Texas is still primarily an agricultural state, even before energy production-we grow crops and keep livestock to produce food for ourselves and others-it gets trucked to the stores in the cities-even many of us living on small acreage produce food, and we own small businesses-so people “actually live” here-it isn’t uninhabited-small rural cities and towns are red, too-the few large cities are islands of blue garbage in a sea of red producers, and they are losing voters who are tired of the crime and homeless panhandling and crapping in front of their businesses...
Sorry, the largest share of Texans lives in the large metro areas not the small towns.
Also, people tend to keep their politics when they move somewhere else.