He anxiously picked at a bowl of chips and salsa while watching two friends lose their elections. Art Pronin, a longtime activist and president of the Meyerland Area Democrats Club in southwest Houston, who sports well-kempt sideburns and a faintly nervous smile, had only reluctantly attended a watch party for the 2024 Texas primary. He had developed what he calls a “phobia” of such events in 2016, when he stayed up late with a group of activists only to be poleaxed by Hillary Clinton’s surprise loss to Donald Trump. This March, he had braved the trip to a Day of the Dead-themed bar in Houston at the invitation of Friend One, Todd Litton, an attorney seeking the Democratic nomination for a seat in the state…