By Giselle Lee | Staff Writer
While the campaigns in Texas have been focused fundamentally on the affordability crisis, the Texas Senate race between Republican Ken Paxton and Democrat James Talarico remains highly contested due to the engagement of identity politics from both candidates.
Described as linking a group’s identity, typically racial or ethnic, to a political identity, identity politics has fueled discussions about Talarico’s and Paxton’s characters, particularly their interpretation of Christianity and their views on gender and sexuality.
Dr. Patrick Flavin, chair of the political science department, said the definition of identity politics has evolved beyond linking personal success to race to encompass different parts of an individual’s identity.
Flavin said the term now carries a “negative connotation” because of the intense pushback against diversity initiatives across the nation.
“When you hear identity politics now, it’s too focused on someone’s racial or ethnic identity at the loss of their political opinions,” Flavin said. “That shouldn’t be so strongly linked together; whatever racial group or gender group or whatever you’re a part of shouldn’t be your political identity or transcendent that you’re going to vote for.”
San Antonio senior Jackson White said singling out aspects of identity to influence these groups could affect voting on an issue-by-issue basis and have tangible effects at the community level.
“People may have a tendency to simplify down complicated issues, complicated topics and see kind of an us-versus-them mentality,” White said. “It results in us voting along very narrow lines of identity rather than what might actually be in the best interests for us and our communities.”
Flavin said the relationship between partisanship and voting patterns across the U.S. has “increased in strength” over the past few decades.
“Political partisanship explains a lot of where we are today,” Flavin said. “If party attachment or party loyalty or animosity towards the other side leads you to support candidates that you wouldn’t otherwise would or if you took the party labels off and think, ‘I would never vote for that person,’ I think [that] is problematic.”
According to a survey conducted during the 2024 presidential election by the Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University, the future of politics belongs to the next generation of voters, as people aged 18-34 made up over 40 million potential voters, nearly one-fifth of the American electorate.
The Woodlands senior Sophia DaSilva said it is important that students vote to take “control and ownership” of their political journey as they become adults, especially in upcoming local or state elections.
“With this generation, we like to be very vocal on our opinions,” DaSilva said. “Going to the poll and trying to make a difference, especially in your state politics … because then your voice is heard. It’s important to vote based on yourself and how you believe Texas should be run for the next upcoming years.”
White echoed the sentiment.
“The decisions that are being made today are going to impact our generation for the rest of our lives,” White said. “Most of the changes that affect people’s everyday lives happen locally, whether that’s your mayor’s race, whether that’s your local council people. It would do us good to focus on our home districts and educate ourselves on the candidates and the policies there, which often differ from maybe the national platform of the parties that they might be representing.”
Flavin and DaSilva urged students to look beyond social media and campaign advertisements to form their own opinions before voting, as misinformation about candidates and issues keeps emerging.
“A lot of people are really quick to do a Google search, maybe look at each candidate’s website and then just go in and for the most part vote on their party lines,” DaSilva said. “I think [it’s important] to do a deep dive on both candidates, not just looking at what Instagram or TikTok or what the campaign ads are saying.”
White said students should not be “intimidated” by friends or family who tell them that voting for a certain candidate is a “vote for the opposition,” as it creates a negative perception of the purpose behind voting.
“A big reason why we are where we are in terms of division in our country is because we are focused on keeping the other person out of power rather than finding the best people that we want to support,” White said. “If we start voting based on who we really want to see rather than against the person that you hate, that’s how we can start to reunify our country and find more constructive ways forward.”
