Citing shifting demographics that have moved Texas from a firmly red Republican state to a purple voting block that threatens to upend future elections, a Mike Bloomberg-backed gun control organization is ready to spend big with the hopes of changing gun laws in the state.
Everytown for Gun Safety, one of the most successful gun control groups in the United States, is heavily funded by Bloomberg and pushes firearm restrictions, expanded background checks, and controversial red flag laws. A memo detailing Everytown’s strategy to win suburban votes and influence the Texas Legislature to pass gun control legislation was shared exclusively with Hearst Newspapers on Wednesday.
“We believe that Texas, as it becomes younger and increasingly diverse, can be the next emerging battleground state with gun safety as the tipping point,” Everytown’s political director Chris Carr wrote in the statement. “We believe there are opportunities to elect gun sense candidates up and down the ballot, from the statehouse to the U.S. Congress — and potentially even statewide.”
Everytown successfully helped flip the Virginia General Assembly, which voted to pass several gun control measures through the Democratic-held Virginia Legislature this winter. The group plans to spend upwards of $60 million, double what is spent in 2018, to swing the historically Republican state.
[Read more: Deep blue Democratic Virginia spurns Bloomberg]
Shannon Watts, the founder of Mom’s Demand Action, an organization that pushes for gun control legislation, cited the electoral turnover in Virginia as proof that Americans embrace what is often referred to as “common-sense gun legislation.”
“I would say anyone running for office in Texas should look to Virginia,” said Watts. “Six months after a shooting in Virginia Beach, all of the elected officials who refused gun sense were voted out of office.”
The push for expanded gun control laws in Texas comes after a new poll showed that 79% of Texas voters support expanded background checks. Everytown plans to target suburban women, who were key to turning Virginia blue in November state elections. Along with increased spending on Texas state races, Republican U.S. Reps. Dan Crenshaw, Chip Roy, Michael McCaul, and John Carter are expected to be targets of the group.
Molly Bursey, leader of the Moms Demand Action chapter north of San Antonio, said Texans are “fired up to get to work” after gun laws in Texas were loosened in September.
“People can’t really believe that … instead of passing laws that most Texans agree with, they’re really just loosening restrictions on who can carry a gun and where, and that’s not what Texans want,” said Bursey. “I think people have had enough. They’re paying attention.”
Bloomberg, who has risen sharply in national polling following extensive ad spending, will participate in his first Democratic debate Wednesday in Las Vegas.
