As the Texas Senate race enters full swing and polling continues to show a close race with Democrats in their strongest position in decades, MS NOW correspondent Rosa Flores detailed something odd she has seen in rural Texas.
Specifically, she told anchor Chris Hayes, the huge Trump signs that used to be visible everywhere are suddenly vanishingly rare.
"I think it's so telling, not what people are saying, but what people are not saying," said Flores, reporting from San Antonio. "I've been in Kerrville, Texas, which is very deep red, with [Democratic Senate candidate James] Talarico and also here in San Antonio. And I'm hearing the exact same thing: that if you used to drive in the Texas Hill Country, in the rural areas, you'd see these giant Trump signs, giant Trump flags."
Now, she said, "you don't see them as much."
This matters, she said, because "I'm from Texas, Chris, and we are very prideful. Our pride is really big. You know the saying, the bigger the hair, the closer to Jesus." So if Trump's supporters were still as enthusiastic as they were, those signs would be there.
According to locals she has talked to, she said, "they tell me that these MAGA supporters are feeling the same economy that you and I are feeling," from high gas prices to high grocery prices. "And so they're scaling back in their pride to show that they're MAGA or that they're Trumpers."
None of this, she cautioned, is a scientific poll or a definitive measure of how many distressed MAGA voters will not turn out to vote red. But she is hearing whispers here and there all the same.
"I talked to one gal today who told me that her MAGA dad ... is going to vote for James Talarico," said Flores. "Now, he won't say it publicly, she told me, because that would be a no-no." Even so, she said, "Some people are going to vote their conscience" — and it remains to be seen just how many that is.
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