Texas Democratic Occasion chair steps down after dismal election efficiency

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Texas Democratic Occasion Chair Gilberto Hinojosa introduced his resignation Friday on the heels of one other election cycle during which his occasion suffered blowout losses atop the ticket and vastly underperformed expectations.

In a press release acknowledging Democrats’ “devastating defeats up and down the ballot,” Hinojosa introduced he would step down in March when the occasion’s governing govt committee is scheduled to satisfy.

“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 stated, calling on Democratic leaders “at all levels to join me in lifting up the next generation in order to unite our party.”

Within the months main as much as Tuesday’s election, Hinojosa and different occasion leaders promoted Texas as a aggressive state the place Democratic candidates had an actual shot of successful a statewide race for the primary time since 1994. As a substitute, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump carried the state by almost 14 share factors and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz defeated his Democratic challenger, U.S. Rep. Colin Allred of Dallas, by almost 9 factors. Democrats additionally misplaced three seats within the Texas Legislature and almost each contested state appellate courtroom race, and noticed Republicans win 10 countywide judicial races in Harris County — reversing a number of years of Democratic dominance in Texas’ largest county.

Republicans additionally set a high-water mark amongst Latino voters, with Trump capturing 55% of the important thing voting bloc statewide, in line with exit polls. He carried all 4 counties within the historically deep-blue Rio Grande Valley, together with Cameron County, the place Hinojosa beforehand served as county decide.

In an interview with The Texas Newsroom this week, Hinojosa stated Democrats’ poor efficiency was partially a results of the way in which they dealt with the difficulty of transgender rights — feedback that stirred backlash from occasion members and LGBTQ advocates.

“You could have a alternative as a celebration,” Hinojosa said. “You might, for instance, you may help transgender rights up and down all of the classes the place the difficulty comes up, or you may perceive that there is sure issues that we simply go too far on, {that a} massive bulk of our inhabitants doesn’t help.”

Hinojosa later apologized for the feedback, saying he acknowledged “the pain and frustration” my phrases have triggered.

Hinojosa’s departure comes in the midst of a four-year time period that started when he was reelected on the 2022 Texas Democratic Conference. His successor can be chosen by the occasion’s governing govt committee and can serve out the rest of Hinojosa’s time period, in line with the state occasion guidelines.

The contentious 2022 chair election served as a referendum on Hinojosa’s tenure since he took over management of the state occasion in 2012. He received one other time period by arguing that he had grown the occasion immensely and helped Democrats come inside hanging distance of statewide workplace in 2018, placing them in place to quickly break by. However the race was made aggressive as Hinojosa’s challengers promised to enhance the occasion’s infrastructure whereas tapping into frustrations about Democrats’ disappointing 2020 election efficiency — which has since been adopted by decisive losses in 2022 and 2024.

Hinojosa has drawn criticism particularly for providing overly rosy projections. On the Democratic Nationwide Conference in August, Hinojosa referred to Texas as “the nation’s biggest battleground state” as he introduced Texas would ship its delegates for Vice President Kamala Harris.