By the time early voting numbers rolled in on election night, a buzz was building in Williamson County — not just about who the votes were going to, but about where the votes were coming from and how that could change the political landscape for Republicans and Democrats.
The polling place that had the most early voters wasn’t in Sun City, the Georgetown retirement community that has long driven politics and lead early voting in Williamson County. This year, more early voters turned out in the rapidly growing southwestern portion of the county, where the Cedar Park Public Library had the highest turnout.
It heralds what some local observers describe as a regional power shift in politics. Cedar Park, Round Rock and Leander have already outgrown Sun City — and they’re still growing.
Democrats are pinning their hopes on that growth and on a more diverse population, but they have struggled to gain footing since winning a state House race in 2008. Republicans won every countywide office on Nov. 6, despite the potential shift away from Sun City.
Winning an election — and wielding political influence — isn’t just about how many residents favor a particular party. It’s also about what percentage of them show up at the polls, and that’s where Sun City and Republicans have dominated in Williamson County: Countywide, 52,341 voters cast straight ticket ballots for the Republican Party, compared to 29,115 straight ticket Democrat voters. And Sun City’s 85 percent turnout easily eclipsed Cedar Park’s 65 percent turnout, though 23,702 people voted in Cedar Park compared to 9,503 in Sun City.
Williamson County, with 422,679 residents in 2010, has grown more diverse. The Hispanic population alone jumped from 17 percent of the county’s residents in 2000 to nearly 24 percent in 2010 — but county Democratic Chairwoman Karen Carter said her party has failed to turn out the voters they need.
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This year, Democrats pinned their hopes and resources on a new state House district centered on Cedar Park, but Republican Tony Dale — a former Cedar Park city council member — took the seat with 53 percent of the vote. Democrat Matt Stillwell took 41 percent and Libertarian Matthew Whittington had 6 percent.
Dale’s margin of victory was the smallest of any race between a Republican and Democrat in the county. Republican Jana Duty won a countywide race for district attorney against Democrat Ken Crain with 59 percent of the vote.
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Dale ran a very aggressive campaign, but the races in Williamson county also demonstrated that Hispanics also vote Republican and run for office as Republican. The article suggest that Democrats are also pinning future hopes on former Democrats switching back. The chances of that are remote. The national Democrat party has moved too far to the left to get conservative Texas voters and the number of conservative Democrats has diminished to nil.
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