Texas Senate Primary and “electability”

The Texas Democratic Primary for Senate may have been decided, but the “electability” debate will live on

Overall, I think Brian’s take is pretty solid, especially as it relates to Dem “insiders” saw the race.

Partisanship as a slur

Calling Jasmine Crockett “too partisan” and playing that as a bad thing, is the new Third Way, Blue Dog, DLC, corporate Dem attack to stop outspoken black women and progressive candidates in a Democratic primary.

It happens too much and depresses the base in a self-destructive way.

Beutler opines, it was the DC insiders PROJECTING racism on TX voters that was the basis of their real opposition. B

eutler also says this projection is not necessarily racism.

I’m not as forgiving.

I’ve seen it too many times to give these “money men” that grace.

I live in a majority black city.

I see this kind of stuff all the time. It is an effort to undermine black leadership.

More often than not, that leadership is female.

“Too partisan” was DC insiders saying she was too black. Beutler tries to gloss over that fact.

This is one reason ambitious young African Americans have growing skepticism about the Democratic Party.

Democratic money men look just like the powerful local white guys who have spent their whole lives trying to undermine local black leadership.

The intent may not be racist, but the effect is.

Timing played a factor

Crockett got in this race at the beginning of December. That’s 3 months after Talarico and 5 months after Alred (who dropped out).

A three month head start in a state as big as Texas is a lot of time in a campaign that has a lot of ground to cover.

That three month head start gave Talarico time to solidify the rural Democrats, who are necessary to win statewide in Texas.

It also gave him time to raise more money.

As a State Representative, Talarico likely didn’t have the kind of public profile Crockett did. That, and the mid-decade redistricting in Texas, were likely the biggest reasons Crockett got in the race.

All those things together made it much more difficult for Crockett to stay ahead even though she was leading all the way through mid-February.

Then, something big hallened.

The Colbert Effect

The impact of the Colbert interview with Talarico cannot be ignored.

That interview, and the controversy around it, gave a national platform to Talarico that he might not have had otherwise.

If you look at polling collected at RCP, Crockett had a steady lead until AFTER that Colbert interview.

Then it shifted hard Talarico.

It is hard to believe that a 30 point swing happened overnight without some help.

If anything, Talarico should be sending Colbert a huge thank you gift for the attention.

During that interview, Talarico and Colbert talked a lot about faith.

Both men have been very public about their faith.

I don’t want to minimize faith in the lives of public people but its also not a selling point for me.

I understand I’m not the market. If anything, its a negative to me.

I’m skeptical of overly religious people

Its more than skepticism, its nearly 54 years of seeing “religious” people use their religion to literally and figuratively hurt other people.

This is a thing all over the nation, but it is a HUGE thing in the south…and it doesn’t just happen in “Christian Nationalist” churches.

Whether it is abusing power to abuse the flock, or using their platform to “other” marginalized communities. Religion is used as a weapon against people so frequently, it is more remarkable when I see it not happen.

It will take a lot to get me to believe, and Talarico repeatedly failed to meet the moment he was trying to foster.

Because while religiosity may be comforting to some, I’ve seen it used to hurt way too many of MY people to be anything less than skeptical.

Faith and religion are different. One is a belief, the other is a political structure to organize a series of beliefs.

It is that political structure that deserves and demands skepticism.

Both Beshear and Talarico are pushing this religious liberal thing, and I’m going to need to see more from both of them before I roll back the side eye.

Its time to end the electability smear

Talarico got caught using electability, or some variation, to attack both Colin Allred, who withdrew from the race in December, and Crockett.

In a report from early February, Talarico allegedly called Allred a “marginal black man”.

Talarico, for his part, says that his words were misconstrued. Personally, I think a recording of the conversation should have been published. Then we’d know for sure. But until the GOP nominee pays to have it leaked in October, we won’t REALLY know what was said.

As for Talarico and Crockett, he simply said he’s “more electable”.

This is commonly known as a way for white people to say someone is too black.

I’ve seen and heard white Democratic staffers and politicos say shit like this over the 35 years I’ve been involved in politics. It used to happen a lot more than it does now. And it used to be much more overt.

Now its just dog whistles like “electability” to describe someone as not white enough or moderate sounding.

Ultimately, Talarico DID acknowledge that too often electability is used as a cudgel against minority communities

He didn’t take it back, and ultimately benefitted from it.

So all that talk about faith and all apparently doesn’t mean you don’t use dog whistles to win.

Flip the Senate

I want a Democratic Senator from Texas REALLY BADLY.

And I want Talarico to have a chance at winning.

He may, depending on who the GOP makes their standard bearer in May, but no matter what it is an uphill battle.

Democrats need to stop using bullshit electability claims to stifle leadership from marginalized communities. Becauseno Democrat in the south will win state

African American voters in general, and African American women in particular, are the backbone of the party.

The continued insistence to minimize their efforts to lead outside of their communities, even if it isn’t intentionally racist, is having an impact on future generations of leaders and their interest in being a part of the Democratic Party.

This isn’t so much about Talarico. Its more about a system we’ve maintained that relies on black votes while marginalizing them.

Talarico may not be working directly for that system, but he’s benefitting from it. And for that he needs to acknowledge the inherent bias we’ve built and maintained in our party.

We’re not as openly racist as the GOP, but its still there, and needs more than lip service to correct it.

Building Community

Finally, If you’re going to call yourself a progressive Christian, you’ve got some big shoes to fill.

Because being a progressive Christian is more than just saying the words.

You need to be actively helping people…and not waiting to get in office to do it.

This is something the Kat Abughazaleh campaign in IL09 has been doing. They’ve used their campaign headquarters as a Mutual Aid Hub for people in their community.

This isn’t means testing, this is just help for people who ask for help. Things like this help actively and passively build community.

Democrats in general and Talarico specifically needs to be building community.

For Talarico, that means bringing the rural white people who voted for you and urban minorities together to talk about all the stuff they have in common.

The religious right has used racist attacks to set working class white folks against working class black folks since BEFORE THE CIVIL WAR. Getting these groups together to talk about the things they have in common is the best way to build that community. Without it, you’ll never win Texas.

Most of all, you need to be turning over the tables of people exploiting their neighbors for personal gain.

That means seeming partisan. Because helping people who need help is partisan.

You don’t see anyone on the GOP side writing legislation to help people, do you?

For people to trust you to write legislation, they’ve got to see you out building comminty.

That’s not something I see Talarico or Beshear doing.

So if you want to convince me boys, its time to do more than just give lip service to your faith.

Its time to turn over some tables.