Texas: A Shifting Political Landscape
Texas — with its cowboy hats, slow-smoked barbecue, and de-regulatory stance — was supposed to be the California antidote for tech bros fed up with Silicon Valley's Democratic politics. Well, Texas just got a lot bluer.
On Tuesday, voters handed Democrats control of the House and Senate. In Texas, they selected James Talarico for the Senate and Gina Hinojosa for governor, despite massive Republican spending backed by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.
Now, the tech-world frustration is starting to trickle out. "Data centers in space looking pretty appealing right now," Musk quipped on X.
Jason Calacanis, a tech investor and co-host of the "All-In Podcast," expressed a similar sentiment: "I never expected Texas to turn blue. Ugh, I moved here to get away from the left lunacy!"
Another "All-In" co-host, Chamath Palihapitiya, was more dire during a Tuesday-night livestream. "There's only one thing that sinks the US economy," he stated, "that's the AI trade. And the only way to sink the AI trade is to sink the data centers. And the only way to sink the data centers is to sink the power. And all the power that matters right now is in West Texas."
Alex Cohen, CEO and co-founder of AI healthcare company Hello Patient, had a blunt response: "RIP AI it was fun while it lasted."
The Lone Star State had not elected a statewide Democratic candidate since Ann Richards won the governor's race in 1990. Talarico is the first Democrat to win a Texas Senate election since Lloyd Bentsen in 1988.
Not all in tech are angry at the results. Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn co-founder and prominent Democrat donor, celebrated the midterm elections, including Texas, as "an overwhelming wave against Trump and his cronies," in a post on X.
As of publication, several outspoken Texas-based tech figures, including David Sacks, Travis Kalanick, and Lane Kasselman, had not yet weighed in on the results.