I also think everything we know now will go out the window in 2028. Trump won’t be on the ballot for the first time in 12 years and Republicans might have someone actually sane. That could hurt Dems if they lose the anti-Trump republicans. At the same time, this term may have damaged republicans so badly that Dems benefit in 2028. I think it may become a bit clearer in the midterms
You are giving Arkansas way too much credit. I’ve worked for the state Democratic Party throughout my undergrad and now my masters. LR, Conway, NLR, Pine Bluff, and West Memphis make it seem more purple than it is. NWA is trending extremely rightward, and most of the white collar Walmart hires are in NYC.
And rural Arkansas is growing at an even higher rate than the urban areas, mostly due to brain drain. Arkansans leave the state when they get graduate degrees at a higher rate than any other continental state. So they are losing liberal-leaning votes at a high rate and gaining firmly red votes at a high rate. And the Nepogovernor is extremely anti-education, with a truckload of recent legislation aimed at reducing “liberal college indoctrination.”
Texas really has always been a purple state. It’s just so heavily rigged by republicans that it can’t even be called democracy at the state level. in terms of congressional elections it’s massively gerrymandered, same for state legislature of course. for the presidency, they do massive last minute voter roll purges of people who are eligible to vote, make tens of thousands of people go to a single polling place while rural towns of a thousands will have multiple etc.
Can confirm. I live here and everybody has known it’s been a battleground state for years. I’m not saying blue states don’t gerrymander, too, but dear god this is some next level, very blatant corruption. Like unironically. Go to Dallas and find five people that actually like Gov. Abbott. I don’t think people realize how much he’s hated in his own state.