The Political Geography of Texas
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The Political Geography of Texas
Texas State is one of the largest states in the United States of America. It can be divided into different regions depending on different factors. However in this case it will be divided based on political geography. It has six regions based on political power and segmentation. Texas is divided into West Texas, Hill Country, Rio Grande Valley, Metroplex, North Texas and East Texas, This paper therefore discusses the manner in which the state is divided when it comes to politics and the different political affiliations the different areas have.
Firstly Texas was part of the Spanish empire up to 1821 at a time when it gained independence from Spain. After that it became part of Mexico and it joined with the United States in 1845. It borders with Louisiana, Oklohama and Arkansas. Texas was dominated by democrats until 1990s after which Republican Party took over (Muir, 2015). The election of Obama as a United States president played a very important role in determining the political geography of the state as the democrats who were campaigning for the president came along to empower those who never voted and were people of color. This even though altered a bit of the political geography did not change the state entirely as after a year of doing this the blue Texas was back in place and the republicans dominated the streets of Texas as they had done for 20 years (Sebold et al, 2012). Even though trump was a republican and most of the Texas is republican he was almost losing to Hillary Clinton but defeated her with very few votes. During president Biden campaigns and elections only very few individuals were allowed not to vote either due to old age or health effects.
West Texas has a higher number of people living in urban areas more than those who live in rural areas. People of color are more than whites and it has more than average population which is college educated. In Houston more than average is also educated up to college level as well as more than half of the population no-whites (Washington Post-seven political states of texas, 2020). One in every five of Texan voters is located in Houston. Even though democrats are not so many democrats did a great job in popularizing the party and trying to make sure that it has a great chance of being the most liked. Hill country is mostly settled by Germans and the area has been very loyal to the Republican Party. More than half of the votes come from Travis County. Rio Grande Valley is mainly settled by Mexicans. They had a lot of their political power limited by the union after they joined and there has been a competition of republicans and democrats.
Metroplex has had Dallas as the major democratic stronghold for a long period of time. Trump was not successful in convincing the individuals here to vote for him and where there is a halt or a stop in suburban growth, the republicans remain dominant. In North Texas more than average live in cities and they are also educated at college level more individuals than 50%. East Texas was dominated by democrats for more of the 20th century and their major votes came from Rio Grande Valley. Voting Rights Act contributed a lot to a change in this as George bush was elected and this area became a center for republicans.
References
Muir, R. (2015). Modern political geography. Macmillan International Higher Education.
reporter, L. T. L. T., & cartographerEmailEmailBioBioFollowFollow. (2020). The seven political states of Texas. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/politics/texas-political-geography/Sebold, K., Limbocker, S., Dowdle, A., & Stewart, P. (2012). The Political Geography of Campaign Finance: Contributions to 2008 Republican Presidential Candidates. PS: Political Science & Politics, 45(4), 688-693.
