EDINBURG, Texas – Thursday, July 14 is primary runoff election day and in just four months, the presidential election will happen.
Texas is seeing something it has not seen in a while, a close margin for a Democratic candidate to win the state. Historically the Lone Star state votes Republican.
“Reliably Republican since about 1992 when they captured control of the state of Texas,” said Clyde Barrow.
Barrow is the chair of Political Science at UTRGV and says there are many factors transforming the political landscape of the state.
“If you were to sort of look at the ethic and race compositions and the economic base. Texas actually looks more like California or New York although its politics tends to look more like Alabama or Mississippi,” he said.
In a CBS/YouGov poll, President Donald Trump is leading at 46% and Joe Biden at 45%. That is a small margin and it makes Texas a swing state and up for grabs this election.
“It’ll be a shift for Texas but let me tell you it’ll turn U.S. politics on its head,” said Barrow.
He adds polling only shows what voters are believing now, only voter turnout will tell who Texans want to lead the country.
“Your opinion doesn’t count for much if you don’t show up at the polling place. You have to turn out to vote and that will be the key,” he said.
Hidalgo County Democratic Party Chair Norma Ramirez is taking the moment to energize people to vote Democrat this election.
“Aggressively registering people every day. We are encouraging people to do curbside voting. We are encouraging people to do mail in ballot because we all know that COVID-19 has not made it easy,” said Ramirez.
Former Republican Secretary of State Carlos Cascos said the future is still unclear.
“That is as of right now and we don’t know what’s going to happen. I don’t put a lot of merit in polls that are three months out,” said Cascos.
The polls show Joe Biden beating Donald Trump in Florida and tied in Arizona.
