Cost of sitting out
When the reasonable stay home, the ruthless run the show.
When the dust settled after North Texas’ latest “non-partisan” election weekend, one reality was impossible to miss: the vacuum left by everyday voters and would-be public servants is being filled—loudly—by the most polarizing voices in our communities. Flyers funded by ideological PACs, coordinated text blasts, and weaponized social-media threads didn’t just shape the narrative; they became the narrative.
Politics, like nature, abhors a vacuum. And when thoughtful, solutions-oriented people stay on the sidelines, the space they leave behind is quickly occupied by forces that thrive on outrage and division.
That’s why the next chapter of local governance depends on us—parents, business owners, coaches, PTA volunteers—deciding that silence is no longer an option. We can’t wish away the red-vs-blue branding iron, but we can dull its impact by stepping into the arena early, stating clearly what we stand for, and refusing to let caricatures define our character.
If reasonable folks keep waiting for the temperature to drop before they engage, they’ll find the thermostat forever controlled by those who profit from the heat. My latest Dallas Morning News column below unpacks how partisan players have turned “non-partisan” races into ideological proxy wars—and what anyone contemplating a run, or even just a vote, can do to reclaim the ground they’ve ceded.
North Texas just wrapped another “nonpartisan” election weekend, but you wouldn’t know it from the partisan flyers, web pages, emails, texts and social media posts prevalent throughout the region. In Mansfield, for example, the partisanship was palpable as the Lone Star Project on the left and Keep Tarrant Red on the right went all in for their respective candidates, incumbent Mayor Michael Evans and his challenger, Julie Short, supported by Republicans.
That mash-up of curb-and-gutter issues with culture-war cash is now the norm across North Texas. The only real question for anyone eyeing local office is not whether partisan forces will brand you red or blue, but how ready you are when they do.
For would-be candidates looking to enter the fray but refrain from choosing a side, there’s good news: You won’t have to; a side will be chosen for you, says political scientist Matthew Wilson.
The PACs pick a side — yours.
“With these PACs — whether they are left-leaning or right-leaning, or whatever their ideological mission — they really pressure candidates to sign on to become part of a list or an endorsement slate,” says Wilson, an associate professor at SMU’s Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences. “If they decline to do so, it can be very difficult to get elected since these local elections tend to be low turnout affairs that can be controlled by the activist base. If candidates don’t get on board with one slate or another, it can be tough to retain their office or get elected in the first place.”
Also
Read fellow DMN columnist Glenn Rogers’ column, “Who’s a RINO — Cornyn or Paxton? Texas oligarchy uses the wrong criteria for choosing leaders.”
“The vague acronym RINO has been thoroughly weaponized. And it works because successful political candidates appeal to the smallest, most extreme segment of their party.
“Dismal turnouts in primary elections have become the norm in Texas, especially in midterm elections. The 2022 cycle exceeded the previous six midterm elections but was still lower than 18%.
“These low turnout affairs favor more extremist candidates because moderate voters wait for the general election. Based on constituents I’ve talked to, a growing number of voters stay at home to avoid poll harassment and the ugliness of modern campaigning. Many say they just cannot figure out who is telling the truth and who is lying. The countless mailers funded by Dunn and Wilks groups that mischaracterize and demean sitting legislators are a primary cause of this confusion.
“But primary voters are enthusiastic RINO hunters. To them, a candidate who is untruthful and corrupt is OK, as long as he or she is not a RINO.”