This time, rural voters nationwide ‘just weren’t there’ for the GOP

LAMPASAS, Texas — Standing at the edge of his family’s 300-acre cattle ranch in Central Texas, Clayton Tucker is characteristically attired in a white Stetson western hat, a beige shirt with pearl snaps, and lightly faded Wrangler jeans. At 35, Tucker is poised to become the first Democrat in more than three decades to serve as Texas agriculture commissioner, a post from which he will oversee policies affecting much of rural Texas. The last Democrat to serve as agriculture commissioner left office in January of 1991— a month before Tucker was born. Tucker, who takes office in January, benefitted from the Democratic wave that swept across Texas and other states in the midterm elections, propelled by widespread disenchantment with Republican policies, both in the cities and on the farm.

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