The model of governance may not be too your liking, and also be a bit heavy handed in some areas for my personal Christian beliefs - it is ok to have different belief systems... and let the states and citizens of the states decide where to live.

Something seems to be working well enough for most TXn's though.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating, right? Texas has been that way for decades, and yet it’s a major destination for people leaving “more liberal states.” California was never as Christian, but it was solidly red through the 1980s, and was a major destination at that time as well. Same thing for Virginia, through the 1990s.

When my parents came to this country, they chose to live in a Virginia county that was so red a Democrat wouldn’t even run for the Congressional seat in some cycles. They could’ve moved next door to liberal Maryland, but they didn’t. I’ve never gotten a satisfactory explanation for that.

Virginia was a destination because the FedGov was spending boucoup money since the Reagan Era, and VA has a ton of Gov and Military presence. The inside of the state may be literally Liberty University level conservative, but the defense contractors moving there were generally well educated and voted blue -- and moved there to do lucrative contracting work.

Until recently, affluent, educated voters leaned Republican. That was certainly true of where I grew up in the 1990s in Northern VA.