The Rio Grande Valley's political landscape is changing amid midterm, governor elections
In national elections, the Rio Grande Valley has been solidly “blue” for many years, only recently becoming more “red” in the 2020 presidential election.
All four RGV counties — Cameron, Willacy, Hidalgo and Starr — shifted right during the presidential election, with then-President Donald Trump taking 47.1% of the vote in Starr County. In the 2016 presidential election, Trump secured only 19% of the vote there. The other three RGV counties shifted right by at least 10 percentage points in the 2020 presidential election compared to the 2016 election.
Though President Joe Biden ultimately secured the four RGV counties, he did so with much smaller margins compared to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee in the 2016 election. Before the general election, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders won all four RGV counties during the 2020 Democratic primary, meaning there is, surely, a progressive presence in the RGV.
With the progressive support in mind, the Democratic Party’s hold on the area was, before this last election cycle, seen as a given. But the party is quickly learning that the Latino American population of the region is not a monolith, even as the group's population grows in the RGV and across the state.
Read more: https://www.tpr.org/border-immigration/2021-12-28/the-rio-grande-valleys-political-landscape-is-changing-amid-midterm-governor-elections