Rick Perry: Texas Going Blue 'Is the Biggest Pipedream I Have Ever Heard

AP

Texas is staying red, red, red.

Gov. Rick Perry on Saturday laughed off recent talk that his state could someday go blue, telling the Wall Street Journal it's "the biggest pipedream I have ever heard."

“The University of Texas will change its colors to maroon and white before Texas goes purple, much less blue,” the longtime Republican governor told the Journal. Maroon and white are the colors of Texas A&M, the University of Texas's in-state arch rival.

The Texas Democratic Party said last week the biggest and most fail-safe red state in the country could "absolutely" become a swing state in 2016, particularly if Hillary Clinton runs. Texas has gone for the Republicans in every presidential election since 1980, but even the state's Republican Party has said it's not taking anything for granted.

“If she’s the nominee, I would say that this is a ‘lean Republican’ state but not a ‘solid Republican’ state,” Texas GOP Chairman Steve Munisteri told Real Clear Politics. “I don’t know anyone nationally who’s scoffing at this. The national party leadership is aware and tells me they’re taking it seriously.”

That's on the heels of San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, who gave the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in September and said he was optimistic about his state first going purple and then blue before long.

“In a couple of presidential cycles, you’ll be on election night, you’ll be announcing we’re calling the 38 electoral votes of Texas for the Democratic nominee for president,” Castro said.

But Perry dismissed such talk for one reason: freedom.

“People in Texas truly aspire to freedom. They don’t want government coming in and telling them how much of this or how much of that," he told the Journal.

“Democrats are about government getting bigger and bigger and government providing more and more,” he said. “Texans have never been for that, and Texans never will.”

(h/t Huffington Post)

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​Related:

• Texas GOP Chair: If Hillary Runs in 2016, Texas Won’t Be a ‘Solid Republican’ State
• San Antonio Mayor Predicts: Texas Is Going ‘Purple’ Soon