‘As long as possible’: Inside Republicans’ power play to keep Texas red amid wave of blue
Republicans in the Texas legislature recently passed two bills that will affect how elections will be run in the state’s largest county, Harris County — a Houston-centered Democratic stronghold.
The first bill gets rid of Harris County’s elections administrator entirely, and the second allows the state’s Republican secretary of state to directly oversee elections in the county. These moves have been referred to as a Republican “power grab” by Democrats in the state.
Republicans argue that they’re making these changes because of election problems in the county, but Democrats argue that they’re targeting Harris County simply because it’s large and blue. President Biden won the county by 13 points in 2020. It may be that Republicans are worried that Texas overall will turn blue, or at least a shade of purple, because of — among other things — changing demographics in the state....