UTA Political Expert Provides Analysis Of Election Day Results
FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) -- Voters across Texas and the rest of the country took to the polls on Tuesday for Election Day 2014.
UTA political science professor Allan Saxe provided a complete recap of the day's results and gives insight into what the nation's political structure might look like moving forward.
Q: Democrats thought they had a chance to win some key battle in Texas. What happened?
Saxe: "Battleground Texas came to Texas, and they thought that they could turn Texas a little bit more toward the Democratic side. It didn't work. The republicans put up a firewall and they really did it. There's no other way to say it -- the Republicans had a big night tonight. The State Legislature in Texas is going to be more Republican [on Wednesday] than it was [Tuesday]...The battle is going to be within the Republican Party itself -- nationwide. They've taken the United States Senate; they have the House of Representatives -- even stronger than before, nationally. But the battle is going to be within the Republican Party. "
Q: What do you see unfolding here over the next year or two with the Republican Party?
Saxe: It looks like President Obama wants to meet with them on a bipartisan basis in Washington with the leadership on how they can govern together. I can just hear some of the strong, hard-nail Republicans saying 'Meet with the President? We don't want to meet with the President. We want to defeat the President.' I've already heard some talk show people nationwide -- very strong conservatives with a Republican bent -- and they don't call themselves Republicans a lot of times. They call themselves conservatives. Some of them are already mad at Mitch McConnell, even before he won tonight. They're already beating up on him saying 'No deals. No deals. We want to win.' There's going to be a battle within the Republican Party and of course everything is looking toward the 2016 Presidential race. That's the Super Bowl.
"Everybody's thinking as I am, there is going to be a battle within the Republican Party for the "soul" so to speak of the Republican Party. But the Democrats are going to have an internal battle as well. It's going to be an interesting couple of years."
Q: Everything we've heard is that the voters out there are furious. Is this an indictment against current leadership?
Saxe: "They're mad at President Obama. They're also mad at all the incumbents. It's sort of an, all of you, get out of my way. But they had to pick a position, and the Republicans were able to capitalize on it. This was their moment, and they were able to do it. Hats off to the Republican Party, regardless of whether someone likes them or not. They did it, but will this be able to translate to the big Super Bowl in 2016? That's what the Republican leadership has to understand."
Q: Give us your thoughts on the Dallas County District Attorney race.
Saxe: "Very rarely does a District Attorney race draw this kind of attention, As everybody know, Mr. Craig Watkins -- the current District Attorney -- had some very controversial run-ins in a personal way, in the courts, and it was highlighted in the Dallas newspapers. The Dallas Morning News really highlighted a lot of the issues. And Ms. Susan Hawk...she came on really strong."
"Also, a lot of people might have cast a straight Republican ballot, and that may have helped Ms. Hawk a little bit as well. I always believe that the national tenor actually filters down to local races."
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