They don't need to be regulated, they need to be forcefully taken into public ownership. Utilities shouldn't be privatised, and neither should public transport for that matter. All these companies do is siphon off profits to shareholders without re-investing and maintaining the infrastructure as they should.
Does the mayor have any influence whatsoever over Centerpoint, the private company given a monopoly by the state government which has been run by Republicans for god knows how long?
Take any metric you like: child mortality, educational outcomes, hunger, per capita income, media income, purchasing power parity, you name it.
Compare those cities to traditionally Republican run states.
Try it.
There is a very very good reason why the best and brightest leave rural republican areas and move to the big cities: it is better in almost every way we measure human wellbeing.
This is what happens when the only "history" you consume is from reddit comments. I'm embarrassed for you. This is top-tier /r/confidentlyincorrect cringe. No, not the Dixiecrats, the Democratic Party. From your GP above:
"... traditionally Republican run states."
The South was not "traditionally Republican run", it was solidly Democratic: "The Solid South was the electoral voting bloc for the Democratic Party in the Southern United States between the end of the Reconstruction era in 1877 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964."[0] Traditionally the "Red" states you opine about were a staunch voting bloc for the Democratic Party.
