Cruz is gonna be with Texas until he makes a failed presidential campaign just like Perry, isn’t he.

Well, it was a close race with a good heaping amount of voter suppression, let’s not forget that. Then there’s the gerrymandering that divided Austin into six districts. I mean…

Look at this fucking shit right here. Austin is super left and it got so gerrymandered that it looks red. (btw I’m using the House race since it shows the districts)

And then there’s San Antonio.

Take a look at how Houston is divided.

Lucky it’s mostly blue with a flipped district, but notice how a specific district wraps around Houston and slivers right into its heart, making a conservative district. Methinks this isn’t a good representation of the populations that district covers nor the most convenient for the locals there. (must be confusing as all hell to find out where your polling booth is for that district)

And then there’s Dallas/Fort Worth.

Notice how the biggest cities in Texas are divided up, with the fringes of the cities sliced up and devoured by the rural and much more conservative areas. This is what gerrymandering looks like. It’s not representative of the rural people living in those districts and it’s not representative of the people in the cities themselves. It benefits no one but Republicans in office.

If Democrats get any wins in Texas, this is what they had to fight against.

Senate races are determined by pure popular vote.

Gerrymandering, while certainly a prevalent issue, has nothing to do with Beto’s loss, and in fact Democrats had a net gain in Texas officeholders.

(Also Democrats gerrymander too — welcome to the state of Massachusetts and the state House.)

Gerryman ering does have an effect on turnout, though. If you live in a district gerrymandered to be very blue, you might be inclined to stay home, since it’ll be 80% Blue anyway, but if in drawing that very safe blue seat (TX-35 for example) you created 3 very close 55 Red/45 Blue districts, you can increase turnout of those tight races. It can also depresses votes of Blue voters in Red areas who think it’s hopeless. Couple that with strict ID laws that harm the poor and students (student ID’s don’t count, Concealed Carry does though), and you have mix that great favors Republicans.

Also Blue gerrymandering is not anywhere close to as bad as it is in Red states. You mention Massachusetts, so let’s look at that. Mass has 9 districts, all Democratic, but when I plugged them into 3 super-districts designed to allott 3 seats proportionally to the vote (bringing the threshold for a seat down to 33% instead of 50%), you end up with 8-1 (MA-6th would flip), which is about right for a state that votes about 70%-75% Democratic.

Texas though? When I put our 36 districts into 9 super-districts, you go from 25-11* in favor of Republicans to 20-16 in favor of Republicans. A +5 seat swing for the Democrats.

*(based on 2016 numbers, 2018 hasn’t been totally called yet so it hasn’t been plugged in).

California, when plugged in comes out at a net 0, so this problem doesn’t scale. It’s that bad down here in Texas.

You may be sad about the November elections, but there are local elections coming up ASAP!

Most of these elections are on MAY 6! Early voting begins NEXT WEEK in most of them. The remainder are on November 6.

Mad about DJT’s immigration policies and a supporter of sanctuary cities? There are a number of mayoral and city council elections coming up, including in DFW and surrounding areas, San Antonio, Corpus Christi, and El Paso.

Mad about Betsey DeVos? 81 school districts are voting on school boards. Check to see if yours is among them.

Very few people vote in local elections. The school board race I’m working on is expecting 500 voters for the districts that aren’t at-large. If you’re prone to thinking your vote doesn’t matter - it matters a lot in these small elections. 

These are nonpartisan races, but it’s usually pretty easy to tell which side a candidate falls on between their policy positions and endorsements. Look up the candidates and the people or organizations that endorse them. If there are any you particularly like, there is still enough time to donate money and volunteer - and just like your vote, this goes a lot farther in these small elections than it does in the bigger ones. If you live in a major city and have representation you like, or are in an area with no elections look to surrounding areas to see if there are any progressive candidates you can donate to or volunteer for.

We can change things, and this is the first election where we have the opportunity.

@stoneyboboney @pilferingapples @urrone @flurgburgler @heathyr @literaryoblivion @emmagrant01 @itslaurastone reblog to save a life

THIS THIS THIS!!!! REBLOG. GET THE WORD OUT. And let’s be real: how Texas goes schol-wise typically informs the rest of the country. SO ANYTHING RELATED TO SCHOOL REFORM/STATE BOARDS is crucial for your participation.

THIS IS WHY WE HAVE ABSTINENCE TRAINING AND BOOKS THAT CALL SLAVES “IMMIGRANTS” and “UNDOCUMENTED WORKERS.” 

BE INVOLVED. <3

Best of luck, Texas.

Rest of the country: This snowstorm has completely disrupted everything!

Texas:

Canada: