CAPITAL HIGHLIGHTS | Gary Borders
More counties in the Rio Grande Valley and surrounding areas went Republican this election, continuing what GOP leaders are calling the culmination of a years-long strategy.
The party has managed to flip 16 counties since the 2016 presidential election, according to the Texas Standard.
The economy clearly was a major issue among voters in this election between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.
“A lot of the rural parts of Texas are shifting red because the economy is less good,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, a University of Houston political scientist. “And the threats to the oil and gas industry that people perceive are coming from Democrats are driving the communities to vote Republican.”
For example, in Starr County, Biden beat Trump by five points in 2020, but four years later voters there chose the former president over Harris by 16 points.
Election Day runs smoothly across state
Voting in Texas went smoothly with no major disruptions reported, according to The Texas Tribune. Roughly half of the state’s 18.6 million registered voters cast ballots either in person or by mail, and another 2 million went to the polls on Election Day.
That is slightly under the 11.3 million who voted in 2020, thus far, with counting of provisional ballots nearly complete.
There was only one violent incident reported at the polls, when a man punched an election worker in Bexar County after being asked to remove his Trump hat.
Wearing clothing backing a candidate or proposition inside a Texas polling location is illegal.
After the assault, the man was charged with a felony.
In another case, a Tarrant County man claimed a voting machine flipped his ballot from Trump to Harris, but election officials say he made a mistake while filling out his ballot. That ballot was discarded, and he was allowed to cast another ballot, prompting Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick to note that machines were not flipping votes.
“In Tarrant County, we have only had one person say their vote was flipped out of 591,885 votes cast to date,” he said.
State population estimates released by demographic center
The Texas Demographic Center has released its population estimates for July 1, 2023, and Jan. 1, 2024.
The state’s estimated population rose from 29,145,505 in 2020 to 30,749,924 on Jan. 1, 2024 — an increase of 5.5%.
Counties showing the largest percentage increase in that time were Kaufman (26.7%); Rockwall (25%); Kendall (22.2%); and Liberty (20.3%).
Final population estimates are available for counties and places by age, sex and race/ethnicity at demographic.texas. gov. Information for the estimates is collected through five surveys taken from October to February, gleaning information from counties, cities and educational institutions.
The U.S. Census Bureau also makes annual population estimates, and TDC says differences in input data and methodologies led to slight variations between the two.
DFW area predicted to be hottest real-estate market in 2025
A real-estate trends study reported by the Texas Standard predicts the Dallas-Fort Worth area will be the hottest real estate market in the nation for investment and development next year. The study compiled data from more than 2,000 industry experts.
“Obviously, it’s the really strong post-pandemic recovery. It’s also size,” said Nick Wooten, real estate reporter for The Dallas Morning News. “We’ve seen the metro top 8 million people in the latest census estimates,” he said. “And there’s just continued demographic growth.
Those are the three big factors that these experts cited.”
Both sales and home prices are fairly flat in 2024, with supply reaching levels not seen in a dozen years, Wooten said.
Gary Borders is a veteran award-winning Texas journalist. He published a number of community newspapers in Texas during a 30-year span, including in Longview, Fort Stockton, Nacogdoches, Lufkin and Cedar Park. Email: [email protected]
