WaPo: “It was only a year ago when the talk about Texas was whether it was about to turn blue in the presidential race, as polls indicated a closer-than-expected contest between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Today the talk is over the lengths to which Texas Republicans have gone to stretch the boundaries of conservative governance.
Texas now has in place the most restrictive abortion law in the nation: one that bans abortions, with no exception for rape or incest, as early as the sixth week in a pregnancy. The law also empowers citizens to sue those who perform an abortion or anyone who “aids and abets” the procedure. Those who sue successfully can receive $10,000. The law was deliberately written to make constitutional challenges more difficult. Republicans in other states are taking note…
Texas has been a conservative state for generations. For many decades, it was dominated by conservative Democrats. That changed in the last decades of the 20th century. Now it is a conservative state under Republican control. Texas hasn’t elected a Democrat as governor since Ann Richards in 1990.
Trump won the state in 2020, though his victory margin was smaller than in 2016 and much smaller than previous GOP nominees had achieved. Democratic hopes for gains in the state House last November evaporated. With a grip on all statewide offices and both chambers of the legislature, Republicans have had their way this year.
But as elsewhere around the country, the Republican Party in Texas is not what it used to be. The philosophy of Texas Republicans like George W. Bush and George H.W. Bush has given way to a far more extreme version of conservatism — and an effort to tailor policies and rhetoric to please and accommodate the Trump wing of the party.”