Rio Grande City, TX is a small town located in the Rio Grande Valley and is the county seat of Starr County. It is home to a population of 13,844 people according to the 2018 census. The city is part of the Texas State Senate District 20 which is currently represented by Democrat Eddie Lucio Jr. In the Texas House of Representatives, Rio Grande City is part of District 36 which is currently held by Democrat Sergio Muñoz Jr. The mayor of Rio Grande City is Joel Villarreal who was elected in 2014 and reelected for his second term in 2017. In addition to its local politicians, Rio Grande City has also played a role in national politics, having been visited by various presidential candidates including Donald Trump and Beto O'Rourke during their respective campaigns. Despite its size, Rio Grande City plays an important part in both state and national politics as well as within its local community.
The political climate in Rio Grande City, TX is somewhat liberal.
Starr County, TX is leaning liberal. In Starr County, TX 52.1% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 47.1% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 0.9% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Starr county remained Democratic, 52.1% to 47.1%.
Starr county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Rio Grande City, TX is somewhat liberal.
Starr County, Texas is leaning liberal.
Rio Grande City-Roma Metro Area is leaning 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.
Rio Grande City, 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 Rio Grande City, TX
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 204 contributions totaling $59,900 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $294 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 71 contributions totaling $37,435 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $527 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)