A report by the America’s Voice Educational Fund states that three of the four Congressional seats Texas stands to gain can be chalked up to Latino population growth. Rio Grande Guardian provides us this article.
The report, produced by America’s Voice Education Fund, shows that Latinos comprise 63 percent of the population growth in Texas since 2000. Of the eight states likely to gain congressional seats, Texas has seen the highest percentage of Latino population growth
State Rep. Aaron Peña stated the Valley’s case for one of those seats.
“This report confirms what we here in South Texas have been saying all along. Texas stands to gain at least four congressional seats because of the explosion in population in communities like ours. Clearly, at least one of these seats belongs in South Texas,” Peña said.
“We see that growth and vitality everyday in our schools, our neighborhoods and our businesses. The 2010 Census and the redistricting process is going to be profoundly affected by our community and many like it across the state and nation.”
Peña said that in the coming months it is “vitally important” that South Texas takes an “aggressive stance in counting every individual in our growing community so that state and federal resources are fairly apportioned.”
And it’s not just in Texas. It is pretty obvious that Latinos are everywhere!
Using Census projections by Election Data Services, Inc., the AVEF report shows that 19 states are poised to see changes in their Congressional representation after Census 2010, with eight states gaining seats and 11 states losing seats.
Kimball Brace, president of the bipartisan firm Election Data Services, Inc., whose firm’s reapportionment projections provided the foundation for the report, said the report makes it clear that Latino residents are a driving force behind increased political power in the states poised to gain representation in Congress, and are helping to stem further losses in states that are poised to lose seats following the 2010 Census.
These numbers, though, show it is very obvious that Latinos are not producing as well as we should be, politically. Blame it on the political parties, blame it on the campaigns, blame it on current office holders who do little to energize voters, take your pick.
The report also looks at Latino voting trends. In Texas, there were 2,441,000 Latino voters registered in 2008. Of these, 1,697,000 voted that year. The percentage growth of Latino registered voters from 2000 to 2008 was 28.14 percent. The percentage growth of Latino voter turnout from 2000 to 2008 was 30.54 percent. In 2000, the Latino share of the total vote in Texas was 18.56 percent. In 2008, that figure had risen to 20.12 percent.
In a section titled Why It Matters, the report says that the 2010 will reveal the “surging political power of Latinos in America.” The results will likely show that Texas may become “more like California,” in terms of the “backfiring illegal immigration wedge strategy” the report states.
We can gain all the Congressional seats we want, but Latinos in turn need to produce votes; especially in Texas. I’m looking forward to seeing numbers beyond Texas, which show that Latinos made the difference in winning the election in those states for President Obama.
