Yes, election night was horrible for the Democrats on a National level. Not only did they lose the White House, but they couldn't wrest control of either the House or, more surprisingly, the Senate, from GOP hands.
It also wasn't that good in Statewide contests across the country, with increasing amounts of State governments shifting to GOP control, including the legislature in Kentucky, meaning the entirety of the South is Republican led, including a growing number of governors as well.
The current Democratic strength is limited to a few solidly blue states, including California which is talking about seceding in a manner that would cripple them financially due to no access to water or energy, New York (which, to be honest, doesn't count for much any more politically), Illinois (where machines still rumble and the dead still vote), New England (where, uh, the leaves are pretty in the Fall), several financially declining cities and their surrounding areas.
This includes the 4th largest metropolitan area in America, Houston. My home town, as well as Harris County which surrounds and makes up most of it.
It was an ugly day for the Harris County Republican Party.
Not only did they lose the high-profile race for Harris County District Attorney, but they also lost (or will face a run-off for) several other elected positions including but not limited to:
Harris County Attorney
Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector
Harris County Sheriff
And every District Judge seat that I could find online, not to mention the Civil Court seats as well as the Criminal District Court seat that was on the ballot.
The only highlights for the HCGOP?
They kept their two seats on the needs-to-be-mothballed Harris County School Authority, Steve Radack won his seat as Commissioner of Precinct 3 and a smattering of constables and Justices of the Peace held their seats.
In short, it was a disaster, largely fueled it seems by two things:
1. Straight ticket voting by Democrats.
Yes, Democrats, who have historically argued against the option but will probably perform some political gymnastics and come out in favor of it now that they think they have an advantage there. Regardless of your opinion on the outcome the straight-ticket voting option was a bad idea when Republicans were winning and it's a bad idea now that the Democrats are. The thing about it however is that the parties in power often have very little incentive to make any kind of change to the process, until they're out of power and the new folks don't want to see the change then either.
2. Bad Republicans (for the local market) in high-profile races.
Yes, Trump is the obvious choice, and though he did OK with Hispanics nationwide (actually drawing a higher percentage than Romney) he wasn't able to do so apparently in Harris County, where a LOT of the Hispanic population has Mexican roots. He also apparently didn't do as well here with black voters, and we all know that the White vote in Houston is trending more and more liberal every year, as displaced Californians and other blue state evacuees come here looking for jobs and affordable living options that they cannot find in their home states.
Then there was Devon Anderson. A DA candidate who was so bad she couldn't even consolidate Republican support in what was, at one time, a majority Republican county. Among people who pay attention to local politics, and who are less likely to vote straight party, I think the Anderson ticket was a definite drag. There were several local high-profile Republicans who urged voters to vote for her Democratic opponent. And while I believe that they themselves probably pushed the button for down-ballot Republicans, I'm almost certain, looking at the numbers, that many of their readers did not.
Add all of this up and you have a mess. A total collapse of a County Republican Party in a State where the GOP kept hold on every major Statewide office (although by diminished margins, which probably has most to do with Trump)
While it's going to be easy for the Texas GOP to look at these results and local Republicans to take a look at Harris Country Returns and blame the party, a bigger problem at play here is the GOP's utter refusal to contest urban elections and address urban issues. Believe it or not, I think there are conservative alternatives to the "tax and spend and then tax some more" policies of big city Democrats, including issues such as infrastructure, public pensions, public transportation and urban quality of life issues that don't involve just saying "no".
Unfortunately, the Harris County GOP seems bound and determined to ignore all of them and allow the Democrats to suck up all of the oxygen. This is a problem that I don't see going away any time soon, and bringing back Jared Woodfill or the old leadership isn't going to solve it either. Might I suggest listening to some new voices on urban issues? Couldn't hurt.
