Posted on 11/12/2014 1:10:11 PM PST by thetallguy24
Greg Abbott made a very public play for Hispanic voters in his successful quest for the governor’s mansion. He frequently reminded people that his wife would be the first Latina First Lady of Texas, made economic opportunity and education reform important parts of his campaign message, and invested significant financial and volunteer resources in the heavily-Hispanic Rio Grande Valley.
How did these efforts pay off?
Statewide, the campaign did quite well. Abbott captured 44% of Hispanics who cast ballots, and actually outright won Hispanic men, 49%-48%. By almost any measure, this is a significant victory for a Republican candidate.
What about the effort to improve the GOP’s appeal in the Rio Grande Valley?
Abbott told the Texas Tribune he hoped to win Cameron County (Brownsville), and reach 45% support in Hidalgo County (McAllen, Mission).
Those hopes fell flat. In Cameron County, Abbott took 42% of the vote, while Wendy Davis got a little bit over 55%. In Hidalgo County, he got to about 35% while Davis took almost 63% of ballots.
Abbott also lost the rural South Texas counties of Brooks, Duval, Jim Hogg, Jim Wells, Starr, Willacy, and Starr, as well as Webb County (Laredo). He won the more traditionally Republican counties of Kennedy, Kleberg, and Nueces (Corpus Christi).
Were the South Texas outreach efforts a failure? In the sense that Abbott didn’t hit his targets in heavily populated Cameron and Hidalgo, yes. However, it is striking that in almost all of these places he shrank the lead, sometimes substantially, that the last Democratic candidate for governor established over Rick Perry.
(Excerpt) Read more at hardhatters.com ...
Getting 40+% of the Hispanic vote was a remarkable achievement! Winning a majority of Hispanic males is huge. It tells us that amnesty and pandering to them by the left is not working.
It tells you that legal immigrants are not happy with Obam’s open borders.
What do you know about Carlos Cascos?
Isn’t Cameron County one of the most politically corrupt counties in the country?
Hispanics have never been monolithic Democrat voters. That’s an overworked myth of the media. The way to get more to vote R is not to pander to them but to offer substantive reasons to vote R. Same thing the GOP needs to do to get more white voters.
Not much, directly. He just won a third term as a law and order GOP candidate for county judge in Cameron County (where the border city of Brownsville is, for those unfamiliar). He must be doing something right.
As to corruption, you bet, there's lots. The whole Valley is under great pressure from the Cartels as well as the general SOTB culture and it's notable when there is not corruption.
Every poll shows that jobs, the economy, Obamacare are the top issues with Hispanics, Strong foreign policy with Hispanic males. The obsession with single issue immigration is totally out of proportion to realiBty.
Yes, many Hispanics are pro-illegal. But that doesn’t mean that it is how they vote. Yes, many Hispanics are pro-life. but that doesn’t mean that it is how they vote.
Hispanics are just like most other voters. They vote for who seems friendly and their friend. Most voters do not vote ideology. Those of us who do are freaks.
Jobs and immigration are closely tied together.
I would beg to differ with you that these are “legal immigrants” that voted.
They probably more resemble the other makeup of Texas being 5th or higher generation American Citizen.
I have spent my 50+ years around these people of South Texas and feel that Davis’s pro Abortion stance was one of the key issues that turned these people away from her to Abbott.
I see Abbott winning them over moe with time. I just hope that he does not turn pro illegal alien and he does turn more secure border. We will see.
They consider themselves to be legal. I know some of them.
Maybe it also shows that going full pro abortion hurt Davis some with a traditionally Catholic community.
could very well be true
And Abbott’s poor performance in Hidalgo is the perfect argument for improved public education...
You are right. Immigrants create more jobs than we native born Americans do. And that includes both legals and illegals. Immmigrants are a net plus for us. But the “net” is a mix of upside and downside. About 10% of immigrants (both legal and illegals) are murderers, rapists, DUI drivers, welfare parsites...undesireables. The good benefits of the 90% are partially offset by the bad deeds of the undesireables. The solution on immigration is to focus on quality, not quantity. Focus on the 10% that are undesireable.
If they were good they would wait their turn to come here legally. It is too late for any moderate or sensible immigration plan.
Every poll shows that among Hispanics, the immigration issue is low priority..about #10. Obamacare, jobs, the economy, taxes, education, crime, foreign policy, abortion all rank higher than immigration.
The same is true of whites and Blacks. Give them multiple choice on immigration and they will choose one of the choices. But for only 1% pro and 1% con is it a deciding issue in the voting booth.
Those of us who feel strongly on immigration are a distinct minority.
Most others feel strongly about their insurance premium going up 20% while their deductible doubles and their choice of doctor goes down.
Yes, that is the reason that I feel that opposing the executive overreach through the Obamacare bill is a good decision. The article that I read said that the reason that Republicans in the house had not. Gone forward with th the law suit is because they couldn’t find lawyers who we’re willing to take the case. The lawyers are ready, now.
It doesn’t mean that we should let the immigration issue slide, we should still go forward with plans to stop Obama on immigration. We need to stop him on everything, block his nominees and foreign agreements, block net neutrality. We need to sit him down and hog tie him with re tape for the next two years.
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