You’ve probably heard by now that, in two months’ time, Texas will have the first Hispanic governor—one by the name of Gina Hinojosa—in its history as a U.S. state. And you might have heard, too, that we’re set to have, in Senfronia Thompson, both our first woman and first Black House Speaker as well. But the list of firsts ushered in by last week’s stunning election results goes much deeper than those two.
Lieutenant Governor-Elect Vikki Goodwin, come January, will be the first woman to hold her position. Railroad Commissioner-Elect Jon Rosenthal will be Texas’ first Jewish statewide officeholder, and Benjamin Flores will be the first Hispanic land commissioner. Incoming state Supreme Court Chief Justice Maggie Ellis is set to become the state’s first out LGBTQ+ statewide official. And, I’m sure, there are more firsts in there amid the statewide blue thrashing and certainly more scattered down to the local levels—among them Letitia Plummer, Alisa Simmons, and Dexter McCoy who are about to become the first-ever Black county judges in, respectively, Harris, Tarrant, and Fort Bend counties—after voters showed up to the polls en masse and almost indiscriminately sent Republicans packing in a full-throated repudiation of President Donald Trump and decades of one-party rule here.
What’s perhaps ironic is that this wave of identity-politics firsts comes as the culmination of an election cycle in which identity politics were decidedly muted. Led by the hyper-disciplined campaigns of Senator-Elect James Talarico and Hinojosa, Democrats here focused on affordability and corruption, along with a sometimes-squishy and often-newfound economic populism—rejecting what they called “culture wars.” (At times by just literally saying over and over that they are embracing populism and rejecting culture wars.)
This was not, à la 2016, an election of sentiments like “Breaking up the big banks won’t end racism.” It was close to the reverse.
This was an election of Hinojosa lightly mocking preferred gender pronouns, pivoting away from pro-abortion rhetoric, and sharing animated video of herself taking out surveillance cameras with a gun. It was an election of Talarico deeming inoffensive theological statements “cringe” and playing nice with the anti-trans movement in its chosen guise of calling for fairness in youth sports.
I’m sure it was discussed, here and there, just how many barriers would be broken this November if the blue wave were big enough—but the topic was decidedly low-profile. In part because no one really predicted a sweep up and down the ballot and in part because that was just not the chosen vibe.
I’m not old enough to clearly recall an earlier era of liberalism when a more optimistic affirmative action-style politics was more en vogue—but it’s striking to me when reading books about Ann Richards’ work as governor or Bob Bullock’s time as comptroller how much emphasis is placed on their having diversified the ranks of the state bureaucracy. It’s perhaps a different tone than the more radical and pessimistic politics that emerged from the Black Lives Matter era, but nevertheless this last election stands in contrast both to what is derisively now called “Woke 1.0” and an even older variety of liberalism.
In the Texas Observer office, there still remains a 10-year-old coffee mug with Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign logo, the words “History Made,” and the image of a broken glass ceiling. It is a bitter reminder, and I’ve often thought of getting rid of it but for some reason always hesitated, maybe unwittingly waiting for this year to come. This cycle when, with little explicit fanfare, that mug would have its day.
Our “Great State,” as Molly Ivins called it, lies now covered in glorious glass shards—good ol’ boys, watch your step.
The mug
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