Texas Isn't Turning Purple. What Happened?
For Democrats, a charismatic candidate and the rising Hispanic demographic were reason for hope—until they crashed.
SAN BENITO, Texas – Bottles of beer cost $3 at the Hollywood Bar. After dark, bottles of very necessary mosquito repellant are passed around, gratis. It’s a hot night, fifty or so locals have come to talk and meet Republican candidates, and nobody’s got anything kind to say about the immigration detention center down the road. The Mexican border is just a few miles away. The reporters who trekked down to cover the late summer’s child migrant crisis? Long gone. Yet the building goes on.
“They’re actually opening up stuff faster for them than they are for us,” says Jose Pena, who works at a local appraiser’s office.