‘An Earthquake’ Along the Border: Trump Flipped Hispanic South Texas
The New York Times
Donald J. Trump’s biggest gains anywhere were along the Texas border, a Democratic stronghold where most voters are Hispanic. He won 12 of the region’s 14 counties, up from five in 2016.
Nowhere in the United States have historically Democratic counties shifted so far and so fast in the direction of former President Donald J. Trump as they have in the Texas communities along the Rio Grande, where Hispanic residents make up an overwhelming majority.
In recent elections, the region’s mix of sprawling urban centers and rural ranch lands that had been reliable Democratic strongholds for generations were beginning to turn red.
Then on Tuesday, Mr. Trump brought South Texas and the border region firmly into his column, taking 12 of the 14 counties along the border with Mexico, and making significant inroads even in El Paso, the border’s biggest city. In 2016, Mr. Trump carried only five of the counties.
The support for Mr. Trump along the Texas border provided the starkest example of what has been a broad national embrace of the Republican candidate among Hispanic and working-class voters. That shift has taken place in rural communities as well as in large cities, like Miami, and in parts of New York and New Jersey.
But Texas stood out. Eight of the top 10 Democratic counties that most swung toward Mr. Trump on Tuesday were on the Texas border or within a short drive.
One of the biggest swings came in Starr County, a rural area of 65,000 people dotted with small towns where sections of border wall have been rising, incomes are low and many travel long distances to jobs in the West Texas oil fields. The county flipped Republican on Tuesday, backing Mr. Trump by about 16 percentage points. He lost the county to Hillary Clinton by 60 points in 2016.
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