Red to Blue: Growing number of Hispanic voters in Texas promises to redefine politics

Hispanic voters came out en masse for Barack Obama on Tuesday, contributing to a large-scale change in America's electoral map.

If the trend continues, experts say, Hispanic voters in Texas could alter the political fabric of a reliably Republican state - and Rio Grande Valley voters could be at the forefront of Texas' Democratic resurgence.

Obama made huge gains nationally, winning 67 percent of the Hispanic vote, according to Edison/Mitofsky exit polls. That accounts for 23 percentage points more than President Bush won in 2004. And the country's Hispanic electoral base increased by nearly 25 percent since the last general election.

"We saw an energized Latino electorate on Tuesday," said Michael Bustamante, a spokesman for the William C. Velasquez Institute, a non-partisan research organization that focuses on Latino issues. "They're very concerned about policy issues, and also very supportive of their candidate."

The increase in Hispanic voters, and the marked surge in their support for Democratic candidates, played a key role in swing states like Florida, New Mexico and Colorado. In Florida, a majority of Hispanics voted for a Democratic presidential nominee for the first time in more than 20 years.

Like the rest of the electorate, Hispanic voters called the economy the most important political issue of the election, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. But the economic downturn has hit Hispanics harder than most other ethnic groups.

Labor statistics from September show that 7.6 percent of the group were unemployed - a rate second only to African-Americans. Hispanics were also more than twice as likely as whites to get a high-cost loan, according to the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, making them particularly vulnerable to foreclosures.

As statistics on the Hispanic electorate are dissected by political analysts, the focus is shifting to Texas, where Hispanics made up about 20 percent of the state's voters, according to the Pew analysis.

"It's possible that as Latinos become a more important voting bloc in Texas, as they were this year in Florida, we may see a shift that would turn Texas into a blue state," said Mark Lopez, Associate Director of the Pew Hispanic Center.

And if such a shift takes place, the Rio Grande Valley will likely be at its heart, Cameron County Democratic Chairman Gilberto Hinojosa said.

"We are the key," Hinojosa said. "We're 70 percent Democratic, we have a big population and we're loyal to the party."

But the region's potential as a boon to the Democratic Party is marred by its historically low voter turnout. Only 43 percent of registered voters in Cameron and Hidalgo counties voted in the general election, compared to 59 percent statewide.

Hinojosa says the party will galvanize more voters after it receives state and national funding. In 2008, Cameron County's Democratic Party operated using only $55,000 in local funds.

"The Democratic National Committee knows that if they put resources into the state, there's a very good chance that this will be Democratic by 2012, maybe even 2010," Hinojosa said.