Jordan Vonderhaar/Reuters
- Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said this weekend that it is “inevitable” that Texas will go blue.
- “It will happen — the only question is when, Texas?” she asked at a rally for progressive candidates.
- She added that “if we flip Texas, we flip the country,” calling on supporters to help make that happen.
New York lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made a bold statement in San Antonio, Texas, on Saturday, saying that “Texas turning blue is inevitable.”
Ocasio-Cortez made the claim during a campaign stop for progressive candidates Jessica Cisneros and Greg Casar.
Casar, a former Austin City Council member, is running in the primaries for Texas’ 35th congressional district against Democratic lawmaker Lloyd Doggett. Cisneros, a lawyer, is running in the state’s 28th congressional district against another Democratic lawmaker, Rep. Henry Cuellar.
“Here’s what’s exciting about Jessica’s race and Greg’s race, is that if we flip Texas, we flip the country,” said Ocasio-Cortez, as reported by the San Antonio Express-News.
“Texas turning blue is inevitable. Inevitable. It will happen — the only question is when, Texas?” she said, to cheers from the crowd.
“The work that you put in today, the work that you put in tomorrow, the work that you put in on Monday — when you go one more door when you’re tired, when you make one more call, when you feel exhausted. You’re bringing that day one day sooner, one day faster,” Ocasio-Cortez added, addressing supporters of the two Democratic lawmakers.
She added that she thought support for the Democratic Party would eventually rise across San Antonio and Austin, and across the state to Houston and Dallas.
“We are going to fight for a living wage as a minimum wage. We’re going to make sure we unionize the hell out of this state. We’re going to make sure that we confront corrupt industries and lobbyists and big money,” said Ocasio-Cortez.
She added that her party would also ensure that “not one dime” would be made from exploiting workers, especially those who are undocumented.
Ocasio-Cortez’s comments on Saturday were not the first time Democratic lawmakers have expressed hope that Texas will eventually go the way of the Democratic Party. In February, the intense backlash from Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s trip to Cancun during a weather crisis sparked hope amongst Democratic lawmakers that mobilizing voter support ahead of the 2022 midterms could chart a path for the party to get a foothold in the state.
However, Texas has remained solidly red in 11 of the last 12 presidential elections. The last time the state went blue in a presidential race was 1976, when the Lone Star State voted in Jimmy Carter. During the 2020 election, former president Donald Trump won Texas with 5,890,347 votes to President Joe Biden’s 5,259,126 votes.
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