For years, Democrats have insisted that they are on the verge of turning Texas blue. With Democratic state legislators fleeing the state, it seems they have finally given up on their dream.

To understand why Texas Democrats ran away to Washington, D.C., to turn themselves into props for the national Democratic Party, you need only look at November 2020. Fresh off the heels of Beto O’Rourke’s narrow loss to Sen. Ted Cruz in 2018, the dream of a “blue Texas” seemed near. But their sugar high was short-lived.