If Democrats want to keep the blue wave going into 2028, they have to take on the billionaire class

To see the battle lines of the post-midterm era in sharp relief, look to Texas.

Just two days after her earthquake victory as the governor-elect, Gina informed reporters that she had already asked the parks and wildlife department to freeze a proposal to sell 1,300 acres (525 hectares) in a state park to SpaceX until she is sworn into her new office. The department complied with her request.

The Boca Chica state park is next door to Starbase, Elon Musk’s rocket launch facility and company town. That makes the park’s beaches and protected lands – a refuge for shore birds and sea turtles – the ideal location for SpaceX to expand.

“These are our beaches we’re talking about. I mean, selling our beach to Elon Musk is just something that is almost unimaginable,” Hinojosa told CNN’s Jake Tapper. "It’s unacceptable. Our beaches are enshrined in our Texas constitution as being free and open to the people of Texas.

"This was not about shutting down “Elon Musk and his companies”, she went on, “but it has to be on our terms. It cannot be just running over the people of Texas. And that’s what changes now that I will be governor.”

When Hinojosa’s clips circulated on X, she was roundly mocked by Musk’s many fans: imagine valuing some “empty beaches” more than the need for ocean-front launchpads to the stars! Imagine caring more about some lowly birds than Musk’s hulking, phallic, silver rockets! She must be a [insert vomitorium of misogynistic, racist and ableist slurs here]. Musk, his boys and bots predicted, will just pick up his expensive toys and move them to still-Republican Louisiana or Florida, leaving economic carnage in his wake.

So far, Hinojosa seems unmoved. In Texas, she and Senator-elect James Talarico shaped their campaigns as battles of the many v the money, a vertical struggle pitting the vast majority of Texans, struggling to get by, against the increasingly concentrated wealth at the top – perfectly embodied by the man flooding their democracy with cash. As Talarico reminded an audience of supporters in Austin last month: “Elon Musk wants our land. He wants our water. He wants our tax dollars. He wants his very own personal United States senator.”

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