Texas Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa announced his resignation Friday on the heels of another election cycle in which his party suffered blowout losses atop the ticket and vastly underperformed expectations.
In a statement acknowledging Democrats’ “devastating defeats up and down the ballot,” Hinojosa announced he would step down in March when the party’s governing executive committee is scheduled to meet.
“In the days and weeks to come, it is imperative that our Democratic leaders across the country reevaluate what is best for our party and embrace the next generation of leaders to take us through the next four years of Trump and win back seats up and down the ballot,” Hinojosa said, calling on Democratic leaders “at all levels to join me in lifting up the next generation in order to unite our party.”
In the months leading up to Tuesday’s election, Hinojosa and other party leaders promoted Texas as a competitive state where Democratic candidates had a real shot of winning a statewide race for the first time since 1994. Instead, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump carried the state by nearly 14 percentage points and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz defeated his Democratic challenger, U.S. Rep. Colin Allred of Dallas, by nearly 9 points. Democrats also lost three seats in the Texas Legislature and nearly every contested state appellate court race, and saw Republicans win 10 countywide judicial races in Harris County — reversing several years of Democratic dominance in Texas’ largest county.
Republicans also set a high-water mark among Latino voters, with Trump capturing 55% of the key voting bloc statewide, according to exit polls. He carried all four counties in the traditionally deep-blue Rio Grande Valley, including Cameron County, where Hinojosa previously served as county judge.
In an interview with The Texas Newsroom this week, Hinojosa said Democrats’ poor performance was in part a result of the way they handled the issue of transgender rights — comments that stirred backlash from party members and LGBTQ advocates.
“You have a choice as a party,” Hinojosa said. “You could, for example, you can support transgender rights up and down all the categories where the issue comes up, or you can understand that there’s certain things that we just go too far on, that a big bulk of our population does not support.”
Hinojosa later apologized for the comments, saying he recognized “the pain and frustration” my words have caused.
What happened in November was a “fire the coach” moment. As is often the case with the sports analog, there may have been factors beyond the coach’s control, but faith has been lost and a new direction is needed. There was no way he could credibly continue as TDP Chair.
I don’t know who should be next, nor do I have any advice for that person beyond “figure out what happened and what is and isn’t working, and go from there”. Whoever does take this position next has their work cut out for them. It won’t be easy, that much I know. Good luck, whoever you are.
I am not sure why Hinojosa would apologize for what he said. Maybe people forgot how the HERO Ordinance went down here in Houston.
It certainly does not make Hinojosa transphobic. I have learned that to criticize the Gay community is to be labeled as a hater or worse.
Hinojosa told the truth; it also happened in the Blue Wall states.
If Democrats keep losing, who will bear the brunt of the Republican attacks?
Gotta admit my first response when I saw the news was &*#$! FINALLY!
As far an transgenders in women’s sports, I brought this issue up in 2021 (see link). Oh, well.
https://www.harriscountydemocrats.com/post/united-we-stand-let-s-stop-republicans-from-using-transgender-people-as-a-wedge-issue
The captain of the SS Minnow actually had a number of factors in his control, like the PR and thinking factor. He’s wrongly peddled the “demographics is destiny” claim for more than a decade. I called it out, with the WHYs of it being wrong, IN DETAIL back in 2013. But, a lot of people kept peddling it.
https://socraticgadfly.blogspot.com/2013/02/texas-dems-should-be-circumspect-about.html
For people who are fighting for historic breakthroughs in the roles of women in positions of leadership, Susie Wiles has been named the first woman to hold the title of Presidential Chief of Staff. So, it’s time to celebrate these historic milestones that will be recognized through history. Reading the blog posts here I already know there’s people who support this news.