They can’t escape the liberal life.
Californians who fled to Texas due to the cost of living crisisand Democratic policies are looking to move again after the blue tsunami hit the Lone Star State.
Families are now looking to relocate to nearby Oklahoma, Florida, Tennessee or the Carolinas for safer Republican sanctuaries after the explosive midterm results in the state.
Some are even weighing up a return to the Golden Statefor the pleasant weather, having given up on escaping liberal leaders.
It comes after a blue wave shocked the nation by sweeping Texas, with Democrats James Talarico and Gina Hinojosa winning the Senate and gubernatorial races.
Marie Bailey, a 44-year-old originally from El Segundo, California, commands a large Facebook group filled with Californians looking to move to Texas.
But now, Bailey told the LA Times that even she is thinking of abandoning her Dallas-Fort Worth-area home for Oklahoma or Florida.
“I’m actually thinking of moving to Oklahoma because of this,” she said. “Or Florida.” She’s thinking about the move despite leading the large California-to-Texas group for years.
Members of Bailey’s group also showed displeasure with the recent blue wins. “If I have to tolerate blue I might as well have good weather so maybe back to CA? Or give FL a try?” one said.
“I am literally closing on a house in Texas next week! I am so pissed,” another added about the elections.
Another native Californian, baseball mom Breana Janel, suggested she was “heartbroken” about Democrats taking over Texas.
Janel, who once supported Republican Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco in California’s gubernatorial race, said she “knew” Democrats “were coming for Texas,” but thought she had more time.
“I don’t know that I can justify moving from one blue state to another…And I fear that Texas will never flip back,” she wrote. “Now that they have control, I don’t think they’ll let go.”
“That’s a lateral move. And for what? For it to look even more like California in four years?”
Janel is considering moving to Tennessee, the Carolinas, or Georgia, she said. Even those states would not be totally absent from the Democratic reach.
Democrats notched several key victories in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. The wins came as Democrats flipped both the Senate and the House in DC.
It’s unlikely the blue wave resulted from new transplants from California in Texas —there’s evidence that the people moving to Texas from California are more conservative, one researcher said.
Joshua Blank, research director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin, told the LA Times most people moving to Texas from California “tend to be moderate to conservative in their views.”
Outside of politics, though the issue remains intertwined, Californians who are looking or choose to move out of state cite affordability as a chief reason.
Texas is considered to be cheaper for housing, one of the most expensive commodities in the Golden State.
“Ninety-nine percent of our clientele are people moving from California,” Bailey said. “No. 1 [reason] is cost of living and No. 2 is politics.”
A 2025 analysis by the California-based policy research institute RAND found that it is more than 2.3 times the cost to build multifamily housingin the Golden State than in Texas.
One couple told their story on Bailey’s website, saying they sold their two-bedroom, one-bathroom house in Orange County and moved into a five-bedroom, four-bathroom home in Texas.
“Our enthusiasm for Texas is real, our abundance is overflowing, and we are grateful, y’all,” the couple said.
The Gomez family, also cited by Bailey as a success story, said they chose to finally leave California after the pandemic crippled their business and put them “within an inch of total financial ruin.”
One visit to the Lone Star State was enough for them to pack up and leave. “If you’re on the fence, this is your sign. Take the leap. The weight has lifted and we’re beyond blessed to be in Texas,” they wrote at the time.
Blank believes any Californian with buyer’s remorse concerning their Texas home is “silly.”
“They don’t have to move back,” he said. “And if they do, I’m gonna tell them they’re silly. It’s not a good way to make decisions.”
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