People are raising their eyebrows after conservative influencer Tomi Lahren went viral with a warning for Democrats not to flee to "our great red cities."
Lahren's post came in response to the significant losses Republicans faced around the country following Tuesday's elections.
Democrats won the governorship in Virginia and New Jersey, California successfully passed a redistricting effort to counter GOP gerrymandering in Texas, and Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist, won the mayor's race in New York City, sending shockwaves around the world.
Lahren wrote:
"After yall finish totally screwing up your blue cities and states you’ll decide to flee to our great red cities and states with your “coexist” and “no human is illegal” yard signs. Please don’t come. You made your bed. Stay there."
You can see her post below.
Those words sure were funny coming from someone whose social media profile advertises they live in Nashville, Tennessee—a blue city in one of the reddest of states.
@TomiLahren/X
Everyone was wondering the same thing... what "great red cities"?
It's worth noting that blue states tend to be wealthier than red states and pay more money to the federal government than they receive so they effectively subsidize low-tax red states.
An Associated Press fact-check notes that high-tax blue states "send far more tax dollars to Washington than residents in low-tax states," and the majority of low-tax states "make a profit from the federal government’s system of taxing and spending."
Data from MoneyGeek shows that seven of the ten states most reliant on federal dollars lean Republican, receiving an average of $1.24 for every dollar they contribute.
In contrast, blue states typically see a slightly lower return, averaging $1.14 per dollar paid in federal taxes. New Mexico, a Democratic-leaning state, receives the highest return at $3.42 per dollar contributed, while Delaware, another blue state, gets the least at $0.46.
However, aside from these exceptions, wealthier blue states generally pay more in federal taxes than they receive, due to their higher tax revenues and lower reliance on government aid.
@GregAbbott_TX/X
