Why Texas's overwhelmingly Latino Rio Grande Valley turned toward Trump

[TexasTowelie]

SAN ANTONIO — While President-elect Joe Biden did not win Texas, he came closer than any Democratic presidential candidate in years, losing the state by six points — a narrowing made possible by Latino voters from urban strongholds.

But something different happened along the Rio Grande.

Republicans ran up their numbers in the overwhelmingly Hispanic, reliably Democratic counties along the border, taking advantage of the habitual underinvestment and lack of infrastructure there, as well as neglect from the state and national Democratic parties.

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.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/texas-latino-republicans/2020/11/09/17a15422-1f92-11eb-ba21-f2f001f0554b_story.html

[Loki Liesmith]

1. That was not very informative

[LeftInTX]

4. I thought it was!

Aron Pena is involved with this.(a switchover, who won the red tide of 2010)

Although the region is Democratic, it is full of blue dogs...Henry Cuellar, Eddie Lucio etc. Oil and gas are big.

Jen Ramos, a leader in the state’s Democratic Party executive committee, grew quiet late Tuesday when she saw how many people on the border voted for Trump, including in her hometown of Laredo.

“But you don’t want to say ‘I told you so,’ on election night,” she said.

While there was some liberal organizing in these communities, Ramos said it wasn’t enough and came too late. The top Democrats in the state party are nearly all from South Texas but offered no alternative or counter messaging. In 2018, unsuccessful Senate candidate Beto O’Rourke struggled to get out the vote in the Valley.

“We as a party, need to fix this and regain the trust of our voters,” Ramos said.

There is too much reliance on Demographics and too much reliance on messaging such as "children in cages"...We think those will sway voters, but harsh immigration policies probably weigh the same on latinos as they do on anglos. People fail to realize that "group think" is not involved. The issues that are important to many Latinos are: Healthcare, jobs, public education etc. Issues that are popular with working class. Those messages seemed to be missing this cycle.

[Loki Liesmith]

6. I was hoping for something more quantitative

It was very much about people’s impressions. But the sense I got was “Democrats didn’t work for the vote.”

But that doesn’t tell me about what issues they need to work on or what kinds of outreach are going to work.

[LeftInTX]

7. I kinda think a bit more elbow grease would have gone a long way!

The border area is not "progressive"...The voters tend to be blue dog types and elect blue dogs like Henry Cuellar and Eddie Lucio. They also elected Aron Pena, who is referenced in the article.

Nevertheless, I still think elbow grease would have gone a long way!

[TexasTowelie]

9. Include Filemon Vela and Vicente Gonzalez as two other Democratic U.S. representatives

that are fairly conservative. While Cuellar was the representative challenged from the left during the primaries, the other two did not face challenges because their districts are gerrymandered and are winnable by both parties in a general election.

[elleng]

2. 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.

Alfonso Solis was an unemployed oil industry worker when Donald Trump ascended to the presidency and promised jobs. The 32-year-old soon found steady work in west Texas. He voted for Trump this year.

Alisa Rios-Carroll could not stop smiling after election workers rang a bell for her as she slipped her first ballot into the machine Tuesday. The recent college graduate skipped the 2016 election but said the pandemic and health care moved her to vote for Biden. . .

Their differences render a complex portrait of Latinos in the Lone Star state and the country at large. The various communities that comprise “Latinos” in Texas are diverse depending on their social class, assimilation, generation, education, immigration history and region. This brings a layer of nuance to political behavior that polling and models fail to capture, defies ideological strictures and demands meaningful engagement.

“They are conservative, liberal, indifferent and hybrid,” said Trinidad Gonzales, a professor of history and Mexican American studies at South Texas College. “Part of the injustice of living as a minority in the United States is not being afforded the same understanding of personhood and its complexities and contradictions that everyone else gets to live with.” . .

State Democrats said the party is doing a post-mortem to win back Latino voters. But some Latino political activists who have raised alarms about the changing political winds said the playbook has already been written — by them. The party just needs to listen.

The message: There is not one Latino vote. There are millions of Latinos who vote. And in Texas, it pays to resist the urge to oversimplify.

“Invest in Latinos everywhere. It’s complicated and not complicated,” said Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez, founder of the liberal Latino organization, Jolt. “Spend money on Latinos. Speak to them early and make sure you understand the regional and cultural differences.”'

[Shell_Seas]

3. I think Republicans cheated.

[They_Live]

5. agree

[LeftInTX]

8. I talked to one of my friends from Laredo

They vote in primaries, but don't really care about federal elections. They are into local politics.

[LeftInTX]

10. You know all those food bank lines???

All those boxes had big old signed messages from Trump....

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/10/01/trump-letter-food-aid-boxes-424230