 • view
People are totally wedded to culture war and will suffer any price for it. Far too many at least.
aug 18, 2025, 8:58 pm • 0 0 • view
i mean i too am incredibly traumatized by 2024, it basically broke how i perceived politics, but it's empirically true that hispanics disapprove of him right now by incredibly wide margins
aug 18, 2025, 9:53 pm • 0 0 • view
that and staying away for 5 months in what is supposed to be their off season is a really, really tough sell. most of them have day jobs
aug 18, 2025, 8:42 pm • 30 1 • view
The Texas Legislature being a bi-annual part time job that pays worse than being a dishwasher is just a mindblowingly stupid way to run a state.
aug 18, 2025, 8:48 pm • 44 2 • view
It's deliberate. State legislatures are often designed to enfranchise only the wealthiest and most powerful in a given state. Oregon has a similar problem; our state legislator pay is dirt, so you usually get someone cowed by big money or otherwise privileged somehow
aug 18, 2025, 8:51 pm • 116 12 • view
Back when the Oregon legislature was fully volunteer, but legislative staff was paid, it was ubiquitous for legislators to hire spouses as their one full-time staffer so at least someone in the household would be getting an income.
aug 18, 2025, 9:05 pm • 7 0 • view
Pay politicians more. Incentive produce rewards.
aug 19, 2025, 3:57 am • 0 0 • view
yeah you can tease out a little bit of a red state/blue state thing but there's also a bunch of wild outliers (missouri gets $41,000 and new mexico's *don't get paid*) www.ncsl.org/about-state-...
aug 18, 2025, 8:56 pm • 10 1 • view
it is NOT at all a red state/blue state thing, plenty of blue states have this issue too
aug 18, 2025, 9:01 pm • 4 0 • view
For similar reasons, ban Term Limits for Legislative Offices and keep them for Executive Offices. Michigan actually has the 4th highest paid Legislators (which I love), but has Legislative Term Limits. And to be brutally honest, it shows.
aug 18, 2025, 9:04 pm • 3 0 • view
I usually dont like ot when people say "we need a constitutional amendment" but this is absolutely something that should be addressed with a constitutional amendment.
aug 18, 2025, 8:58 pm • 1 0 • view
The issue was that there was no clear consequence for cowardice. There needs to be.
aug 18, 2025, 9:07 pm • 0 0 • view
Yeah, it was almost certainly that the requisite handful were going to cave, so the others who came back but would’ve held out weren’t going to be accomplishing a quorum break by staying away at that point.
aug 18, 2025, 9:21 pm • 0 0 • view
Asking them to lose their jobs is a lot
aug 18, 2025, 9:11 pm • 1 0 • view
You don't "forgive" them? What did they do that was so horrible in the first place?
aug 18, 2025, 8:56 pm • 0 0 • view
Plus the only official sessions are brief and every other year, but special sessions can be called any time. Very difficult for anyone but the independently wealthy to do it.
aug 18, 2025, 8:56 pm • 0 0 • view
well, good thing Newsom was serious about gerrymandering
aug 18, 2025, 8:20 pm • 74 1 • view
sigh bsky.app/profile/repp...
aug 18, 2025, 8:21 pm • 46 3 • view
part of me wonders if they're going to try now to use the gerrymander (and being prisoners of the state) as a political cudgel against Rs for the mditerms
aug 18, 2025, 8:30 pm • 2 0 • view
worth a shot!
aug 18, 2025, 8:31 pm • 4 0 • view
i will just say this, Abbott has not had a high-profile opponent in a Dem leaning year. Beto in 2022 also won hispanics
aug 18, 2025, 8:40 pm • 4 0 • view
I will give them one thing. fleeing for two weeks did build awareness and gave Newsom the political cover to get his proposal moving (and possibly Hochul too).
aug 18, 2025, 8:22 pm • 131 6 • view
it's shitty that Hochul and NY can't do it in time for 2028, even if their mechanism to amend the constitution is smart under normal use cases
aug 18, 2025, 8:26 pm • 14 0 • view
It really may have been necessary and not stupid. Which is stupid in itself.
aug 18, 2025, 8:28 pm • 7 0 • view
The Alexei Navalny Award for Effective Opposition
aug 18, 2025, 8:23 pm • 14 0 • view
Any plan involving “hope Kathy Hochul doesn’t suck” is risky lol
aug 18, 2025, 10:23 pm • 2 0 • view
I think this was the best realistic outcome. They were never going to be able to stop Texas Republicans from passing the maps.
aug 18, 2025, 8:31 pm • 55 1 • view
I mean they could've just, never returned until after the midterm, or at minimum after midterm primaries. Pritzker was funding their sheltering in illinois, they had party base support, Texas Rs couldn't do anything *and* it blocked their ability to legislate bad bills. What was the downside?
aug 18, 2025, 9:22 pm • 2 0 • view
I read that if they were out of the state for 30 days, their residency could be challenged, and their seats could be vacated. A lot of them were also single parents, and most have jobs outside of being legislators. I don’t think anyone proposed that they could stay out of the state for a year.
aug 18, 2025, 9:27 pm • 13 0 • view
Couldn't find anything regarding challenged residency/vacated, at least in terms of Texas law/constitution. Abbott doing anyways? I mean that's something else, but at that point it doesn't really matter either way.
aug 18, 2025, 9:33 pm • 2 0 • view
But I couldn't find any articles pointing to their seats getting challenged, only either about them returning/having surveillance or about the initial arrests not being typical arrests.
aug 18, 2025, 9:34 pm • 2 0 • view
There were numerous articles and legal explainers explaining the limitations of the quorum break from the very beginning. It was never on the table that they would actually be able to stop the maps.
aug 18, 2025, 9:30 pm • 9 0 • view
its fun watching the do something anything demanders asking what the point of this was
aug 18, 2025, 9:36 pm • 2 0 • view
I think they should have gotten more out of it. I hope they're primaried.
aug 18, 2025, 9:06 pm • 7 0 • view
If they didn’t think they’d get anything out of it, why the dramatics. Really just seems like posturing.
aug 18, 2025, 9:08 pm • 0 0 • view
They said from the very beginning that they likely weren't going to be able to stop the maps. Their goal was to raise awareness and see if they could get some blue states to retaliate, which California did. This was explained from the beginning.
aug 18, 2025, 9:09 pm • 11 0 • view
Also: bsky.app/profile/jort...
aug 18, 2025, 9:16 pm • 1 0 • view
I know their stated rationale and reason for doing what they did, I just find it a total waste of time and ultimately ineffective.
aug 18, 2025, 9:12 pm • 0 0 • view
I mean, if California's maps nullify Texas's, it will end up being quite effective.
aug 18, 2025, 9:13 pm • 11 0 • view
From your lips to Gavin’s ears!
aug 18, 2025, 9:14 pm • 1 0 • view
OK, they won't be. So you're just going to have to deal with that.
aug 18, 2025, 9:08 pm • 16 0 • view
It's a world of mediocre choices. I'm not going to be eternally angry about it. But I am rather tired of having to give ground seemingly everywhere.
aug 18, 2025, 9:14 pm • 4 0 • view
what you saw was fighting to not give ground in a battle in which they ultimately do not have the power
aug 18, 2025, 9:38 pm • 5 0 • view
You know that'll make you feel better? Actually do something.
aug 18, 2025, 11:08 pm • 0 0 • view
Gruesome Newsom is deadly serious about his hatred of elected Republicans, which is the most important thing we need out of Democratic governors to do right now.
aug 18, 2025, 8:22 pm • 4 0 • view
Whipped dogs. They believe Republican dominance is inevitable. Natural even
aug 19, 2025, 12:20 pm • 0 0 • view
bsky.app/profile/nemo... I haven’t validated this yet but I suspect it’s correct and the reason why going back was the right move at this stage. I think it’s still a collective win and I hope to see a lot more of it going forward
aug 18, 2025, 9:20 pm • 2 0 • view