Mara Gay Highlights GOP Vulnerability in Texas: Working-Class Voters Feel Left Behind by Both Parties

EXCERPT:

GAY: “And I think we talked so much in the past decade and a half about how white working class voters have forgotten — have been forgotten by the Democratic Party, but I think we forget that all working class Americans are having a difficult experience. And so when you go into Hispanic communities like the Rio Grande, you learn what I learned in Georgia in black communities, too, which is this sense that the Democrats had taken their votes for granted, relied on them heavily, and then failed to deliver meaningful change in their lives. The Democrats have a serious opportunity here. I heard a lot of support for James Talarico. Ken Paxton is just a terrible candidate. And so the Democrats have a big opportunity, but the question isn’t only whether they can win, it’s whether they can turn that around and really deliver for communities that are suffering. Also, the role of Elon Musk was very interesting because he’s built a facility that is near Boca Chica beach, and you have a lot of very angry residents in Brownsville, Texas, right on the border. These are people who swung for Trump, but they’re angry because they feel like this billionaire has come to town and is taking advantage of, you know, where they fish, land that they’ve protected for generations. So it's a very complicated and changing situation."