Texas Hispanics trending to GOP

 Silvio Cantu, Jr.:

Over the weekend, McAllen, Texas, on the U.S.-Mexican border, shook up the experts.  This is the story:

Javier Villalobos defeated Democrat Veronica Vela Whitacre by 206 votes in a runoff election over the weekend, according to unofficial election results reported by KRGV. Votes will be canvassed and certified by city officials on June 14.

Villalobos, an attorney and former chairman of Texas' Hidalgo County Republican Party, thanked his supporters and campaign team following his narrow victory.

By the way, McAllen has a population of 150,000, and it is 85% Hispanic.  I've been there on business many times, and it's a very nice town.

But the Texas story got even better in the Metroplex.

This is a summary from John Fund:

Fort Worth is the twelfth-largest city in the country and has more than 1 million people. Only a third of them are Anglo. But 37-year-old Republican Mattie Parker easily defeated Democrat Deborah Peoples, becoming the youngest mayor of a major Texas city.

The race was ostensibly nonpartisan, but the divisions were clear.

Yes, everybody knew that Miss Parker was a Republican and Miss Peoples was a Democrat.

It was even bigger in Arlington, or the city between Dallas and Ft. Worth and home to the Texas Rangers and Dallas Cowboys.  Here is the story:

Voters also elected Republican Jim Ross as mayor of Arlington, a suburb of 400,000 people that borders Fort Worth and is only 39 percent Anglo. Ross, a former Arlington police officer, was endorsed by several police associations who liked his anti-crime platform. He defeated Michael Glaspie, a former city-council member who was endorsed by the Dallas Morning News and leading Democratic politicians.

So how did this happen?  I thought Texas voting laws stopped Hispanics from voting.

This is how I see it:

First, Hispanics are not talking about immigration and DACA all day long.  In other words, the vast majority of Hispanics are here legally and care more about lawless streets or lousy public schools than immigration.  By the way, this is a topic that shows a huge divide between Hispanics and the Hispanic media.

Second, Texas voting laws are not stopping Hispanic Republicans or Hispanics generally from voting.  In other words, the only Hispanics staying home are Democrats.

Third, Hispanics see what Democrat leadership has done to their cities.  They want well run cities as much as anyone else.

Last but not least, don't underestimate the mess on the border.  Hispanics don't support open borders.

...

Cantu predicts that Democrats will call all who vote against them "racists."  That will probably continue to be their mantra until they find it does not work and then they will have to start dealing with real issues voters care about.  

I find Democrats also tend to underestimate the intellect and patriotism of Hispanics.  It should also be noted that most Texas Hispanics are not immigrants.  Hispanic Texans were a key component of the Texas revolution and several Texas cities are named after some of those heroes of the revolution.