NBC News: “Texas Democrats conceded that Republicans won the state’s turnout battle in the 2020 election by staying in the field despite the coronavirus pandemic, while the state’s Democrats relied on digital and more unreliable telephone contact with voters.
According to a post-election report provided in advance to NBC News, the party lost its “most powerful and competitive advantage” when it didn’t dispatch volunteers to canvass in person, following the directive of Joe Biden’s campaign after the pandemic hit.
“Our inability to campaign was really devastating for us, especially with our main base. Our main base is Latino voters, and they do not take well to mail and texting contact,” Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa said.
The report, released Monday, found that even though Democrats turned out at higher rates than expected, so did Republican voters, who outperformed the higher Democratic turnout.
The party struggled to reach voters “for whom we did not have phone numbers, who are disproportionately young [and] rural,” as well as people of color.
Despite early hopes that they could turn the state blue, Democrats didn’t win any new congressional seats or flip the state House, and former President Donald Trump got higher vote shares than expected in heavily Hispanic counties.”