Texas at the forefront

The rightward turn has put Texas at the forefront of the culture wars wracking the United States. For many entrepreneurs who have flocked to the state and helped expand its economy particularly in recent years, turning major cities like Austin and Houston into liberal outposts in a traditionally conservative state, this has been an unwelcome turnaround.

The so-called "heartbeat law", wanted by the conservative governor of the state, Greg Abbott, which severely limited the possibility of terminating pregnancy, crowned a policy that pushed Texas far to the right on a series of sensitive social issues such as guns and the right to vote.

Business and political leaders fear this turnaround, as well as the handling of the pandemic and the collapse of the power grid during last February's Arctic storm, threaten to displace the kind of workers the growing Texas economy needs.

“I love Texas, but certainly the politics here can be a drag,” said Ashley Fleckenstein, who moved to Austin from Michigan last December. Fleckenstein is one of many young workers drawn to this city's booming tech industry.

He regards abortion restrictions as particularly disheartening. She fears that women will become "pawns" in a political game to retain conservative electorates by distracting them from the state's failure to manage the February 2021 energy crisis.

The Austin Miracle

Austin is one of the fastest growing cities in the US: It has a buzzing arts and culture scene, relatively affordable housing, no personal income taxes, and the kind of relaxed regulatory regime that businesses love.

Elon Musk planted his flag in Austin, making it the base for everything from building batteries to satellites and electric vehicles.

Other tech heavyweights, such as Oracle and HP, have recently moved their headquarters to Austin. Apple and Google are among the businesses investing a lot of money in the city.

A considerable number of the newcomers have settled in liberal enclaves to shelter themselves from the conservative politics of the state. But the sharp turn to the right in recent months has posed new problems and called this choice into question.

Stay or go?

“Living in the Bay Area, then moving here and having this law [on abortion], it's especially shocking,” says Ms. Fleckenstein.

The abortion law prohibits the termination of pregnancy once cardiac activity is detected in the fetus, which usually occurs around the sixth week of pregnancy, before most women even know they are pregnant. It is one of the most restrictive laws in the United States.

The Biden administration is working to overturn the law, but Texas has put itself at the forefront of the conservative push to cancel Roe vs. Wade, the historic Supreme Court ruling that guarantees the right to abortion throughout the country.

The Texas legislature has also passed new laws in recent months that tightened ballot access and relaxed gun laws, along with several other measures long supported by right-wing groups in the GOP.

Some of the largest Texas companies have repeatedly spoken out against the legislative activity pushed by the Republicans, especially on electoral restrictions, but this has not stopped the investments of these companies in the state, and also the donations to politicians who promote these laws.

The latter, for their part, have rejected the criticisms of business leaders, or even used them to reinforce their populist credentials.

The effects on businesses

Still, there is concern among some businesses about the fallout from these laws and the state's political framework.

“A lot is happening in Texas now. We're all feeling it,” Michael Dell, chief executive officer of Dell Technologies, told the company's Texan employees about him in a Sept. 8 note seen by the “Financial Times”. Company management is "looking closely at the implications of the recent legislation on our business and on you," he added.

Dell did not mention the abortion law in the memo. The company hasn't taken a public position on the matter, but Dell said it wanted its employees to have "more coverage, not less ... where and when they need it."

However, Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, tweeted that if employees "want to leave, we will help them get out of Texas."

No! They will stay in Texas

Abbott denied that state policies would dissuade businesses and individuals from coming to Texas.

"People are voting with their feet and what's happening isn't slowing the influx of businesses into the state of Texas at all," Abbott told CNBC after signing the abortion restrictions bill. "They are leaving the very liberal state of California."

Since 2010, Texas has added about 4 million people to its population, according to the latest census data, more than any other state. So far, there have been few signs that the flow to Texas, which accelerated during the pandemic, is slowing.

The influx of outsiders over the past decade has helped shift the state's demographic toward a younger, more ethnically diverse population, raising Democrat hopes they can win in Texas.

But Jim Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin, said while immigration could "have some political effect in certain hinterlands," so far it hasn't caused "major upheavals" in the state's overall political set-up.

Full speed ahead!

The new laws are popular with politically active Republican voters, many of whom live in rural areas surrounding increasingly blue (the color of Republicans) cities, where “Keep America Great” and “Unborn Lives Matter” signs dot the landscape. .

Henson expects Texas Republicans to push culture war issues in an effort to rally these voters ahead of the party's primary election. Republicans feel little threat from a crippled Democrat party "caught by surprise" by painful electoral defeats in 2020.

In the near future, the Texan legislature plans to pass restrictions on transgender participation in youth sports and a bill to prevent the state from requiring a Covid-19 vaccine, setting up another potential showdown with the Biden administration. .

Ms Fleckenstein says the abortion law is disappointing but that it will stay in Texas. “I intend to stay here even if life is more stressful. It's a disappointment to live in the United States and have to think about this kind of thing." From: Justin Jacobs, Texans find themselves on the frontline of US culture wars, “The Financial Times”, 13 September 2021