{"id":236154,"date":"2025-09-18T10:41:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T10:41:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/236154\/"},"modified":"2025-09-18T10:41:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T10:41:13","slug":"why-national-democrats-are-again-doubling-down-on-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/236154\/","title":{"rendered":"Why National Democrats are again doubling down on Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"

After a red wave last November, Texas Democrats are as marginalized as they\u2019re ever been<\/a> at the state level.<\/p>\n

Now thanks to newly redrawn congressional maps for 2026<\/a>, they\u2019re also poised to lose power at the federal level \u2014 where they currently control just a third of the state\u2019s 38 congressional seats.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, national Democrats are once again gearing up to put big money and resources into an expensive state with limited opportunity to gain ground anytime soon.<\/p>\n

Last week, Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin completed his third swing through Texas \u2014 a state he says could make or break the party\u2019s chances at controlling the White House in the not-so-distant future. <\/p>\n

The country\u2019s 435 congressional seats will be redistributed based on the results of the 2030 census, which also determines how many Electoral College votes each state receives.<\/p>\n

\u201cSix of the 10 fastest-growing states in the whole country are all in the U.S. south \u2026 so all of the power is going to shift,\u201d Martin told the San Antonio Report, pointing to a December 2024 Brennan Center report<\/a> on population changes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re not doing better here by 2032 as a Democratic Party, we\u2019re going to be on the wrong side of potentially winning the presidency and winning majorities in Congress for at least a decade,\u201d Martin said.<\/p>\n

The Minnesotan took over chairing the party in the wake of brutal electoral losses last February, inheriting a national Democratic Party that is still very much divided on its path forward<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The battleground states Democrats bet on in 2024 didn\u2019t deliver the presidency, but some believe the party should be rebooting its candidates and messaging<\/a> before trying to expand into new territory.<\/p>\n

Martin is undeterred. Last week he was campaigning in bright-red Boerne as part of his plan to help Democrats build party infrastructure in places they\u2019ve had no hope \u2014 but which could become important when districts are redrawn in 2032.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a concept the pro-Democrat Texas Majority PAC has also noted, suggesting in a recent analysis of the new congressional maps<\/a> that urban sprawl from majority blue San Antonio could have a big impact on what\u2019s competitive in the next several election cycles.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs [professional hockey legend] Wayne Gretzky says, you have to skate to where the puck will be, not where the puck is,\u201d Martin said. \u201cWhat I\u2019ve seen over the last 20 years is the Democratic Party keeps focusing on just one election cycle, one candidate or one campaign, oftentimes at the detriment of building long-term, durable infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n

While in San Antonio, Martin sat down with some local politicians, including former mayor Ron Nirenberg and Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones, who are both on his list of up-and-coming talent for the national party.<\/p>\n

In a state where gerrymandered districts have left few candidates competing for the political middle, he said the party needs to do more to build its bench through local, nonpartisan races \u2014 as it did by pitching in to help Jones in San Antonio\u2019s most recent mayoral race<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere does the future bench come from? Local offices,\u201d Martin said. \u201cWhen we start winning more local offices, we\u2019re creating future candidates who can run.\u201d<\/p>\n

The San Antonio Report sat down with Martin to talk about his case for Texas, Democrats\u2019 prospects here in the 2026 midterms and future elections, plus San Antonio\u2019s efforts to court the Democratic National Convention.<\/p>\n

The conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and length.<\/p>\n

San Antonio Report:<\/strong> Of all of the political battlegrounds you could be spending your time in, what brought you to the San Antonio area?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ken Martin:<\/strong> We have to win the moment, which is 2026 \u2014 if we as a Democratic Party don\u2019t win one chamber of Congress back, we\u2019re screwed. But we also have to win the future. We have to be prepared to win when the map shifts underneath us.<\/p>\n

The five fastest-growing states in the country right now are Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Texas, followed by Florida. What that means is, during the next reapportionment [of congressional seats] in 2032 \u2026 states like Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, Rhode Island and California will all lose power \u2014 congressional power, electoral votes \u2014 to the U.S. south.<\/p>\n

Texas alone is going to gain at least five additional congressional seats after the next census. We have to be in a position to compete here, but also to help draw those lines, \u2026 which means we have to focus on state legislative races. Then we\u2019ve also got to focus on local races to help us build this party from the grassroots.<\/p>\n

So that\u2019s why I\u2019m here. This is a very, very important part of our country for us right now.<\/p>\n

SAR: There\u2019s a lot of debate among Texas and national Democrats about whether to put limited resources into areas that aren\u2019t currently winnable, particularly when the U.S. House majority is on the line. But it sounds like that\u2019s what you\u2019re saying needs to happen.<\/strong><\/p>\n

KM:<\/strong> In 2000 I ran Vice President Gerald Ford\u2019s campaign in Minnesota and we had 20 battleground states that year. In 2004 I ran Sen. John Kerry\u2019s presidential campaign in Minnesota and we had 16 battleground states. <\/p>\n

Now [we\u2019re] down to seven battleground states and the Democratic Party spent $10 billion last year, almost all of it in those seven states. We have to be much more strategic about how we build this party for the long-term, or otherwise, we\u2019re going to be in the minority forever.<\/p>\n

\"\"Former San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg (second from left), state Rep. James Talarico (D-Round Rock), U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-San Antonio) and Beto O\u2019Rourke are all considered potential statewide contenders for Texas Democrats in 2026. Credit: Brenda Baz\u00e1n \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

Collectively, the Democratic ecosystem needs to recognize that, yes, Texas is a big and expensive state, but how do you eat an elephant? One small bite at a time. <\/p>\n

You\u2019re not going to change Texas overnight by just dumping a ton of money in for one election cycle. The challenge we\u2019ve had [here] is we\u2019ve focused primarily on the big statewide races and we\u2019ve ignored those downballot races.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to suggest we\u2019re going to ignore the 2026 Senate race here, which is a real opportunity for us. We\u2019ve got great candidates. But can we \u2014 through the investment we will make in that race \u2014 also help those downballot races? Can we target resources in spaces that will help us chip away at that Texas House majority<\/a>?<\/p>\n

SAR: Where does that put San Antonio in the list of priorities? It\u2019s a solidly blue city with few opportunities for Democrats to expand their power, but San Antonio and other large cities didn\u2019t turn out voters like Democrats hoped during the 2024 election. <\/strong><\/p>\n

KM: <\/strong>As you think about Texas overall, if we\u2019re going to win statewide, we need to focus on red areas and rebuild them in those rural counties, but we also can\u2019t keep ignoring big cities that should be vote engines for the Democratic Party.<\/p>\n

I see us keep making that mistake. We make assumptions about what we\u2019re going to get out of certain areas like San Antonio, and we have elected officials here who know they don\u2019t need to increase turnout at all for them to win because it\u2019s such a safely Democratic area.<\/p>\n

\"\"Local Democrats are shown phone banking for 2024 election, where Texas\u2019 big metro areas didn\u2019t turn out as party leaders\u2019 hoped. Credit: Bria Woods \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

The only way you\u2019re going to win in a state like Texas is making sure you\u2019re juicing the turnout in the biggest cities, decreasing the margins in the rural areas and putting yourself [in a] position to win in the suburbs.<\/p>\n

SAR: Republicans think they can pick up five congressional seats in Texas after their unusual mid-cycle redistricting. What do you think is a reasonable outcome for Democrats under these new maps?<\/strong><\/p>\n

KM:<\/strong> It\u2019s hard to say right now, the courts are still involved in this. \u2026 We don\u2019t know which maps we\u2019re going to be running on. Assuming that the courts rule in favor of the Texas maps, I think one of the challenges that Republicans made in the state
is they drew those lines on the 2024 results, not on the 2020 results.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re making a giant assumption that they\u2019re going to continue to benefit from some increased voter support from the Latino community \u2014 we\u2019ve already seen that evaporate. [Republicans probably pick up] two at the most, and the other three will probably be very competitive.<\/p>\n

SAR: The last big year for Texas Democrats was 2018, the first midterm of President Donald Trump\u2019s first administration. How do you see 2026 shaping up by comparison?<\/strong><\/p>\n

KM: <\/strong>First I\u2019ll tell you what\u2019s similar. What 2005, 2017 and now 2025 all have in common is that they were precursor years to big midterm wave elections from the Democratic Party.<\/p>\n

In 2005, George Bush attacked Social Security. A very popular president up to that point, but his numbers went into the toilet. In 2017, Donald Trump comes in and attacks the [Affordable Care Act]. Same phenomenon, huge backlash. <\/p>\n

In 2025, Trump attacks Medicaid, SNAP and Social Security. The backlash has been swift and very severe, Trump has dropped very precipitously in the polls. His approval rating is now sitting in the mid-30s in most of the polling.<\/p>\n

Democrats need three seats to win back the U.S. House, and the average swing in a midterm congressional election for the party out of power is 26 seats. That number increases to 38 seats when you have a president sitting under 50% [approval]. So we have the wind at our back.<\/p>\n

What is different, I think, is that people are very nervous and anxious about what\u2019s happening in this country, which is unnerving. When you see Charlie Kirk assassinated \u2026 we are just seeing so many norms of societies completely evaporating. Both parties are responsible for this.<\/p>\n

Things are very different from 2018 in that the mood of this country, the violence, the rhetoric, the tone, the tenor, the just decay of our values as humans, all of it is just different. <\/p>\n

SAR: The Republicans are holding their national convention in Houston ahead of the 2028 presidential election. San Antonio has applied to host the Democratic National Convention<\/a>. Do you think this city is a true contender?<\/strong><\/p>\n

KM: <\/strong>San Antonio is a beautiful city and it\u2019s got so much to offer, I\u2019m glad that Mayor Jones put forward a bid. <\/p>\n

We\u2019re right in the beginning phase of this process. We sent out letters to 50 of the biggest cities in America to ask them if they wanted to bid to host the convention. We\u2019ll have a whole process that will ensue. <\/p>\n

San Antonio certainly, because they\u2019ve hosted so many national events, they\u2019re certainly equipped to do it. Once we get past the technical sort of review piece, then we go into winnowing down the list into sort of some of the more intangible pieces, and then we\u2019ll start doing site selections, probably to a handful of cities, starting next spring and summer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After a red wave last November, Texas Democrats are as marginalized as they\u2019re ever been at the state…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":236155,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5133],"tags":[17032,5229,7033,61007,30638,7202,7203,358,7453,3187,7815,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,7455],"class_list":{"0":"post-236154","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-2026-election","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-democrats","11":"tag-dnc","12":"tag-ken-martin","13":"tag-san-antonio","14":"tag-sanantonio","15":"tag-texas","16":"tag-top-story","17":"tag-tx","18":"tag-typedaily","19":"tag-united-states","20":"tag-united-states-of-america","21":"tag-unitedstates","22":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","23":"tag-us","24":"tag-usa","25":"tag-wc-1500-2000"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}