Mercedes, TX is a small town located in Hidalgo County near the Rio Grande Valley. The city was founded in 1881 and has a long history of political activism and involvement in civic affairs. The current mayor is Mario M. Lopez who was elected in 2016 and since then, has worked to improve services for residents including better roads, parks, and public safety initiatives. In addition to the mayor’s office, Mercedes also elects representatives to the City Council who are responsible for making decisions regarding the budgeting, infrastructure projects, and other important local matters. Mercedes is also home to many active local political organizations such as the Democratic Party of Hidalgo County which works to promote progressive policies on issues like healthcare reform, immigration rights, and environmental protection. Residents of Mercedes have historically been involved in politics both at the local level with their City Council representatives as well as at a state level by voting for candidates that will best represent their interests on a larger scale.
The political climate in Mercedes, TX is moderately liberal.
Hidalgo County, TX is moderately liberal. In Hidalgo County, TX 58.0% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 41.0% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.0% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Hidalgo county remained very strongly Democratic, 58.0% to 41.0%.
Hidalgo county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Mercedes, TX is moderately liberal.
Hidalgo County, Texas is moderately liberal.
McAllen-Edinburg-Mission Metro Area is moderately liberal.
Texas is leaning conservative.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index is based on recent voting in national elections, federal campaign contributions by local residents, and consumer personality profiles.
VoteWord™
Displaying 20 years of Presidential voting, visualized in one word.
Mercedes, Texas: D D D D D D
How It Works:
Here at BestPlaces, we were looking at the voting patterns since the 2000 election and realized that we could express the results of each election as one letter. R if the Republican Party candidate won, D if the Democratic Party candidate won and I if the Independent Party candidate won. The six elections (2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020) would be expressed as six-letter word (R R D R R).
Then we went a little further and added the dimension of magnitude. If the difference of victory was greater than 10 percent, the letter is upper case, and lower case if the difference was less than 10 percent. This allows us to see interesting voting patterns at just a glance.
Here's the VoteWord for Iowa d r d d r. In the last six elections the state has been closely contested, voting narrowly for the Republican Party candidate in 2016 and 2020 after voting for the Democratic Party in 2008 and 2012. Virginia (r r d d d D) has voted for the Democratic Party in the last three elections.
Individual Campaign Contributions in Mercedes, TX
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 837 contributions totaling $132,607 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $158 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 223 contributions totaling $75,569 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $339 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)