Blue city in red state has been a winning combination for at least a decade. As you say, however, the recent push towards criminalizing random shit has started corrupting that balance. There are simply too many voters who are fine tearing everything down if it hurts the other team more than theirs. Democrats have those in the far left. But in the GOP, that wing controls the party.

> actually provides something of a decent balance that is appealing to a lot of educated professionals. I feel like a lot of the worst impulses of Dem-run cities get moderated in TX compared to west coast, Dem-run states.

This is true in Georgia as well. There has generally been a productive working relationship between the Democratic mayor in Atlanta and the typically republican/conservative democrat governor. That includes Kemp and Dickens (corrected) today. Back in 2017, former Mayor Shirley Franklin--who was very popular and highly effective--endorsed independent Mary Norwood for mayor over democrat Keisha Lance-Bottoms.

And in DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser works very well with Trump. They have a common interest in cleanliness and order. She’s done a great job of renovating major parks, cleaning up homeless encampments, cooperating with ICE and the national guard, and making much needed progress on construction projects. It’s been shocking to see projects like the McPherson Square Park renovation completed on time with beautiful results.

Trump is Bowser’s sin eater. She’ll publicly say the national guard isn’t needed in DC, then quietly sign an order extending their deployment. She’ll say ICE is too aggressive, then bury a proposal to end DC’s status as a sanctuary city in a budget proposal: https://www.axios.com/local/washington-dc/2025/05/28/dc-mayo.... By far the best mayor of DC in my lifetime.

> [1] is incrcredibly vague

I was just in New York. NYU has been recruiting Texas robotics professors. Political volatility and funding cuts for research aren’t exactly fertile ground for an advanced economy.

Right after Covid, both Texas and Florida saw a huge influx of talent. That seems to have stabilized (and caused a political backlash), with both retaining advantages, but Texas retreating back to energy and Florida to tourism. (They both have token tech scenes, with Austin holding ground against Boston and Seattle.)

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I get the sentiment but Obama won his second term in 2012 (12 years ago) and the last Democratic governor was in 1998 (28 years ago!)

Florida hasn't been purple in a long time.

It was 18 years ago, and I did point out other metrics to support my case.