The Red State Brain Drain Isn’t Coming. It’s Happening Right Now.

many people in red states think that talent and wealth are moving to red states to escape liberal politics. they are in a different dimension

A good friend of mine with a masters in Aerospace Engineering had a job offer in Texas from NASA & she turned it down because of their pro-forced birth laws.

This would be bad news for red states except the people left still get 2 senators, a disproportionate number of electoral votes, and the ability to use the internet.

Well, yeah, conservative policies are horrible. I don't see why smart people would want to live under them.

I've lived in Florida my whole life and I'm not leaving without a fight. I'll be damned if I let my home fall to fascism. I got involved in my union. Now I'm vice president and I'm getting involved in the UAW CAP and I'll be lobbying the government for labor rights. My mission is to punch Desantis in the dong. Momma ain't raise no quitter.

I know the red/blue model is useful in some cases but I live in a red state (Louisiana) in one of the most blue cities in America (New Orleans). Biden won like 40% of the statewide vote and we have a two-term Democratic governor (about to leave office but still). And that’s with a state Democratic Party that is a constant mess, never has resources, gets zero national investment or attention, and sometimes doesn’t even field candidates.

National politics isn’t everything. Sure, Biden shouldn’t spend much time or money here but Democrats have no excuse not to have an aggressive 50 state operation. Just having a credible candidate means a scandal can flip a Congressional seat but attorney generals and secretaries of state matter too. There’s even value in losing an election even if your candidate is just on the local news calling out his opponent.

I'm a tech worker who's planning to move from one of those states international oversight groups consider "no longer a democracy" to a blue state.

I feel like this is part of a Republican long game - make their states so unpalatable to progressives that they move out, thus ensuring that the US Senate and House are never again under Democratic control. It's like a for of self-imposed gerrymandering for Democrats, packing themselves into the few states with liberal legislaturea and policies.

Of course, those blue states will continue to subsidize the red states through tax dollars and federal programs, but that's another issue entirely.

Sorry, add here and super lazy. I started reading the piece and within a few paragraphs I realized I was just reading a story about some couple I don't really give two shits about. Then I quickly scrolled up and down in the article and saw how long it was.

So can anyone tell me when it gets to the actual evidence that there is a brain drain? Make no mistake about it, my wife and I (my wife highly trained and me a software engineer) left a red state with our family partially, even only slightly so, because of state policies. So its not surprise it happens.

It's intentional. Easier to commit atrocities when there's nobody intelligent around.

The second I get a stable job, it's off to Colorado. While it's still blue.

It's been going on for a while now ...

Oh, no!

Anyway.

Isn't that why they're red?