[bpodgursky]

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).

[sethops1]

As 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]

The 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.

[spamizbad]

Texas is becoming a hub for educated professionals and Florida is a hub for non-college retirees

[JumpCrisscross]

> 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-univer...

[2] https://www.texastribune.org/2024/10/08/Texas-obstetrics-gyn...

[hn_throwaway_99]

The interesting thing about living in a big city in Texas (and now basically all the big cities in TX lean left, not just Austin) is that the tension between city governments and the state, while frustrating at times and definitely dangerous for certain populations (I know folks with transgender kids who have moved out of TX solely for that reason), actually provides something of a decent balance that is appealing to a lot of educated professionals. I feel like a lot of the worst impulses of Dem-run cities get moderated in TX compared to west coast, Dem-run states.

For example, you can look at the housing crises in most CA cities brought on by NIMBY liberal policies, and while Austin is still very expensive, they (IMO) took the only sane approach to skyrocketing housing costs by actually building a shit ton of housing over the past few years. Austin passed a plastic bag ban a while back that was eventually overturned by the state legislature, but in the meantime a lot of people still bring their own reusable bags (stores can still charge for bags) and I've noticed much less bag pollution in creaks and streams compared to 15 years ago.

Of course, it remains to be seen what happens in the near future. The Republican party in TX is now fully showing their complete moral bankruptcy by nominating the criminal Ken Paxton for Senate, so we'll see if they fall further down the personality cult or if they eventually break.

[JumpCrisscross]

Blue city in red state has been a winning combination for at least a decade. As you say, however, the recent push towards criminalizing random shit has started corrupting that balance. There are simply too many voters who are fine tearing everything down if it hurts the other team more than theirs. Democrats have those in the far left. But in the GOP, that wing controls the party.

[rayiner]

> actually provides something of a decent balance that is appealing to a lot of educated professionals. I feel like a lot of the worst impulses of Dem-run cities get moderated in TX compared to west coast, Dem-run states.

This is true in Georgia as well. There has generally been a productive working relationship between the Democratic mayor in Atlanta and the typically republican/conservative democrat governor. That includes Kemp and Dickens (corrected) today. Back in 2017, former Mayor Shirley Franklin--who was very popular and highly effective--endorsed independent Mary Norwood for mayor over democrat Keisha Lance-Bottoms.

And in DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser works very well with Trump. They have a common interest in cleanliness and order. She’s done a great job of renovating major parks, cleaning up homeless encampments, cooperating with ICE and the national guard, and making much needed progress on construction projects. It’s been shocking to see projects like the McPherson Square Park renovation completed on time with beautiful results.

Trump is Bowser’s sin eater. She’ll publicly say the national guard isn’t needed in DC, then quietly sign an order extending their deployment. She’ll say ICE is too aggressive, then bury a proposal to end DC’s status as a sanctuary city in a budget proposal: https://www.axios.com/local/washington-dc/2025/05/28/dc-mayo.... By far the best mayor of DC in my lifetime.

[projektfu]

Andre Dickens; David Dinkins was mayor of NYC in the late 80s.

[rayiner]

Yes, good catch!

[nailer]

[1] is incredibly vague. Professors of what specifically? Computer science? Feminist theory? The second doesn't produce 'educated professionals'.

[JumpCrisscross]

> [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.)

[mcmcmc]

> Texas is becoming a hub for educated professionals

Becoming? This has been true for decades in the urban areas

[twodave]

This 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]

> Miami is like #2 behind Houston in terms of tech jobs growth

Source? (Not doubting. But I’m finding conflicting figures.)

[twodave]

I 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-th...

[broost3r]

i 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

[gritspants]

If 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]

Is populism when politicians claim to care about little people issues instead of making economy arrow go up?

[RobRivera]

Florida is a purple state

[dmoy]

Kinda? 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.

[ch4s3]

Not 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]

To be fair, "since Obama" isn't very long ago, and Hillary and Biden weren't very inspiring candidates, to say the least.

[nickv]

I 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]

> 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.

[ch4s3]

It was 18 years ago, and I did point out other metrics to support my case.

[jlarocco]

The 2016 election was 10 years ago.

[ks2048]

Interestingly, both FL and TX had the same vote for Trump in 2024: 56.1%

[lazyasciiart]

The people, sure. The elected officials? Nope.

[vkou]

It was one 25 years ago.

[rayiner]

It used to be, just like Virginia used to be solidly red. But Trump won Florida by more than Harris won New York.