#y'all Eddie is from WEST Texas

[911-on-abc]

Eddie Diaz really has the audacity to talk about Texas Humidity like he isn't from El Paso

[socialistexan]

Texas split into 5 states.

There's was this weird anomaly in Texas's admited into the United States. See, Texas was so big at that time (land-wise, not popilation-wise just yet) that there was included language that said Texas could, at any time, split into multiple states. Now, I've seen the numbers 3, 4, and 5 thrown around for how Texas could be split up, but for me, 5 states make the most sense when you consider how the regions of Texas break up politically and geographiclly.

I think I may have posted this plan in detail before, but I may as well update it with the latest election numbers. So here's how Texas would break up:

5 states, not all equal in size or population, but cut up into areas of interest. I'll go into each "state" and how it would act politically based on the 2018 election, with some notes and with my best guess at a name.

Starting from most to least conservative'

Red River (Panhandle), possibly nicknamed "God's Texas"

Capital: Lubbock

Senators: John Cornyn (R), Jodey Arlington (R)

Governor: Dan Patrick (R)

Political leaning: R+36

Electoral votes: 6

Comparable state: Oklahoma, eerily close in size and leaning (OK is R+37)

Notes: This is the Texas people who don't know Texas think of when they of Texas. God-fearing, gun-totting, and Trump-loving to an extreme. This state would be twice as conservative as Alabama while being almost the same size. Think about that. If you want to know why Texas is still Red, this is it. This is an unbreakable Republican stronghold, 90%+ White. Even with a college town like Lubbock being its capital, this is unwaveringly conservative.

Trinity (DFW + East Texas)

Capital: Dallas

Senators: Kay Granger (R), Eddie Johnson (D)

Governor: Greg Abbott (R)

Political leaning: R+1

Electoral votes: 11

Comparable state: Arizona, just not directly on the border

Notes: This is as swingy as a swing state can be. There's one giant Democratic stronghold in Dallas (D+33) paired with extremely conservative East Texas (R+32, this is where Louie Gohmert is from btw), with Forth Worth being the decider (D+1 in 2018, R+7 in 2016).

A slightly weird region, DFW is very different from East Texas which has more in common with the Panhandle, but that's how it breaks up geographically and I wanted contiguous states. If it was just DFW, Democrats would win in a landslide, but East Texas is East Texas, so.

Trending more blue recently, though it could shift back just as easily. Trinity goes as Fort Worth goes.

Magnolia (Gulf Coast + some of the plains)

Capital: Houston

Senators: Shelia Jackson Lee (D), Ted Cruz (R)

Governor: Bill White (D)

Political leaning: D+3

Electoral votes: 14

Comparable state: Virginia/North Carolina.

Another swing state, this one even larger because the city at the center (Houston) is so gigantic. Houston, is a really Blue area right now (D+11 in 2018, D+8 in 2016), but in the past (particularly the Bush administration) this was a 50/50 area. You could split just Houston and its suburbs (Fort Bend, Galveston, Montgomery, ect) off into its own state and it still would have 10 electoral votes all by itself. This isn't a surprise, the city of Houston is majority-minority and suburbs like Sugar Land and Katy are becoming more diverse (while still being high income).

The rest of the Gulf coast, on the other hand ranges from fairly conservative to very conservative. It almost entirely balances out Houston, but not enough, especially in the Trump era. Still a swing state, but less than Trinity and trending bluer faster.

Waterloo (Central Texas)

Capital: Austin

Senators: Lloyd Doggett (D), Wendy Davis (D)

Governor: Kinky Friedman (I)

Political Leaning: D+15

Electoral votes: 7

Comparable state: Oregon, down to the major cities sharing a motto (Keep Austin/Portland Weird)

Notes: Welcome to the "People's Republic of Austin," y'all! I was surprised that this state ended up with as low as D+15. Travis County (Austin) is D+53 - for context, LA was D+44, Bernie won by a +34 in Vermont - and the next two largest counties Hays (D+13) and Williamson (D+3) were both Democratic in 2018, but all those smaller, conservative counties (Comal, Burnet, Bastrop, ect) start to add up. Not enough to take it past safely Democratic, but less than you'd expect a state centered around Austin to be.

And, of course, since Austin is Weird we would obviously elect Kinky Friedman, an Independent folk musician Twain-esque humorist who ran for Governor of Texas in 2006, to be our Governor. Hell, if Willie Nelson wanted it, he'd be Governor of Waterloo in the blink of an eye.

Bexar (Rio Grande Valley + San Antonio + West Texas), alt name: Guadalupe

Capital: San Antonio (though El Paso would get a look, too)

Senators: Beto O'Rourke (D), Joaquin Castro (D)

Governor: Julian Castro (D)

Political leaning: D+39(!!!)

Electoral votes: 8

Comparable state: Hawaii, but twice as big. Puerto Rico if it was a state.

Notes: This is where all those Presidential candidates are coming from, and both Beto and Julian Castro would have their credentials boosted by having higher offices on their resumes. I could see this area electing an even more progressive Senator, but we can only work with what we have.

This is a very heavily Latino state. It shares more in common with New Mexico than anywhere else, but has been Blue for a long time. Texas as we know it now would be blue if these areas had higher turn out (blame extreme voter ID laws and the national-level Democratic party abandoning the state). It would have two of the US's largest 25 cities (San Antonio and El Paso).

Of the 6 current Congressional seats I fit into this state (there'd be some adjustment, some cross over into different "states"), the most conservative one was the 23rd district which was won by Republican Will Hurd 49.6% to 49.2%. Yeah. This place is bluer than Vermont and 3 times the size.

[911-on-abc]

🗣️🗣️ EDDIE DIAZ IS NOT FROM THE SOUTH

[911-on-abc]

y'all when we talk about Eddie being from Texas we have to remember that Texas is a big fucking state. Like, Eddie is from El Paso, a city that is a lot closer to where I live in AZ than it is to Austin Texas. Don't get me wrong, Texas is Texas, but West Texas is very different from East Texas, culturally and geographically. So some of the things Judd from Lone Star does or says, for example, won't really track with Eddie