Let me start this by stating that I'm not an expert on politics anywhere. I'm just a guy who wants Democrats to win and I'm tired of the GQP running my state. Ad everyone knows, they have taken a particularly authoritarian turn of late.
One thing I've been thinking about for the last couple of days is the fact that the state of Georgia arguably saved America in 2020, first by defeating Trump, and then by electing Democrats to the Senate. If this could happen in a place like Georgia, why can't it happen in Texas?
And I think it's safe to say that a big reason is that the Democratic party is more effectively organized in Georgia, and they have developed a larger number of progressive leaders with statewide recognition. Indeed, the only reason that they have a Republican Governor is that they cheated, which I know sounds trumpian, but which is also consistent with the facts.
So what is different about Georgia compared to Texas? One thing that has to be considered is that Georgia has only one really big city, which is Atlanta and its surrounding area. By contrast, Texas has Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, Austin, San Antonio, and arguably El Paso. And the fact is, people in Houston, for example, don't know very much about rising progressive political stars in these other cities. Even people like Royce West, who has been in the Texas legislature forever, and who comes from Dallas, are not really well known statewide.
One person that did emerge at a point is Beto O'Rourke, who comes from El Paso. Right now though it's not clear what his personal plans are for the future. There are the Castro brothers from San Antonio. And there are some incredibly talented political leaders in our cities, two that come to mind immediately are Clay Jenkins and Lina Hidalgo. At this time I'm not sure that either one of them would have enough of a statewide profile to be a threat, but either one of them would be an incredibly great governor.
I think it's safe to say that I know more about Stacy Adams than I know about anybody in the Democratic party in Texas (outside of Houston) who might be considering a run for governor.
Put succinctly, my theory is that the size of the state right is making it difficult for progressives to rally around a small number of effective politicians who have a chance to actually win a statewide office.