Texas (County By County)

This is a county-by-county representation of how Texas voted in the 2008 election. As you can see, there's far too much red and not nearly enough blue on that map. And the odds are that it will look pretty much the same after the 2012 election -- with perhaps just a tad more white and light blue.

But things are changing, and the Republicans know that. It is not a question of whether Texas will ever turn blue -- only when it will turn blue. That's why the Republican legislature passed a gerrymandered and very discriminatory redistricting plan (which was tossed out by a federal court), and why it is trying to suppress minority voting with a discriminatory Voter ID law (which was also tossed out by a federal court). The Republicans are trying to delay the inevitable as long as possible.

Why do I say it's inevitable that Texas will turn blue? It's a matter of demographics. In the ten years between 2000 and 2010, the population in Texas grew rapidly -- but over 90% of that population growth was by minorities, mostly Hispanics and African-Americans. Add to that the fact that minorities already make up a majority in the state's school system, and it's not hard to predict that minorities will make up a clear majority of the population in the coming years. And those minorities are voting in larger percentages with each passing election.

It won't be in this year's election, but Texas is going to turn blue -- and that's just a fact.