Today's post about the Latino population was very interesting. The post showed where Latino population growth was the strongest, but what caught my attention were the row of counties along the OK/TX Pahandle border.
The key point: The row of TX counties that border the OK/TX Panhandle have a large share of Hispanics by population, yet are very Republican. That inconsistency caught my attention. It makes me wonder if the GOP could possibly create a VRA district in that part of TX that is still heavily Republican.
More beneath the fold
The OK/TX Pandhandle region is perhaps the most conservative in the country. While the area elected Democrats perhaps as late as the 1980s and early 1990s, Republican presidential candidates had dominated the area since the 1950s. After 1994 the region turned dark, dark red. And it hasn't been friendly to the Democrats all.
I am focusing on that row of N. Texas counties. They are Lipscomb, Ochiltree, Hansford, Sherman, and Dallam. Hispanic population ranges from around 30-43% of the population in those counties.
Here are the results from the 2008 presidential election in those counties:
Lipscomb: McCain: 1,093 87.02%; Obama: 155 12.34%
Ochiltree: McCain: 2,851 91.70%; Obama: 243 7.82%
Hansford: McCain 1,847 87.87%;. Obama 240 11.42%
Sherman: McCain 884 86.67%; Obama 127 12.45%
Dallam: McCain 1,269 79.86% Obama 302 19.01%
Source: US Election Atlas
Obama's best county was Dallam, where he almost got 20% of the vote. His worst was Ochiltree, which could quite possibly be the most Republican county in the nation in 2008 (though Glascock county, also in TX, and Garfield County in MT, are just as punishingly Republican).
The Hispanic populations are:
Lipscomb: 29.6%
Ochiltree: 43.2%!!!!!!!!!!
Hansford: 42.6%
Sherman: 35.5%
Dallam: 33.6%
Source: US Census Bureau
So ironically the most Hispanic county of them all is also the most Republican. And now the question I ask is why? Are most of the Hispanic in this row of five counties along the OK/TX Panhandle border illegals/undocumented immigrants? Or are they just all really conservative.?
I looked up more information on TX-13 and TX-19, which are the Congressional districts that include this part of TX. TX-13 is 17.1% Hispanic, but extends from exurban Dallas-Ft. Worth all the way through Amarillo to include the entire row of five counties that are the focus of this diary. TX-19 is 29% Hispanic and includes Lubbock and a large share of the TX Panhandle.
The Hispanic Population in Potter County, which includes Amarillo, is about 28%. Lubbock County, which includes Lubbock City, has a Hispanic population of about 28% as well.
This data makes me wonder, if TX has to make one of its four new districts VRA compliant, could they make one up in this part of the state by finding the most Hispanic precincts in Lubbock, Amarillo, and other towns there and marrying them together? Given how this area is 7-1 to 9-1 Republican, even if they made a VRA district out here, it would still probably be punishingly red.
And it makes me wonder why these Hispanics out here are apparently voting Republican. Given that Ochiltree County, which is about 43% Hispanic and voted for McCain with almost 92% of the vote, they have to be supporting to the GOP by large numbers.
This is interesting to me because these Hispanics are not Miami Cubans, which are the most Republican of all Hispanics. So what is at play here?