“Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.” John Steinbeck

I think he's saying: don't avoid Texas simply because of the number of poor people here.

I think he's saying that their situations shouldn't be included in evaluations of how well Texas is governed. Every place is well run if you ignore the parts that don't work well.

He's not saying that Texas is necessarily well governed; he's saying that it's a good place to live and start a business.