Texas Dems Focus on Grid

As the nation gears up for its next election cycle, Texas Democrats are eager to highlight the state’s February blackout that took place under a Republican majority. This is how the party’s strategy was described in a recent Texas Tribune article:

“Democratic candidates and strategists see the power grid as the Republican party’s biggest vulnerability — and they see highlighting it as their best shot at winning crossover voters in the state’s 2022 election cycle, which is expected to be an uphill battle for the minority party.”

The same article claims Beto O’Rourke, the most likely democrat to challenge Greg Abbott for governor, has coined the slogan “fix the damn grid” as a campaign priority. 

So far, Texas Republican candidates have been quick to highlight the various measures made since the blackout to mitigate future disasters. Governor Greg Abbot has gone as far to say that the grid ““is better today than it’s ever been”, and he’s assured Texans that it wouldn’t fail again. 

An analysis by Texas’ own reliability council (ERCOT), however, was less optimistic. The report warned that a similar extreme weather event this winter could cause serious power outages, despite the changes made this year. 

Personally, I think it’s good that Texas Democrats have decided to make the grid a campaign priority. Afterall, it’s a serious problem that does need solving. Unfortunately, in the reading I’ve done, I’ve yet to see many real solutions offered.