Why It's Time to Watch Texas, Giving Essential Workers a Raise, and More

November 2, 2020

Last week, early voting numbers in Texas surpassed the state’s total turnout in 2016. Bethany Albertson and Sean Theriault write about two factors changing Lone Star State politics: a sustained effort to get Texans more involved in politics and a Republican Party starting to show some important cracks.

“The pandemic has laid bare the wide gap between the low wages that frontline workers earn and the essential value they bring to society. Now, in a pandemic that has already claimed over 200,0000 American lives, it is a moral outrage that low-wage essential workers are risking their lives—and their families’ lives—for wages that do not even provide them the basic dignity of a family-sustaining wage,” argue Molly Kinder, Laura Stateler, and Julia Du.

Non-urban parts of the electorate were critical to Trump’s 2016 victory, especially whiter rural counties in states like Michigan and Pennsylvania. Using data from the 2018 midterms and recent polling, William Frey explains why the script may be flipped in the 2020 election.

Help support Brookings with a donation

Brookings is committed to making its high-quality, independent policy research free to the public. Please consider making a contribution today to our Annual Fund to support our experts’ work.

The conclusions and recommendations of any Brookings publication are solely those of its author(s), and do not reflect the views of the Institution, its management, or its other scholars.

The Brookings Institution campus in Washington, D.C. will be closed through at least January 4, 2021. For more information, read our full guidance here.

Manage your newsletter preferences | Receive the Brookings Brief less often