The fallout — financial, medical and political — will be felt long after the snows melt away. History suggests that memories of the blizzard will haunt those who failed to prepare. “If Texas mishandles the snowfall, which is likely because they have so little snow experience, it could cause [Republicans] to lose some races in 2022,” said Dick Simpson, a native Texan who teaches political science at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Simpson, a former Chicago alderman, retired from public office in 1979, the same year Mayor Michael Bilandic badly mishandled a two-day snowstorm. In the midst of the flurry, snowplows were slow to hit the streets. Bilandic ordered Chicago’s "L" trains to bypass stops in majority-Black neighborhoods.