Posted on 11/10/2020 12:04:25 PM PST by BeauBo
Something different happened along the Rio Grande.
Republicans ran up their numbers in the overwhelmingly Hispanic, reliably Democratic counties along the border...
The shift extended through the more than 1,200-mile border, from the populous lower delta of Brownsville and McAllen to the sparse ranchland near Laredo and the high desert of El Paso.
Biden won majorities in most counties, but by dramatically smaller margins than Hillary Clinton in 2016. Clinton won Starr and Hidalgo counties by commanding margins — 60 and 40 percentage points, respectively. Biden won Starr County by five points and Hidalgo by 17.
The bluest of blue counties along the river, Zapata County, flipped to President Trump, who won 52.5 percent of the vote. It was the first time since Reconstruction that a Republican presidential candidate won Zapata County.
Zapata and Starr counties are tiny communities that may never sway an election. But the story of Trump’s performance and Biden’s backslide along the Texas border, experts say, shows the importance of cultivating deeper relationships with a diverse Latino population that continues to claim a growing and dominant share of the Texas electorate.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Denial.
In New Mexico, one of the Congressional Districts along the Border flipped from D to R.
Does not pass the smell test.
Which party are the racists here?
Every quest needs heroes. This is the hero of the piece - a man who went up against insurmountable political odds, and overcame them, in eking out a Trump win at the county level:
Barrera was encouraged by his cousin, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s chief of staff Luis Saenz, to take the helm of the local Republican Party. He took cues from his counterpart in neighboring Hidalgo County, Aron Peña, who used what he learned as a Democratic campaign worker to draw disaffected Hispanic Democrats to the Republican Party.
Peña and his family switched parties in 2010, helping to form the foundation of a Republican grass-roots resurgence in the Rio Grande Valley. They organized gun groups, Boy and Girl Scout parents, Bible study groups and started College Republicans chapters to run conservative candidates for government. They encouraged church groups to vote not for parties but values, specifically promoting antiabortion issues and upward mobility in one of the poorest and most religious regions of the country.
“Republicans sometimes sneer at Obama’s past as a community organizer. But I correct them because he had the right idea. We took that Democratic playbook and applied it here,” Peña said. “We seized on the Democratic Party’s alienation of centrists.”
Texas Republicans don’t see changing demographics as the death knell of their party. Abbott made nearly 20 visits to the Rio Grande Valley during his 2014 gubernatorial campaign and made it his first stop in his 2018 reelection bid. He earned endorsements from local leaders and campaigned for Republicans there.]
Texas has not had until a couple of years ago the Mexican American studies curriculum in the public schools that Arizona has had for couple of decades. It is a close cousin to critical race theory. Anglo bad. Brownish good. It builds hate and community activists.
Texans move quickly. Texas’
School Board bought it from same neoMarxist who sold it to Arizona
Interestingly, it looks like Trump did about 5 points worse among blacks and Anglos in Texas than Abbott did in 2018, but about 5 points better among Latinos.
https://www.ksat.com/news/local/2020/11/06/primarily-democratic-texas-border-county-with-96-latino-population-brings-in-more-republican-votes-during-2020-election/
[STARR COUNTY, Texas – Located just west of Mission, Texas, in the Rio Grande Valley, Starr County almost went from stark blue to bright red on Election Day.
Democrat Joe Biden won 52% of the vote in Starr County, but President Donald Trump was only five points behind, a much tighter margin than when Trump lost to Hillary Clinton by 58 points in 2016.
4 big takeaways for Texas, Bexar County after 2020 election
Ross Barrera, the Starr County Republican chair, was skeptical when someone first suggested organizing a Trump Train.
Barrera said he asked, “You think that’ll work here in Starr County? I mean, do we have enough Republicans to do this?”
Yet each time, the “train” got longer.
“Something’s different. People want change, or they love the idea of what Trump has to offer,” Barrera said.
Barrera said those who came out reflected the county’s 96% Latino population. He said he had a cross-section of people asking for Trump campaign signs.
“I had some people come to my house, barely speaking in English, first-generation Americans,” he said. “These are the hardworking folks who are unemployed right now because of COVID.”
When Barrera asked them why they wanted to support Trump, he said they told him they loved America, were very pro-life, pro-Second Amendment, and they wanted less government.
Barrera also said a major factor was Starr County’s economy further devastated by the pandemic.
“People want to work. They’re very proud about getting a paycheck,” Barrera said.]
One race that’s flown under the radar is the 15th Congressional District, an 80% Hispanic district stretching from McAllen in the Valley to the eastern San Antonio suburbs. It has never been represented by a Republican. It was rated as a “Safe D” district by every polling organization.
Republican Monica de la Cruz-Hernandez came within 10,000 votes of unseating the Democrat incumbent, Vincente Gonzalez, despite spending virtually no money. If Republicans had spent just a little money there, they probably could have flipped it.
Maybe she did unseat the incumbent dem but cheating ensured the win. Maybe we will know someday.
I just wish there was some way to break the complete Dem stranglehold on San Antonio and Bexar County. I was disheartened to see the results election night, most local races 70-30 Dem.
In US District 21, Chip Roy vs Wendy Davis, Bexar County voted for Chip Roy. Only Travis, and Hayes went for Davis. Travis had 87,000 votes for Davis, IIRC. That is almost equal to votes in all the rest of the Counties in District 21 which is mostly rural.
Spurs fans.
They love being insulted.
[I just wish there was some way to break the complete Dem stranglehold on San Antonio and Bexar County. I was disheartened to see the results election night, most local races 70-30 Dem.]
If my experience is any indicator, absolutely none. Republican machine in Bexar County is incestuous and woefully out of touch.
Well, Timmy’s about to leave (quitting coaching altogether), they’re bringing back the pastel jersey and Pop’s deranged, so here’s to “rebuilding”...
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