The Midweek Mop-Up: Deep in the Heart of Texas’ 21st District

The race between Chip Roy and Wendy Davis shows that a purple Texas does not mean a moderate Texas.

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Texas is officially a battleground state. Joe Biden and Donald Trump are within one point of each other, according to polling averages. But that doesn’t mean Texans have moved to the middle or become more centrist. As we know, 45 and 55 have the same average as 5 and 95. 

Welcome to Texas’ 21st Congressional District. 

David and I interviewed Rep. Chip Roy on Advisory Opinions back in March. Since then, the race has heated up between two extremes: a deficit-hawking constitutional wacko bird tied in the polls against a bleeding-heart liberal social justice warrior deep in the heart of Texas. How can this be? I asked Nate Hochman from our team to look into this so-called purple district and see what’s happening. 

Full disclosure: I worked with Rep. Chip Roy back in 2002 on the Cornyn campaign (he was in law school while I was only in college so I considered him one of the big kids!), and my husband worked with him in Sen. Ted Cruz’s office. We consider him a friend; my husband has donated money to his campaign.

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  1. Colby

    I live in the 21st district, and if yard signs are in indicator of success then Chip has a 15:1 advantage.

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  2. JCP

    An interesting piece, but it doesn't actually seem to have any information about the positions of Texans, as promised in the introduction.

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    Sad Trombone

    I thought Ms. Davis represented Dallas in the state legislature - is there no more stigma on being a carpet bagger?

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    Victor Clairmont

    So it’s two crazies running?

    Welp.

    Thanks for the heads up Sarah. Something to keep our eyes on!

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    Stephenmelton49

    Thanks Sarah for the Sweep. Not being a political wonk I am happy to be learning more from you. And here this piece highlights the problem of the excluded middle.

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    Jesse Blankenship

    Wendy Davis has a lot of vulnerabilities which to attack. Here's what I see. This is shaping up to be a "tone" election. The harsher the tone, the more voters will recoil. So making the case non-abrasively but effectively will be a real trick.Hidden extreme positions can hide embedded in a reasonable tone. Beto showed this is 2018. Although he pushed Ted Cruz to the margin of error statewide he has no shot to be president or governor now because his true positions were self revealed in his erstwhile presidential campaign. So how Ms. Davis's Achilles heel is attacked will likely decide the race.

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    Phil H

    Sarah whatever happened to the midweek name you floated in the Advisory Opinions podcast, "The Vacuum"? LOL!

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      Sad Trombone

      I still vote for "The Mup"

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    Kaitlin Johnson

    Love the name for the midweek edition!

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    Thekingprawn114

    Another case where politics is becoming a sport in which I root for injuries.

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    Pastorfbt

    One really depressing aspect of this example - and I have to assume it's not unique - is the absolutely tired, meaninglessness cliches each side assigns to the other. These labels bear little relation to what if anything either can or will do for the district once in office.

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      Sarah Isgur vertical-nib Author

      Indeed I thought Nate did a nice job trying to capture that in the quotes from their campaign material...glad it came through;(

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