Moderate Texas Republicans have been on my mind in recent weeks, although less than 40 days from now I’ll be working my way through a lengthy midterm election ballot with very few such candidates seeking my vote.
Full disclosure: I am an independent who votes both ways — or at least has done so in the past. In recent years, most of my votes have gone to Democrats.
That’s because most moderate Texan Republicans whose agendas might appeal to me and other independents have been benched and are left to watch electoral politics from the sidelines. The party dominated for the last six years by former President Donald Trump and his legions of Make America Great Again loyalists leaves no room for common-sense, right-center political leaders.
Extremism is evident in both parties, although there is no rough equivalency as some of my readers will no doubt assert in posted comments. Trump and other election-denier extremists who turned a blind eye to the Jan. 6 insurrection on the Capitol absolutely dominate the Republican Party, so much so that many moderate Republicans have walked away from incumbency rather than support the party platform or face a Trump-backed challenger.
Far-left officeholders occupy the back bench of the Democratic Party, and while they are widely supported by younger voters, they show no progress in winning national office.
I’m not even sure the Republican Party of 2022 — the party of Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and the criminally indicted Attorney General Ken Paxton — even recognizes moderates as members anymore.
Who am I talking about? Former U.S. Rep. Will Hurd, former Texas House Speaker Joe Straus, former Texas Secretary of State and former U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Antonio “Tony” Garza and soon-to-be former state Rep. Lyle Larson, to name a few who call the San Antonio metro area home. All but Garza have walked away from incumbency.
While none of those four is on the November ballot, there is reason to believe the pendulum could swing from the extreme right back toward the center by the time voters go to the polls in 2024.
It’s a big “if.” The reset button will be hit only if the party moves past Trump, and if Democrats and independent voters stop Republicans in November from winning control of the U.S. House or Senate. To repeat myself, it’s a big “if.”
What happens in Texas and what happens nationally might or might not be the same. The Republicans who control all statewide offices and the Legislature in Texas openly play to their primary voters rather than the majority of citizens when it comes to setting agendas. Yet one only has to harken back to 2018 when Democrats, led by former El Paso Congressman Beto O’Rourke’s near-miss bid to unseat Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, flipped 14 legislative seats.
What the anti-transgender “bathroom bill” and other divisive social issues did then could occur yet again after Republicans refused to stop teenagers from buying assault weapons, approved open carry of handguns without background checks and passed some of the most restrictive anti-abortion laws in the country.
Perhaps history will repeat itself, perhaps not in a state where half of the registered voters typically do not bother to vote in midterm elections. One certainty: Republican leaders have few places to go to get out their message these days. They should consider the San Antonio Report as one available platform to reach voters in San Antonio.
Garza writes a must-read newsletter for Mexico watchers. From time to time, it is reprinted here, including his latest, “Higher stakes, calmer tones in US-Mexico relationship,” published Sept. 19.
Hurd’s latest blog, headlined “To Understand the Border Crisis, We Must Understand Asylum,” was published Sept. 29. It’s a really smart read on the little understood subject of political asylum. Hurd, an expert on national security, intelligence and cybersecurity, ranges across a broad spectrum of topics in his blog and his recently published book, American Reboot.
One does not have to necessarily agree with Garza on Mexico or Hurd on immigration, but their voices are important, their views are grounded in reality and they deserve to be read and heard.
The San Antonio Express-News published an interview with Larson last week in which the six-term legislator renews his call for term limits to state office and offers a no-holds-barred assessment of the Republican Party and its leadership in Texas. Larson, a former San Antonio city councilman, Bexar County county commissioner and businessman, traveled the state to just about every underground water district and made himself an expert among elected leaders on the subject of water management and conservation. Losing his expertise in the Legislature is just that: a real loss.
Straus considered and ultimately passed on a run for state office this year after previously choosing not to seek reelection to his legislative seat and as House speaker. What we lost was Straus’ balanced, low-key approach to building consensus across party lines on public education funding and other critical issues, and his unapologetic dismissal of divisive social issues.
Straus, too, writes a good op-ed from time to time.
Perhaps the sidelined moderate Republicans will use their time now to write with greater frequency. If so, I hope you read them here, even if what they have to say doesn’t conform to my views or yours. After all, this news and civic engagement site was started more than 10 years ago to give voice to intelligent people across the political and cultural spectrum in San Antonio.
