DNC Chair Tom Perez spent Monday in Texas talking up Democrats’ chances of turning the state blue:

Texas has attracted intense national interest in recent weeks, and in one sign of it, the chair of the Democratic National Committee, Tom Perez, spent the day before the election traveling the state.

But as you probably noticed last night, Texas did not go blue. President Trump won the state by more than 650,000 votes. In addition, Republican Sen. John Cornyn won reelection by about 10 percent. And it appears Texas Republicans didn’t lose a single seat in the House of Representatives.

Another, target for Democrats this year was the Texas state house. That didn’t work out for Democrats either despite raising just shy of $40 million for the cause:

The Texas House had also been expected to be in play for the first time in nearly two decades. While a number of state House races have yet to be declared, early tallies show Republicans in some key House races maintaining a lead over their Democratic challengers…

The battle for the state House attracted millions from national and statewide groups. The most recent campaign finance report showed candidates in 34 battleground districts raised a combined $39.4 million, according to The Texas Tribune.

Houston police chief Art Acevedo, who was previously the police chief in Austin, offered some ideas on Twitter for why Texas wasn’t won over by Democrats this time. In response to a statement about there being more Republicans than Democrats in Texas, Acevedo wrote: “Texas Democrats can thank ‘socialist democrats and defund the police crowd’ led by @GregCasar, @JimmyFlannigan and the rest of the AustinCity Council. Fact, Americans and Texans want better policing, not de-policing, and they don’t want anything to do with any form of socialism.”

Texas Democrats can thank “socialist democrats and defund the police crowd” led by @GregCasar, @JimmyFlannigan and the rest of the AustinCity Council. Fact, Americans and Texans want better policing, not de-policing, and they don’t want anything to do with any form of socialism.

— Chief Art Acevedo (@ArtAcevedo) November 4, 2020

Come ride with me in a marked police car and we can ask folks.

— Chief Art Acevedo (@ArtAcevedo) November 4, 2020

Acevedo is not a conservative or a Trump supporter. On the contrary, he made news back in June when he appeared on CNN and told the president to, basically, shut up about how to deal with protesters. And last year, Jazz wrote about Acevedo going on a gun control rant after four of his officers were shot. He definitely leans left and would probably be happy to see Texas turn blue.

But even he considers Austin’s socialist city council members a bridge too far for Texas. And that’s not an exaggeration in this case. If you’re not familiar with Greg Casar, who Acevedo mentioned in his tweet, he’s a Democratic Socialist on the Austin City Council:

CONGRATULATIONS to DSA member @GregCasar on being re-elected to the Austin City Council! #VoteSocialist #TrySocialism pic.twitter.com/Gs3LNqyEll

— DSA 🌹 (@DemSocialists) November 4, 2020

Back in August, Casar and the Austin City Council voted to defund the police by as much as $150 million or about a third of the current budget. As is often the case in cuts like this, some of the funding is just going to be moved around to other departments. In this case about $80 million of the $150 million being “cut” would involve shifting the 911 service and the police lab out from under the police budget. Still, there was an immediate $20 million cut with the possibility of more in the future. All of this is happening as crime is on the rise in Austin:

“It is demoralizing for the officers. It is angering for the citizens because they’re having to wait longer for officers to get the calls. And it’s unsafe for citizens and officers,” Austin Police Association President Ken Cassidy told Fox News…

So far this year, Austin has seen 35 murders, compared to 25 in all of 2019, a percentage increase of 40%. In September, the city saw three murders, compared to two last year.

The number of aggravated assaults is also on the rise, jumping by 18% from last year, when 1,972 were reported, to 2,333 reported in the first eight months of this year.

“Our murder rate’s the highest it’s ever been,” Cassidy said…

Over the last five months, the department, which has about 1,730 sworn officers, has lost double the number of officers than it typically would have, Cassidy said. On average, about seven employees left per month; now, it’s up to 14.

So all of that is what Chief Acevedo has in mind when he blames the far left members of the Austin City Council for keeping Texas red.