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Voting rights progress in Texas has consisted of a steady growth of minority voter mobilization, registration, and participation in the election process, and an increase in minority candidacies and the election of minority representatives.  The state came under Section 5 coverage in 1975, triggered by the linguistic minority provision due to the use of English-only ballots.

Census estimates show Latino voter registration and participation holding stable over the past two decades. Latino participation in Texas compares favourably with figures for the rest of the nation.  In contrast to the Census Bureau estimates that show little longitudinal change, Spanish surname registration data maintained by Texas indicate an increase in Hispanic voter registration.  From 1992 to 2004, the share of the Texas registrants who have Spanish surnames has increased by more than 40 percent so that the proportion of registered voters with a Spanish surname is only slightly less than the share the state’s citizen voting age population that is Hispanic. 

The numbers of Latinos and African Americans serving in Congress and the state legislature have grown since Texas was brought under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act in 1975.  Following the 2003 congressional redistricting African Americans constitute almost a tenth of the delegation and a quarter of the districts have Hispanic majorities although two of these lack Hispanic majorities when voting age citizens are considered.  In all but one of these districts, the winner of the general election is the candidate of choice of most Hispanics and the remaining district elects a Hispanic Republican.  In the congressional delegation and the state Senate, the proportion of districts electing a Hispanic candidate of choice is consistent with the Hispanic citizen VAP share in the last census. 

Minorities’ numbers are increasing in the congressional delegation and the state legislature, while white Democrats are becoming scarce.  After the 2004 election, only three of the eleven Democrats representing Texas in Congress were Anglo Democrats.  The Texas House had fewer Anglo than Latino Democrats.  In the Senate, the minority Democrats outnumbered the Anglo Democrats.  The evidence from these legislative delegations dovetails with the patterns derived from statewide elections to underscore that Democrats win in districts having heavy concentrations of minority voters.

Currently, there are three African-Americans and two Hispanics holding statewide elective office out of a total of twenty-seven offices.  No Hispanic-preferred candidate has prevailed statewide since 1996, even though Hispanics such as former Secretary of State Tony Garza (now Ambassador to Mexico) and former Supreme Court Justice Alberto Gonzales (now US Attorney General) have won statewide elections as Republicans during the 1990s.  

No Democrat has prevailed in a statewide contest since 1996, and the decline of voter support in general--and Anglo voter support in particular--is consistent for all Democrats seeking all offices in Texas, regardless of the race of the candidate. 

Edward Blum is a visiting fellow at AEI. Abigail Thernstrom is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.