Democratic House of Non-Representation

Did Texas Democrats miss an opportunity in the November election? Kicking over the final results, it seems a failure to run candidates in some local elections proved a critical mistake. On Nov. 8, Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton in Texas by nine points. However, Clinton won the overall vote in three of the state's four most populous counties: Bexar, Dallas, and Harris. The obvious counter-argument is that those margins don't matter, since districts are so heavily gerry­mandered. Not necessarily, argues statistician J. Miles Coleman, who noted on Twitter that Clinton took the area covered by the 32nd Texas Congressional District, covering Dallas and Collin counties. That seat is held by Republican incumbent Pete Ses­sions, who saw off Libertarian Ed Rankin and Green Party candidate Gary Stuard with 71% of the vote. Democrats didn't even bother running a candidate this year after Frank Perez lost to Sessions by 26 points in 2014. Such news could provide more incentive for Dems pushing to return to the 50 state, challenge-every-seat strategy of former Democratic National Conference Chair Howard Dean that led to their 2008 victories, rather than the unsuccessful-targeted-seats strategy championed by Clintonites.