Here's what you need to know before you buy that dream house and move to the Lone Star State.
AUSTIN, TEXAS-- Real estate in Texas is a hot commodity right now. I personally know three people who sold property in a flash and they all have one thing in common-- the buyers were from California. Out of state real estate buyers from liberal states seem to come in two varieties: those escaping liberal left-leaning policies and those hoping to enjoy everything Texas has to offer while turning this reportedly purple state a little bluer.
They both may be in for a rude awakening on arrival.
The state really isn't purple at all
The cities and parts of the borders are turning blue, but everything else is deep red. Like oil and water, there's no mixing Texas politics when it comes to many locations. When recently widowed Deanna sold her house in one part of the state and moved further east to an even more rural area where she would be closer to her adult kids, she had this to say:
"As soon as we started clearing the land to build our new house, the neighbors started snooping around. It felt like we needed to hang a Trump flag out by the fence to let them know we weren't outsiders. The property next to ours sold to a family from California. I'm not sure they will be welcome here. Certainly not if they weren't Trump supporters."
While mainstream media enjoys reporting that Texas leaned purple during the 2020 election cycle, just beyond Austin's city limits that could not be further from the truth. Neighboring residents in Burnett County cast 18,700 votes for Trump, while only 5,600 voted for Biden. Nothing purple about that. It's a county where you'd feel out of place if you hoped to bring your liberal views to the lovely Marble Falls.
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Colorado escapees shocked
In a case of conservatives who thought they were escaping to Texas to avoid Colorado's ever-growing liberal politics, a couple was recently quoted in the local paper of rural (and clearly red) Hill County as saying they moved there just to get away from issues like transgender bathroom issues. The issue in question was raised at a Whitney ISD school board meeting when concerned parents didn't want a trans student entering the girl's bathroom at the high school. The group had the backing of a local minister, who went so far as to say that the issue was one of "evil."
The Texas legislature has tried and failed for almost half a decade to legislate the use of public bathrooms. Proposed bills that never made it through included one championed by Lt. Governor Dan Patrick that would have mandated bathrooms in public schools and government buildings be restricted to "birth sex."
Without such a bill in place, each community is essentially allowed to determine the path for its own school systems. Whitney ISD has a policy against gender harassment, but it does not address use of bathroom or locker room facilities. The policy has this to say:
"Examples of gender-based harassment directed against a student, regardless of the student’s or the harasser’s actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity, may include offensive jokes, name-calling, slurs, or rumors; cyber harassment; physical aggression or assault; threatening or intimidating conduct; or other kinds of aggressive conduct such as theft or damage to property."
Had the Coloradoans checked out the district's policies (or lack thereof) before they moved they might have discovered that this could be an issue they might eventually face.
Look before you leap
The point of all of this is to warn potential migrants to the state to pay closer attention to the specific county and or area you are considering. Don't trust national, or even regional news outlets to tell you what the politics are of any given locale. One of the best resources is to study the outcomes of the most recent political races. The Secretay of State offers an unbiased look at those results. Texans are a hard bunch to sway from their beliefs, so whichever direction you lean, you'll be happier in the long run if you research your potential neighborhood, right down to how they voted in the last election.
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