TX-24: Will A Diverse Electorate Make The Difference In Flipping Texas' 24th Congressional District?
While Texas' 24th Congressional District has long been a Republican stronghold, this election, it's emerged as a key battleground. The district spans smaller cities and northern suburbs across Dallas, Denton, and Tarrant Counties.
To some political observers, it's a sign of progress that this race has come down to two women.
"That just makes me happy," said Victoria DeFrancesco Soto, assistant dean for civic engagement at the University of Texas Austin's LBJ School of Public Affairs. DeFrancesco Soto said in much of Texas, the demographics of suburban districts have shifted since the last election.
"So what had traditionally been a more homogenous majority white area is now a diverse area with white, Latino, Black folks living together and making districts that were previously not competitive extremely competitive," DeFrancesco Soto said.
The race for Texas' 24th Congressional District was left open after Republican incumbent Kenny Marchant announced he would not seek reelection. Texas Democrats seized on the opportunity, throwing their support behind Candace Valenzuela, a former trustee on the Carrollton-Farmers Branch School Board.
"I best represent this district because of my lived experience, because of my governance experience," Valenzuela said. "I started running for Congress because the opportunities that helped me go from being homeless as a kid to becoming the first in my family to go to college to becoming the first woman of color on the Carrollton-Farmers Branch School Board, those opportunities need to be available to everyone."
https://www.keranews.org/politics/2020-10-28/will-a-diverse-electorate-make-the-difference-in-flipping-texas-24th-congressional-district