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President Barack Obama stands onstage with Vice-President Joe Biden before signing an economic stimulus bill on February 17, 2009. Photo: John Moore/Getty Images

One year ago this month, the 2020 presidential election was called for Joe Biden, leaving most Democrats elated over the impending end of Donald Trumps presidency. It hasnt even been a full year since Democrats achieved what once seemed like an even more impossible dream: seizing trifecta control of the federal government via two victories in Senate runoffs.

But wow, has the sweet taste of victory curdled for the Donkey Party! For months now, it has been rare to read a story about the state of affairs in Washington that did not prominently feature the Democrats in disarray trope; the party is said to be divided over the agenda of a president with steadily falling job-approval ratings, doomed to a midterm defeat that might also usher Trump back to the brink of power. From hot takes to data-driven assessments of hard cold electoral facts, everyone pretty much agrees the future for this recently triumphant party is dim, and fingers of blame are being pointed in every direction.

There is one positive thought that Democrats can focus on as we head into this season of hope: This is far from the worst theyve had it. For all their struggles, Democrats remain the oldest continuously operating political party in the country, dating back to the 1820s. As the comedian Henry Gibson sang in the bicentennial satire film Nashville: We must be doing something right to last 200 years!

Heres a look back at some similarly sticky situations from the Democratic Partys past, which it managed to survive.

Joe Biden is the seventh Democrat to serve as president since the end of World War II. His current job-approval rating from Gallup is 42 percent. Of the other six, five (all but JFK) had Gallup job-approval ratings quite a bit lower than that. (Truman: 22 percent; LBJ: 35 percent; Carter: 28 percent; Clinton: 37 percent; Obama: 38 percent). Clinton and Obama were reelected after posting these abysmal numbers. And while Trumans nadir in popularity was achieved near the end of his presidency, he, too, was reelected in 1948 after receiving a job-approval rating of 36 percent in April of that same year.

By these standards, it is extremely premature to treat Biden as a failed president, or as any sort of convincing underdog for reelection, for that matter.

The loss of Virginias governorship earlier this month combined with a close brush with defeat in New Jersey has been the latest apocalyptic sign of Democratic decline, by some accounts. Its true that both states were adjudged as blue going into these elections. But still, Democrats have done poorly in these off-year elections periodically for a long time.

To be specific, since the late 1960s, Democrats lost the New Jersey gubernatorial race six times (in 1969, 1981, 1993, 1997, 2009, and 2013) and the Virginia gubernatorial race six times (in 1969, 1973, 1977, 1993, 1997, and 2009). Theses state-level defeats were followed by midterms gains for the national party in three cases and losses in five cases. Democratic presidents serving in years when the party lost one or both of these states gubernatorial elections were reelected in 1996 and 2010 and defeated in 1980. The point is, theres no pattern here; off-year election losses are never a good omen, but they arent always predictive, either.

For anyone with a long memory, much less historical knowledge, the idea that Democrats are currently divided ideologically to an unusual or intractable degree is laughable. Todays centrist-progressive rift existed to an even more alarming extent when Barack Obama was trying to enact his own legislative agenda. In the Clinton administration, conventional liberal Democratic dissent from the presidential agenda was so sharp and regular that the president often got as much or more support from Republicans than from Democrats for initiatives ranging from trade expansion to welfare reform. Clintons New Democrats (he had originally campaigned as a different kind of Democrat) and their orthodox liberal opponents warred constantly until the effort to impeach the president united them.

Going back further, Jimmy Carter had to head off an ideologically inspired reelection primary challenge from liberal lion Ted Kennedy. Divisions between pro-administration and antiwar Democrats during LBJs second term led to that presidents forced retirement as he faced an almost certain primary defeat, and a convention so intensely divided that the mayor of the host city was shouting anti-Semitic obscenities at a U.S. senator delivering a nominating speech with the whole world watching.

In 1948, Democrats were so divided that not one but two splinter parties (the Progressives under FDRs second vice-president Henry Wallace, and the Dixiecrats under then-Governor Strom Thurmond) ran candidates against Harry Truman. And going further back, the 103-ballot 1924 Democratic convention nearly flew apart during a vicious fight over a platform plank (which was defeated) condemning the Ku Klux Klan.

A lot of the doom-stricken talk right now is about inflation, supply-chain interruptions, and budget deficits, causing a free fall in Democratic support (actually, according to Gallup, the percentage of Americans citing economic problems as the top concern is well below historic averages, but whatever). Todays economic anxieties are minor compared to those for which Barack Obama was unjustly blamed upon taking office in the midst of the Great Recession.

And neither Biden nor Obama have encountered anything like the horrid combination of economic conditions (double-digit inflation, double-digit interest rates, up-and-down unemployment) that Jimmy Carter inherited from the Nixon and Ford administrations. On running for president, Carter coined the term misery index for the combined inflation and unemployment rates a term that boomeranged when Republicans served it right back at him in 1980.

The one thing todays Democrats can plausibly cite as an unprecedented problem is an opposition party fully devoted to obstruction. But its important to remember that todays chief obstructionist, Mitch McConnell, is the same man whose declared primary goal in 2009 was making Barack Obama a one-term president. After 2010, Obama also had to deal with an intransigent tea-party movement that in turn stiffened the spine of the entire Republican Party.

And even though Bill Clinton worked with and often ran circles around his Republican opponents, he did face after 1994 in House Speaker Newt Gingrich a congressional leader who took partisanship to heretofore unknown levels.

It has largely been forgotten in faulty remembrances of Jimmy Carters fecklessness that the New Right and Christian Right movements that arose to smite him hip and thigh were very much the ancestors of yesterdays tea-party movement and todays MAGA extremists.

It is true that the task of defeating and ejecting President Donald Trump has put innumerable strains on the Democratic Party strains that cannot heal so long as a comeback by the tyrant is fully in play.

But once upon a time, a similarly unscrupulous Republican president, Richard Nixon, stood astride a prostrate Donkey Party after winning reelection in 1972 by a 23-point margin, carrying 49 of 50 states. It looked for all the world as though a massive and perhaps irreversible realignment had occurred in favor of the GOP, whose nasty culture-warrior vice-president Spiro Agnew was the heir apparent to Tricky Dick.

But less than two years after their electoral apotheosis, both Agnew and Nixon had resigned in disgrace, leaving Democrats on the brink of a midterm landslide and then a presidential victory.

Its true that Democrats are prone to self-doubt and pessimism, just as Republicans are prone to triumphalism and spin. But history shows you often dont know whats right around the bend.

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Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, the 85-year-old Texas Democrat, who recently announced that she will not seek reelection, said in an interview that party infighting over President Bidens social spending bill contributed to her decision.

Johnson told CBS DFW on Tuesday that the decision was not easy and some leaders were asking that she reconsider. But she told the station that she is getting older, and also pointed to the fight over Bidens social spending bill.

"You begin to question the why when you get to a point where our party is not as together as youd like it to be, like youve experienced," she said. Her office did not immediately respond to an after-hours email from Fox News.

CHAD PERGRAM: BIDEN'S SPENDING BILL IS A DRAMA IN 4 ACTS

Her decision not to run for reelection prompted representatives from both sides of the aisle to praise her service. Rep. Frank D. Lucas, R-Okla., served with her on the House Science, Space and Technology Committee.

The Washington Post reported that he issued a statement that said there is no one hed "rather have as my counterpart across the aisle."

He called her a "true public servant" who cares deeply about supporting science in the U.S.

"Shes an old-school legislator who cares more about results than headlines, and I respect that deeply," he said.

House Science, Space and Technology Committee Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson delivers remarks during an event honoring NASA's "Hidden Figures," African American women mathematicians who helped the United States' space program in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) (Getty)

Johnson is a political fixture in her hometown of Dallas, where early in her career she became the first Black woman to serve the city in the state Senate since Reconstruction.

Johnson on Wednesday endorsed Democratic state Rep. Jasmine Crockett to take her seat just days after announcing her intentions to retire.

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Crockett, a first-term state representative, made headlines in July as part of the group of Texas lawmakerswho fled to Washington, D.C., in an attempt to block a vote on the state Republicans elections integrity bill, which eventually passed and was signed into law in September.

Fox News' Jessica Chasmar and the Associated Press contributed to this report

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Democrat infighting over spending bill contributed to decision to retire, Texas Dem says - Fox News

After Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger told the New York Times that "nobody elected [President Biden] to be FDR," after Democrats lost the legislature and the governor's race in November, and some blamed Democratic lawmakers, the Virginia Democrat received an unexpected phone call while she was on the House floor voting.

"I go into the cloakroom, and they say, 'the president and the White House are trying to get a hold of you.' And I thought they were kidding. They were not kidding," Spanberger told CBS News chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett in this week's episode of "The Takeout" podcast.

"I pick up the phone and this woman says, 'Representative Spanberger, are you available to speak with the president,'" she recalled. The next voice she heard was President Biden's.

"'Hello, Abigail, it's President Roosevelt.' And I wanted to crawl under the table," Spanberger recalled. "And I said, 'Hello, Mr. President,' and he starts laughing and says, 'Oh, I'm glad you have a good sense of humor, Abigail,' to which I could barely contain myself and said, I'm glad you have a good sense of humor, Mr. President."

On "The Takeout," Spanberger also expanded on her remark to the New YorkTimes, and reiterated her argument that voters who had supported Mr. Biden weren't looking for the next New Deal.

"I'm not saying that they weren't attracted to some of his policies, but the principal uniting factor between the Democrats who voted for him, the independents voted for him, the Republicans who voted for him is, 'Oh my goodness, like a pandemic, years of upheaval under the last administration, so much is happening. There's so much unease. We just need to stabilize, right?'" Spanberger said. "That bit of normalcy, that stopping of the chaos, I think, is, you know, when it comes down to it, a major motivator for so many people who voted for him."

Virginia GOP Governor-elect Glenn Youngkin carried Spanberger's congressional district by 11 points in November and prevailed in the race, though Mr. Biden carried Virginia in 2020. Spanberger says she sees the "nervous" atmosphere among Democrats as motivation for herself and for the other Democrats up for reelection in 2022.

"I think it's perfectly appropriate that everybody be really nervous towards 2022. I think you should be really nervous towards any single race. I think you should plan for it to be as hard of a race, you know, whether you're an incumbent here in Virginia, or in California, Texas, or anywhere else," Spanberger said. "The fact that there's a lot of attention, there's a lot of people worrying, I think that's probably very good if it gets people motivated and focused and serious about the election."

Spanberger, who was an officer in the CIA before she entered politics, also spoke about the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan this summer.

"I think it was a disaster. I think it was chaotic. I think it was really, really hard to watch, particularly for anyone who's ever spent time in Afghanistan or spent years of their lives focused on kind of the future and the possibility that existed in Afghanistan," Spanberger said. "But I think that you can say, yes, it was a bad reality in August, but it wasn't the decisions of just July and June that got us there or the kind of choices that we made in August. It's 20 years' worth of decision making and 20 years' worth of choices."

Highlights

Frame of mind for Democrats going into midterms: "I think it's perfectly appropriate that everybody be really nervous towards 2022. I think you should be really nervous towards any single race. I think you should plan for it to be as hard of a race, you know, whether you're an incumbent here in Virginia, or in California, Texas, or anywhere else. I think people should be planning for it to be the hardest race and you should run like you're five points behind, even if you don't think you are. So the fact that there's a lot of attention, there's a lot of people worrying, I think that's probably very good if it gets people motivated and focused and serious about the election."

"Nobody elected [Biden] to be FDR": "Listening to voters, listening to constituents in my district, you know, the primary sort of principal reason across the board- now, maybe somebody really likes this policy proposal, that policy proposal -- I'm not saying that they weren't attracted to some of his policies, but the principle uniting factor between the Democrats who voted for him. the independents voted for him, the Republicans who voted for him is, 'oh my goodness, like a pandemic, years of upheaval under the last administration, so much is happening. There's so much unease. We just need to stabilize, right?' And here's a man who has decades worth of working across the aisle, getting things done, accomplishing things, and we just need to not have to watch the news for a day.' And that bit of normalcy, that stopping of the chaos, I think, is, you know, when it comes down to it, a major motivator for so many people who voted for him."

Afghanistan withdrawal: "I think it was a disaster. I think it was chaotic. I think it was really, really hard to watch, particularly for anyone who's ever spent time in Afghanistan or spent years of their lives focused on kind of the future and the possibility that existed in Afghanistan. But I think that you can say, yes, it was a bad reality in August, but it wasn't the decisions of just July and June that got us there or the kind of choices that we made in August. It's 20 years' worth of decision making and 20 years' worth of choices."

Oil release from Strategic Petroleum Reserve: "Well, not only do I support, but I joined colleagues yesterday, calling on the president to do just this. You know, certainly it's important that we take very seriously the real impact on families and the impact of gas prices being increased as they are in some places, you know, record gas prices. You know, certainly there's a lot of contributing factors, pent up demand certainly gas prices fell to a pretty significant low during the early days of the pandemic. But I think this is the right thing to do, and I'm appreciative that the president has finally done it."

Executive producer: Arden Farhi

Producers: Jamie Benson, Jacob Rosen, Sara Cook and Eleanor Watson

CBSN Production: Eric SoussaninShow email:TakeoutPodcast@cbsnews.comTwitter:@TakeoutPodcastInstagram:@TakeoutPodcastFacebook:Facebook.com/TakeoutPodcast

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Abigail Spanberger on Biden, FDR and what Democrats want - "The Takeout" - CBS News

By Rick Bannan / rick@thereflector.com

A rare appearance by a Democratic candidate for federal office highlighted Fridays programming on the conservative The Lars Larson Show, as Brent Hennrich, challenger to U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, made an appearance during a debate with Herrera Beutlers closest challenger from her own party.

During an afternoon airing of the Portland-based show, Hennrich squared off against Republican Joe Kent, a favorite of Larsons to unseat the incumbent Herrera Beutler.

I think she ought to be replaced. I think shes turned into a RINO or worse, Larson said, using the acronym that stands for Republican In Name Only.

Although it was characterized as a debate, Larson did not give the chance for rebuttal.

Larson commented on the rarity of having someone who was left-leaning on his show. Hennrich came out of the gate thanking Kent, a U.S. Army Special Forces veteran whose wife, who was also in the military, died in combat.

Kent acknowledged recent polling by Trafalgar Group that had him in the lead with Hennrich in second.

Im running against Jaime Herrera Beutler because she has betrayed our values, Kent said, noting her vote to impeach the then-president Donald Trump following the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol building among other issues.

Hennrich said he didnt believe the country was headed toward socialism, noting social programs already in place, such as Medicare and Social Security.

Expanding on social programs is in no way leading us to a path of socialism, Hennrich said.

Kent, however, said the U.S. was on a very slippery slope right now toward socialism, communism and really just authoritarian control.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, the far left got to jumpstart a lot of their most devious plans, Kent said, adding that Democrats were shutting down small businesses to shift resources to corporate entities.

Although Larson gave Hennrich props for making an appearance on the show, he did not give him any favors. Larson said spending packages under the Build Back Better name would cost roughly $5 trillion. He asked how Hennrich could justify its support.

Youre talking about the spending without the revenue portion, Hennrich said. Thats comparing apples to oranges.

We need to get America back on track and going forward again, and thats what the Build Back Better plan is for, Hennrich said.

Kent said the spending plan was utterly irresponsible, saying the debt incurred would be passed onto future generations. He said most of the money did not go to infrastructure, calling funding for rechargeable car stations a payday for the Chinese communist party, the people that crashed our party by sending us COVID.

Kent said the systemic issue he was seeing was a lack of American jobs to support the supply chain.

I think weve seen the government overstep their bounds consistently with these mask mandates. They cannot dictate what you put on your face, and they shouldnt be able to dictate access to public facilities where our taxpayer dollars go to, Kent said. He said theres been a lack of public trust among Washingtonians and their government.

Larson proceeded to grill Hennrich on questions about mask mandates. Hennrich said government officials were well within their rights to enforce the mandates.

I believe (those officials) have a duty to protect the overall population, Hennrich said, adding they were using the best data from health experts for their decisions.

Larson was clearly in favor of Kent.

I mean I do have a bias here, not just in the favor of Joe Kent, Larson said.

Kent was against any mandates from government officials, questioning whether they had the right to slap a mask on (his) face.

Larson focused in on Hennrichs stance regarding vaccine requirements, asking if the government had the authority to stick a needle in your arm, and another one, and another one, as boosters are required?

They are looking for the general wellbeing of the overall population, and they are doing everything they can, Hennrich said.

Outside of COVID-19-related questioning, Larson turned the conversation to energy policy. Kent said Bidens administration was completely reckless in its policy approach in that sphere, and Hennrich was decidedly in support of current energy efforts.

The candidates were also asked about their opinion on the Kyle Rittenhouse trial, after the 17-year-old fatally shot two people in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and injured a third. Rittenhouse was acquitted of first-degree homicide.

Hennrich hedged the decision, pointing to the due process of law while saying personally he did not like the verdict. He acknowledged it was by a jury of peers.

Kent gave a quick answer, saying what I want to point out, is the right decision and self defense.

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Radio host grills Democrat seeking Herrera Beutler's seat in 'debate' with Joe Kent - The Reflector

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For decades, Texas Democrats have banked on the growth of voters of color, particularly Black and Latino voters, as the key to their eventual success in a state long dominated by Republicans.

But with less than a month left for candidates to file for statewide office in the 2022 elections, some in the party worry Democrats could see their appeal with those constituencies threatened by a Republican Party that is rapidly diversifying its own candidate pool.

The GOP slate for statewide office includes two high-profile Latinos: Land Commissioner George P. Bush and former Texas Supreme Court Justice Eva Guzman, who are both running for attorney general. It also includes two Black candidates who have previously held state or federal office: former Florida congressman Allen West and state Rep. James White, who are running for governor and agriculture commissioner, respectively.

By contrast, the Democrats most formidable candidates are white Beto ORourke, who is running for governor, and Mike Collier, Matthew Dowd and Michelle Beckley, who are running for lieutenant governor.

We need to look at that and need to do an introspection as to why theres a lack of diversity at the top of the ticket. We need to do better. Weve gotta cultivate our bench.

Lee Merritt, a Black civil rights attorney from McKinney, and Rochelle Garza, a Latina former ACLU attorney from Brownsville, have jumped into the Democratic primary for attorney general; and Jinny Suh, an Asian American Austin lawyer, is running for land commissioner. But none of those Democrats have the political experience or fundraising prowess of their Republican counterparts.

The issue has caused consternation among some Democrats, particularly as they see South Texas and border communities, with large majorities of Latino voters, become a battleground for Republicans. Democrats lost a special election in San Antonio to Republican John Lujan earlier this month. Two weeks later, Rio Grande City Rep. Ryan Guillen, whod served in the Texas House as a Democrat since 2003, switched his party affiliation to Republican. Both Lujan and Guillen are Latino.

We need to look at that and need to do an introspection as to why theres a lack of diversity at the top of the ticket, said Odus Evbagharu, chair of the Harris County Democratic Party. We need to do better. Weve gotta cultivate our bench.

Jamarr Brown, co-executive director of the Texas Democratic Party, downplayed the concerns, saying his party will have a competitive slate of candidates when the filing period closes in December. He pointed to Annise Parker, the openly gay former mayor of Houston, who is reportedly considering a run for land commissioner, as a candidate who can bring a different viewpoint to the race. Parker is also white.

Im not concerned as it relates to us having real diversity and us having candidates, he said. We will have diversity in gender, race and ethnicity. We will have diversity in industry and in experience.

Jeronimo Cortina, a political scientist at the University of Houston, said Republicans are making a play to be more competitive with voters of color as the states electorate grows more diverse. He pointed to Republicans opening up offices in heavily Latino areas like San Antonio.

The Republican Party in Texas sees the writing on the wall and that is that demographic change is here, he said. Latinos are going to be the biggest chunk of the electorate in the next couple of decades, so either [Republicans] get on board or theyre going to lose them.

A majority of the states top elected officials, who are all Republican, are white. But for years, statewide leaders like Gov. Greg Abbott and Bush have focused on expanding the Republican share of the Latino vote.

Latinos make up 39% of the states population, only slightly behind white Texans, who make up 40%, according to the U.S. Census. But while Latinos make up a majority of Democrats in the statehouse, a training ground for higher office, there are no major Latino candidates on the partys statewide slate. Garza has never been on a Texas ballot. Her only experience raising money as a candidate was collecting $200,000 for a congressional race she suspended.

Part of the challenge, Brown said, is that it is difficult to recruit candidates of color to run for office when they are more likely to face economic challenges than white candidates. ORourke, the best performing Democrat in Texas in years, comes from a prominent political family in El Paso, and his father-in-law is a real estate investor worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

People of color and women are working-class people in this state, Brown said. Asking people to take time away from their jobs and businesses and families and to campaign in a large state with 254 counties and having the resources to cover that ground is challenging.

Potential statewide candidates who are currently in office are unlikely to risk their hard-fought seats to launch an uphill battle for state office, particularly when Republican incumbents hold advantages of multiple millions of dollars from the start, Brown said. Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, a Latina, is seen as a rising star in the party but has resisted a statewide run. And San Antonios Julin and Joaquin Castro are perennially named among potential candidates but have also turned down opportunities.

The fundraising challenges are present for candidates of color on the Republican side, too.

Its supposed to be tough, said White, a Black Republican running for agriculture commissioner against the GOP incumbent Sid Miller. You can talk about how tough it is but at some point you just gotta get after it.

Some on the Republican side, however, have found success tapping into the partys network of donors. Bush, who comes from a storied political family, has raised multiple millions, and Guzman raised $1 million in the first 10 days of her campaign.

You find a roadblock in front of me and Im going to overcome it, she said.

Evbagharu said candidates of color on the Democratic side rarely get the kind of backing from their party that white candidates do.

ORourke, he noted, has lost a statewide and national race, yet will lead the top of the ticket next year. ORourke raised about $80 million in 2018 in his race against U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, however, he largely accomplished that with his own celebrity, and those funds did not flow to the rest of the Democratic slate.

That same year, the Democrat running for governor, Lupe Valdez, a Latina and former Dallas County sheriff, raised $1.9 million in a bid to defeat Abbott in 2018 where she lost by 13 percentage points. Valdez, like ORourke, was a first-time statewide candidate, but at one point in the campaign she trailed Abbott by 100-to-1 in the fundraising race. ORourke had run multiple congressional races and barnstormed all 254 of Texas counties for the Senate race.

This week, ORourke announced he had raised $2 million in the first 24 hours since launching his gubernatorial campaign, eclipsing Valdezs total funds for her gubernatorial run.

Sharon Navarro, a political scientist at the University of Texas at San Antonio, said Valdez did not receive the support a top-of-the-ticket candidate would expect, which contributed to a floundering campaign.

If youre a minority and youre a Democrat, the stereotype is that youre branded a loser, whereas the Republicans will regroup and find the way to victory, she said.

Valdez did not return a request for comment.

In 2014, Wendy Davis, who had gained national prominence for her filibuster of an abortion bill in the state Senate, lost the governors race to Abbott by 20 percentage points despite raising almost $40 million. She has since run again for congress and lost. Davis is white.

But the Democratic Partys biggest flop was not for lack of money. In 2002, Democrats ran their so-called Dream Team, which included Tony Sanchez, a wealthy Latino oilman and banker who self-funded his campaign, and Ron Kirk, a Black former mayor of Dallas and Texas secretary of state.

Sanchez lost to then-Gov. Rick Perry by 18 percentage points, and Kirk lost to John Cornyn in the U.S. Senate race by 12. The best performing member of the Dream Team was John Sharp, a white conservative Democrat, who lost the lieutenant governor race to David Dewhurst by 6 percentage points.

That tickets catastrophic failure may have turned off donors from funding candidates of color for statewide office. But Navarro said the problem runs deeper than that: The states Democratic Party lacks structure and a message.

There is no real long-term investment in cultivating generations of voters because it takes time and money, Navarro said. It isnt enough to just simply register voters and expect them to vote Democrat. It isnt enough to run a person of color without party structure or message.

Its not just fundraising, critics say, its a lack of recruitment. Democrats, who are quick to campaign on issues of diversity, inclusion and equity, could be doing more to open doors for candidates of color.

Merritt, the attorney general candidate, said he was not recruited to run. An attorney for the family of George Floyd, Merritt decided to run after advising Democratic politicians, including President Joe Biden, on criminal justice and police accountability issues.

Its a shortcoming of the Democratic Party, he said. It never crossed their mind that someone like me should be running for office.

The partys own analysis of the 2020 elections found shortcomings in its Black voter turnout. While Black turnout overperformed expectations and overwhelmingly supported Democrats, Republicans were more successful at growing Black voter turnout than Democrats, raising concerns.

If we want to win [statewide], weve got to shake some stuff up, Evbagharu said.

Part of that shake-up would include recruiting and training more candidates of color and providing them the funding to run successful campaigns, he said.

But Brown pushed back, saying the party actively recruits candidates and puts on training for potential candidates, as well as connecting campaigns with experienced political staff. Theyve also focused on registering more Democratic voters.

Evbagharu also said Democrats may need to take a page from Republicans, who often invest in candidates in close races for multiple cycles before claiming victory. For example, Monica De La Cruz, a Republican running for Congress in the Rio Grande Valley, lost her race against Democratic incumbent Vicente Gonzalez in 2020 by 3 percentage points.

Republicans framed that loss as a victory for the GOP because of the huge gains they saw, and they are continuing to fight for the district as part of their overall strategy to win elections in South Texas next year. As of September, she had raised nearly $1 million, on par with Gonzalez, and she was named to the National Republican Congressional Committees Young Guns program for candidates to watch.

But challenges remain for candidates of color, regardless of party.

Running for office isnt easy, said Garza, the Democratic attorney general candidate. You need to have the grit and determination and belief in yourself to do it and then have the ability to get people on your side.

She said she isnt concerned about the Black and Latino candidates on the GOP ticket because their policies do not help voters in those communities.

Its not enough that folks on the Republican ticket are people of color. You need to show your work, she said. What do you stand for? And who do you stand for? What were seeing on the right is folks that stand for corporations and big interests and dont stand up for the little guy, for everyday Texans.

Navarro said Democrats will have to perfect their messaging on this point to be successful, not simply rely on voters of color to side with them. Earlier this month, Republicans in Virginia flipped the major statewide offices by making the election about wedge issues like so-called critical race theory and forcing Democrats on the defensive. Texas Republicans could do the same on issues like border and election security.

Republicans have a better understanding of how to create the message and how to flip it for the audience, Navarro said.

Jean Card, a Republican political analyst, said that strategy paid off in Virginia, where the GOP elected Winsome Sears, a Jamaican-born Black woman, as lieutenant governor and Jason Miyares, the son of a Cuban immigrant, as the states first Latino attorney general.

What we saw here was policy over personality, Card said. Thats why they were so effective as candidates.

White said he focuses his campaign talking points on his decade of experience at the statehouse, where he pushed for rural interests, and his knowledge of agriculture, which is relevant to the position hes seeking.

When youre actually doing diversity that means youre talking to everybody, listening to everybody, being respectful of everyones point of view, White said, you dont have to talk about it.'

Disclosure: Texas Secretary of State, University of Texas at San Antonio and University of Houston have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

Correction: A previous version of this story quoted political scientist Sharon Navarro saying the Democratic Party promised Lupe Valdez funding ahead of her 2018 campaign for governor. Party officials say they did not offer any funding promises.

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Texas Democrats' 2022 field shaping up to be very white - The Texas Tribune