AUSTIN (Talk1370.com) -- The chair of Texas' Democratic party is stepping down after Tuesday's election results - another election cycle in which the party's performance significantly trailed expectations.
Gilberto Hinojosa took over leadership of the party back in 2012.
“In the days and weeks to come, it is imperative that our Democratic leaders across the country reevaluate what is best for our party and embrace the next generation of leaders to take us through the next four years of Trump and win back seats up and down the ballot,” Hinojosa said, calling on Democratic leaders “at all levels to join me in lifting up the next generation in order to unite our party.”
Democrats haven't held a single statewide office in Texas since 1994. Hinojosa and other party leaders had promoted Texas as a competitive state in this year's races; instead, Donald Trump bested Kamala Harris by nearly 14 percent and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz handily won a third term by defeating Rep. Colin Allred by nearly 9 percent.
The losses continued down the ballot, where Democrat candidates lost seats in the state Legislature, nearly every contested race for the state's appellate courts, and judicial races in Harris County - the state's largest urban county where Democrats have dominated in recent years.
Hinojosa ignited a firestorm earlier this week, blaming the Democrats' performance at least in part on their handling of transgender rights.
“You have a choice as a party," Hinojosa said. "You could, for example, you can support transgender rights up and down all the categories where the issue comes up, or you can understand that there's certain things that we just go too far on, that a big bulk of our population does not support."
Hinojosa later apologized for those words, but party members and LGBTQ advocates mounted calls for him to step down.
Members of the party's governing executive committee will select Hinojosa's replacement once his resignation is effective in March. That person will serve out the remainder of Hinojosa's term.
