Analysis: The Southwest Has Become A Democratic Stronghold
The Importance of the Heavily Mexican-American Parts of the US to the Democrats– In a lively discussion on Friday December 4th, 2020 with Arizona Congressman Ruben Gallego, NDN took a look at one of the more important geographical developments in recent years - the turning of the Southwest and heavily Mexican American parts of the US much more blue.
You can watch the discussion here, read a Greg Sargent Washington Post story which quotes both Rep. Gallego and Simon, and review some of NDN’s previous work in this space here, here here and here. Simon was also cited in a recent Claire Hansen US News analysis:
"While immigration may not be a top issue in the current debate, it has played a major role in the election – Trump's extremism on the issue has helped push the heavily Mexican American parts of the country even further away from the president and his party, making his Electoral College map far harder, and the Senate far more likely to flip," Rosenberg says.
One remarkable set of stats which Simon shared during the discussion showed just how much ground the GOP have lost in this region since Bush swept it in 2004. A snapshot of how much has changed from 2004 to 2020 in AZ, CO, NM, NV:
Dem Electoral Votes – 0 in 2004, all 31 (100%) in 2020
Dem Senate Seats – 2 of 8 (25%) in 2004, all 8 (100%) in 2020
Dem House Seats – 6 of 21 (29%) in 2004, 14 of 23 (61%) in 2020
Dem Govs – 0 of 4 in 2004, 3 of 4 (75%) in 2020
In 16 years Dems have picked up 31 Electoral College votes, 6 Senate seats, 8 House seats and 3 governorships in these 4 southwestern states. When you expand this analysis to include CA and TX, you get:
Dem Electoral Votes – 55 of 118 (47%) Electoral College votes in 2004, 86 of 124 (69%) in 2020
Dem Senate Seats – 4 of 10 (40%) in 2004, 10 of 12 (83%) in 2020
Dem House Seats – 55 of 106 (52%) in 2004, 69 of 112 (62%) in 2020
Dem Govs – 0 of 6 (0%) in 2004, 4 of 6 (67%) in 2020
If current census projections hold, Biden's 306 Electoral College vote total will shrink to 301, the region will pick up 4 to get to 128, and the # of EC votes coming from the 4 states will grow to 33. At 301 and 33, this means that Biden is at 268 without AZ, CO, NM, NV, further reinforcing the political significance of the region.
From this region today comes the next Vice President, the current Speaker, and the next HHS Secretary who will be leading the fight against COVID. The DCCC Chair in the 2018 cycle was from NM; the current DSCC Chair is from Nevada; the next DGA Chair is from New Mexico. All four of Dem Senate pick ups over the last 2 election cycles have come from this region – Rosen (NV) and Sinema (AZ) in 2018, Hickenlooper (CO) and Kelly (AZ) in 2020.
This recent transformation of the heavily Mexican-Americans part of the country, which includes our two largest states, ranks as one of the most important geographic and/or demographic stories of early 21st century American politics. It is deserving of far more attention.
