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Dems with anti-trans views are on the ballot. What should pro-trans voters do with them?
(www.helenwebberley.com)
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this post was submitted on 26 Sep 2026
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politics
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You do realize that Talarico is running for US Senate, right? Whether or not he gets elected has almost nothing to do with how Texas treats its trans residents. He has no say in TX politics as he is leaving the TX legislature in attempt to make it to the Senate.
And OP is saying that he will face consequences for choosing to change his position on the trans question after the primaries. Maybe he'll lose, and that will tell the DNC and other candidates not to use trans people as a scapegoat (which is a fascist tactic). But whether he wins or loses has no bearing on how Texas treats trans people.
I'll be frank: I don't think Paxton winning over Talarico will tell the DNC a single thing with respect to trans rights.
Whereas if Talarico wins, what is preventing him from changing his views in any way, at any point within the next 6 years? A Dem President in 2028, with the support of Congress including Talarico, can codify better protections for all humans, in all states despite any state like Texas' objections. Paxton as Senator would be an active obstacle to that type of effort.
Yeah. We know how the Senate works. The problem is that the party is choosing strategies to win elections and those strategies include things like supporting genocide, scapegoating vulnerable people, condemning communism, expanding the military and the police, honoring ICE agents, destroying RCV campaigns, and punching left. For every win they get with these strategies, they will use the victories to claim that this is the way the party must go. For every loss using these strategies, they will attack the voters and say it's the voters' fault for not voting properly. They will then pay social media influencers to claim that the party never actually cared about people who didn't vote for them, despite the hundreds of millions of dollars spent over the last several decades on "get out the vote campaigns".
What expect is that if Paxton is willing to sacrifice his principles on the campaign trail, then he's likely to sacrifice his principles once in the Senate and will vote with his Republican colleagues, because that's the evidence he's providing us. We don't want another Manchin.
Why would you imagine Talarico moving to the left on trans issues, instead of further to the right? He's already proven he's willing to move to the right.
I could imagine both scenarios where he moves left or right after the election my comment didn't necessarily rule one out. Why are you only imagining Talarico moving to the right? And even if he does move rightward, the makeup of the Senate will still be more pro-trans than without him.
If you think a dem losing to a republican is going to send them a message about trans rights.... you are totally wrong.
Republicans are going out of their way to hurt Trans people, do not let them win by voting 3rd party in close races!
We have the modern Republican party because people refused to support the not-insane and politicians changed their tune to avoid that. One of the arguments for el-Sayed in his primary victory was that Stevens would risk a replay of the Undecided issue. The idea that politicians (and other voters) just don't look at demographic voting trends at all and pretend anyone who didn't vote last election is a non-entity is silly.
So what you're telling me is that my votes don't matter and won't send anyone a message and that Talarico showing he's willing to lie in the primaries about his position on trans people and then change his position after we vote for him is the best chance I have simply because his party is blue? So we'll get another Joe Manchin?
Uhhhh yes? Have you not paid any attention to how the two party system works?
I'm not saying it's good, but I'm saying if you want to have a chance at making it better we need massive amounts of dems so the ones who are progressive can pass changes to make it better.
Voting for a more progressive person who has zero chance of winning is throwing your vote away. That's how the system works. For years those voting green party for more liberal ideas have lost and split the vote so more republicans win who push platforms farther and farther right.
So yes, vote for the lesser of two evils until you have the opportunity to vote progressive and make your votes actually matter.
Primaries are the time to get the more progressive person for the election, don't vote on the election day "to send a message". That's how we get Trump and MAGA
Yeah, so you're not talking about reality. The Democrats have been sliding to the right themselves. That's not the fault of the voters.
Yes it is. When they lose over and over to right wing opponents which way do you think they'll slide? For those that refuse to vote unless they have a perfect candidate or one who does show up to vote who they then try to cater to?
You are the one missing reality when you think not voting or voting 3rd party for under 5% total vote matters at all. Because that's what people have been doing and it clearly doesn't work
You're contradicting yourself. You're saying people have been voting for third party but they never get even 3% of the vote, let alone 5%, so clearly that's not the problem. And they're not not voting because voter participation in 2020 was the highest since 1908 and 2024 was tied for second highest with 1960.
So again, you're not dealing with reality. People aren't choosing to not vote nor to vote third party. The Ds are continually sliding right because of something other than the voters.
There are way more people now and voting numbers are atrocious. Almost 1/3 decides to stay home and not vote. Over 10% of those registered don't show up either.
Not voting because you don't have an ideal candidate is definitely part of the problem. Keep voting dems and pull them left via primaries and giving them a chance. Stop voting republicans in whole only go farther right.
Its not a hard concept
It's not a hard concept because it's a fucking fantasy and isn't mapping to reality at all
You pushing people to vote 3rd party for a 0% chance to win in a very close race where Dems finally might win a seat in Texas after decades of republican control and loss of rights is just insane and anti everyone including Trans rights.
Seriously fuck of with that logic. Vote for Talarico or don't complain and don't be surprised with a horrible outcome.
I am not pushing people to vote third party. I am pushing people to shut down the economy with a general strike, occupy the halls of power, abolish the Senate entirely, and rebuild the country. Because anything less will continue the atrocities.
I've been hearing that kind of thing for decades - I remember single issuer voters voting Libertarian or Republican or whatever because the Democrats were "just as bad" on things like marijuana legalization, prison reform, etc.
There is effectively no message sent and nothing received when people sit out, throw their vote away on an absurd third party, or vote Republican.
Why are you running defence for them? Their job is to manage your expectations into extinction, they are your rulers not your friends.