RGV is just shifting right, no other explanations make sense. Not the end of the world. Better there than somewhere more vote rich.
That is not an explanation. There must be a
reason for it - what is that reason? And what might that reason (or reasons) portend for the rest of the country? It isn't as if large numbers of people in the Rio Grande Valley went to bed one evening as loyal Democrats, had a dream that swung them wildly to the right and woke up the next as loyal Republicans, is it? That is not how things work. I will remind you (and everyone) that increasingly poor Democratic performances in the (overwhelmingly former) coalfields in central Appalachia were similarly dismissed as being of no consequence as, after all, the region is dying and depopulating, so why worry? Similar patterns would surely not be seen in
other postindustrial regions (even though some had already shown indicators in that direction), ones never as culturally distinct and alien to the American mainstream, would they? The end result of being unable to see the wood for trees there was the Presidency of Donald Trump and a fundamental shift in the balance of your sovereign Supreme Court. Take this seriously.
