6 ms·
It's interesting how Texas and Florida are both "red" states but have pivoted into really different political paths under the same flag. Texas is leaning into
by bpodgursky 5mo ago
It's interesting how Texas and Florida are both "red" states but have pivoted into really different political paths under the same flag.
Texas is leaning into becoming the manufacturing and R&D hub for the US, and is courting gigascale data centers and rolling out nuclear power, near-infinite solar, wind, and gas to power it as fast as possible.
Florida is leaning into the retired and populist factions of the GOP, banning data centers and taking on populist anti-tech positions that Texas wouldn't dare (because they want the investment).
- RobRivera 5mo agoFlorida is a purple state
- dmoy 5mo agoKinda? Maybe? Florida, at least for local Florida stuff, like what GP is talking about, has had R governor, senate, and house for 25+ years. With a supermajority R for most of that I think.
- vkou 5mo agoIt was one 25 years ago.
- deleted 5mo ago[deleted]
- ch4s3 5mo agoNot really anymore. The house seats are 20R and 8D, they haven't voted blue for president since Obama, and haven't elected a democrat as governor since the 90s. Voter registration is also heavily skewed republican.
- jlarocco 5mo agoTo be fair, "since Obama" isn't very long ago, and Hillary and Biden weren't very inspiring candidates, to say the least.
- ch4s3 5mo agoIt was 18 years ago, and I did point out other metrics to support my case.
- jlarocco 5mo agoThe 2016 election was 10 years ago.
- nickv 5mo agoI 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.
- Jtsummers 5mo ago> 2012 (12 years ago) 14 years ago. If you just woke up from a two year nap, well, good luck catching up with everything that's happened.
- lazyasciiart 5mo agoThe people, sure. The elected officials? Nope.
- deleted 5mo ago[deleted]
- rayiner 5mo agoIt used to be, just like Virginia used to be solidly red. But Trump won Florida by more than Harris won New York.
- ks2048 5mo agoInterestingly, both FL and TX had the same vote for Trump in 2024: 56.1%
- spamizbad 5mo agoTexas is becoming a hub for educated professionals and Florida is a hub for non-college retirees
- mcmcmc 5mo ago> Texas is becoming a hub for educated professionals Becoming? This has been true for decades in the urban areas
- JumpCrisscross 5mo ago> Texas is becoming a hub for educated professionals Source? It’s been an open secret in academia and medicine that professors [1] and doctors [2] are fleeing Texas’s political climate. [1] https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/05/texas-faculty-university-political-climate-survey/ https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/05/texas-faculty-univer... [2] https://www.texastribune.org/2024/10/08/Texas-obstetrics-gynecology-abortion-survey/ https://www.texastribune.org/2024/10/08/Texas-obstetrics-gyn...
- nailer 5mo ago[1] is incredibly vague. Professors of what specifically? Computer science? Feminist theory? The second doesn't produce 'educated professionals'.
- JumpCrisscross 5mo ago> [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.)
- kxkdkeisuxbsn 5mo ago[dead]
- sethops1 5mo agoAs a lifelong citizen of Texas, I would emphasize the decades-long renewable energy expansion has been happening _despite_ our political leadership, not because of it.
- rayiner 5mo agoThe fact that it’s easier to build stuff in Texas—whether it’s oil rigs or solar farms—is related to the political leadership. There may be no intention to facilitate renewables, but intentions and effects are two quite different things.
- gritspants 5mo agoIf anything Florida (Desantis in particular) more closely resembles traditional conservatism in the US, as opposed to MAGA populism. I think, or hope, that's a good thing in the long run as AI shapes up to be a horseshoe political issue.
- keybored 5mo agoIs populism when politicians claim to care about little people issues instead of making economy arrow go up?
- twodave 5mo agoThis isn’t really true. FL population has exploded so much with high earners that they’re talking about getting rid of property taxes, and Miami is like #2 behind Houston in terms of tech jobs growth.
- JumpCrisscross 5mo ago> Miami is like #2 behind Houston in terms of tech jobs growth Source? (Not doubting. But I’m finding conflicting figures.)
- twodave 5mo agoI was going off of a summary of an outdated report. If I can find a better one I'll post it. -- As an aside, it is very clear in reports like this one[0] how tech job growth nationwide has stagnated. Incredible. [0]: https://www.comptia.org/en-us/resources/research/state-of-the-tech-workforce-2026/ https://www.comptia.org/en-us/resources/research/state-of-th...
- broost3r 5mo agoi live in FL and i think the banning data centers thing is also just political posturing - we are in hurricane alley after all. i really don't think anyone was seriously considering building an AI data center in like St. John's County or whatever