Republican Debate — UH? UH!
The 10th (I believe, so many…) GOP debate will be held at the University of Houston in the Moores Opera House at the Moores School of Music, hosted by Telemundo and CNN on February 25, 2016 at 8:30 p.m. ET. This debate is the first debate after Jeb Bush dropped out of the race. Everyone else is supposed to be there Trump, Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Carson, Gov Kasich and Marco Rubio, so it should be exciting!
The biggest question I have is -
“Why Houston?”
Houston is a very diverse ethnically (with many Black, Hispanic, and Muslim people) and is very liberal, so it just does not seem to make sense why the GOP debates would be here, meaning in Houston, particularly, the population strongly opposes the ideals of these GOP candidates. Obviously, I think it is an awesome thing to have the debates at the University of Houston, but I want to explore the Republican’s process in thinking about this location for the debate.
- One reason could be Super Tuesday is only 5 days after, and this certainly is an attempt to solidify support from Texans (and possibly other Southerners).
- Youth? The Republicans could be trying to get younger voters on their side, which may be hard because of how liberal the school and the student body is. Yes, there are some conservatives, however, they are outnumbered, which may not be a horrible thing, because it could still help.
- The only other thing that makes a little sense to me is this is a ploy to get moderates in Houston to vote for the GOP candidacy. However, Texas consistently votes Republican in the general election, so it may not make much sense, unless they are predicting a shift in voting due to the growing Hispanic population shifting the vote, and are trying to solidify their ties to Texas.
We’ll see how the debates go and if they effect Super Tuesday.
Regardless of their reasons and how successful this move will be for the GOP party, University of Houston is honored to be the chosen location for the debate (despite the lack of parking). Some students may not approve, however, this still is pretty cool to have the debate happen next door!
