I've made this point many times. A metric fuck ton of the transplants (myself included) are rabidly conservative. Not everyone of course, but it's a lot of them. A lot of them (again - myself included) moved here precisely because they think it's hyper-conservative. And that image (even if it's overstated) has kept a lot of lefties out.

It's kind of funny. Conservatives moving here are often under the mistaken impression that the state is more conservative than it actually is. On the other hand (and the article touches on this), lefties moving to Austin think it's far more progressive than it actually is, in reality (still too far gone for my liking, but the point stands). That speaks more to how absolutely crazy some of the progressives are when you run down their wishlist, more than it does to Austin being reasonable.

It doesn't really matter to me - I'm happy for Texas to project an image and reputation of being a hyper-red state, even if it isn't quite that. It attracts the right people, and dissuades the wrong ones. Who knows? Maybe we'll actually become the image we've been projecting. That'd be neat.

This has been predicted every year since I've been a member of this site (17 years and counting). Should be any day now.

I'm sure it'll go blue eventually. I mean...it used to be a "blue" state, once upon a time - well before I ever got here. It's the way of things. But you know, at some point, the utility in the "prediction" coming true starts to ring a little hollow.

Honestly, I try really hard not to obsess over this stuff. It's with a yuuuuuge dose of humility that I offer this - I don't really matter that much, and I do not possess the persuasive ability to change the votes of millions of people who ARE going to vote in ways I really wish they wouldn't. Ergo, I'm not going to wrap my identity or even my own happiness around the outcome of elections. There's no utility in it. You know who has the most influence? The candidates themselves. They are the ones who shoulder the burden of being really persuasive motherfuckers. Not me.

Ever since I got here in 2016, I've made the joke that people like me shouldn't be allowed to vote in state and local elections until they've been here for 10 years. The way of thinking goes like this "I moved here for a reason, and you fine folks obviously have everything well in-hand. There's no point in me putting my two cents in - whatever it is you folks have been collectively doing seems to be working out just fine. Keep up the good work. You don't need me."

Of course, such a law doesn't exist. So I basically just run down the ballot and vote for Republicans, while simultaneously voting down bond measures. And I call it good. I'm also hyper aware (again - humility and pragmatism) that my doing this does absolutely fuck-all, in the grand scheme of things. It just gives me warm civic-minded fuzzies. That's it. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people who have no idea I even exist, will never read a word I say on a gun forum, and will never hear the sound of my voice, are going to vote in a way that I wouldn't. I've made my peace with it. It beats being angry all the time, and acting like an oppressed victim.

I moved here in haste. I had one week to find and buy a house.

Now that I've been here for 5 years, I now realize I should have moved to McKinney. It also fits your (limited so far) criteria.

Absolutely this. And McKinney (same area).

I really like McKinney.