Every state carries a story it tells about itself, and Texas has long been told as a single, steady color on the map. In a conversation with NPR's Rob Schmitz, Austin commentator David Griscom questions that tidy narrative through his book The Myth of Red Texas, arguing that a tradition of economic populism, concerned with fairness and the everyday interests of ordinary people, has run through the state's past and been quietly forgotten. The claim is less a rewriting than a reminder that memory is selective, and that a place's politics may be richer than the labels applied to it.
Rethinking Texas: The Forgotten Tradition of Economic Populism in the Lone Star State
The myth of a uniformly red Texas, set against a forgotten populist strand
Mark
So what's the basic claim here?
Mimi
That Texas isn't only the red state of popular imagination. David Griscom's book, The Myth of Red Texas, says there's a long tradition of economic populism that has been forgotten.
Mark
Why does the title say myth?
Mimi
Because the picture of Texas as uniformly conservative treats one political moment as if it were the whole history. He's arguing the record is more varied than that.
Luke
Before we go further, what does the interview actually give us in terms of evidence?
Mimi
Honestly, not much detail. We know the thesis and the book's subject. The specific episodes and figures aren't laid out in what we have.
Luke
Then we should be clear that this is one author's argument, not an established consensus. We can report what he claims, not whether it holds up.
Mark
Fair. Why does it matter that he's an Austin commentator?
Mimi
It tells you where he's speaking from, but it doesn't prove or disprove anything. It's context, not evidence.
Luke
Agreed. And whether this changes how Texas politics gets discussed is speculation. It's a possibility, nothing more.
Mark
So what should a reader do with it?
Mimi
Take it as an invitation to look at the history, and read the book for the substance.
Il Polso
- A familiar picture of Texas as uniformly conservative is being publicly challenged by a commentator who calls it a myth.
- The forgotten populist strand, centered on economic fairness, sits uneasily against the state's settled red-state reputation.
- Griscom's book works to recover that buried tradition, tracing it across the state's past rather than the present partisan alignment alone.
- The conversation leaves the central evidence to the book itself, so the case for a reframed Texas remains an open invitation rather than a closed verdict.
Every state carries a story it tells about itself, and Texas has long been told as a single, steady color on the map. In a conversation with NPR's Rob Schmitz, Austin commentator David Griscom questions that tidy narrative through his book The Myth of Red Texas, arguing that a tradition of economic populism, concerned with fairness and the everyday interests of ordinary people, has run through the state's past and been quietly forgotten. The claim is less a rewriting than a reminder that memory is selective, and that a place's politics may be richer than the labels applied to it.
NPR's Rob Schmitz recently sat down with David Griscom, an Austin-based political commentator, to discuss his book The Myth of Red Texas. The conversation, published in early November 2026, turns on a claim that runs against the usual description of the state: that Texas has a deep tradition of economic populism that has been largely forgotten.
The familiar picture is of a reliably conservative state whose politics seem fixed. Griscom's book contests that picture. Its title carries the argument: in his telling, the single unbroken red Texas is a myth, not an accurate account of the state's political past.
In its place, Griscom traces a different thread, a politics concerned with economic fairness and the interests of ordinary people. The published summary does not detail the specific episodes or evidence he draws on, but the outline of his case is clear: the tradition is real, it belongs to Texas history, and it was forgotten rather than absent.
Schmitz uses the interview to ask what changes when that history is remembered. If the populist strand is as significant as Griscom argues, then describing Texas only through red-state stereotypes leaves out part of the record. Readers wanting the historical detail will need the book itself.
NPR's Rob Schmitz sat down with David Griscom, an Austin-based political commentator, to talk about a book Griscom has written called The Myth of Red Texas. The conversation, published in early November 2026, centers on a claim that cuts against the way the state is usually described: that Texas has a long tradition of economic populism, and that this tradition has been largely forgotten.
The starting point is the familiar picture. Texas is commonly portrayed as uniformly conservative, a reliably red state whose politics are treated as settled and almost timeless. Griscom's book takes issue with that framing. Its title carries the argument: the idea of a single, unbroken red Texas, in his telling, is a myth rather than a description of the state's whole political past.
What the book offers in its place is a different thread running through Texas history. Griscom traces a strand of economic populism, a politics concerned with economic fairness and the interests of ordinary people, that he says has been overlooked in how the state's story is told. The book follows that strand through the state's past rather than treating the present partisan alignment as the whole picture.
The interview itself is brief, and the published summary does not detail which episodes, figures, or periods Griscom draws on, nor the specific evidence he offers. What is clear is the shape of his case: that the tradition is real, that it is part of Texas history, and that it has been forgotten rather than absent.
Griscom is based in Austin and works as a political commentator, and the book comes from that vantage point. Schmitz, an NPR correspondent, uses the conversation to put the book's central question to its author: what does it change to remember that Texas politics once, and in some form still, included this populist tradition?
The implication is a reframing. If the populist strand is as significant as Griscom argues, then describing Texas purely through red-state stereotypes leaves out part of the record. The discussion may prompt listeners to reconsider how the state's politics are framed beyond the partisan labels usually applied to it. Readers curious about the specifics will need to turn to the book itself, which is where the historical detail lives.
Citazioni salienti
Texas's political history includes a strong, largely forgotten tradition of economic populism, rather than being uniformly red.— David Griscom, paraphrased from his book's argument
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