The Brownsville-Harlingen Metro Area is a major political hub in the state of Texas, with many local and state government representatives. It is represented by two federal senators, John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, as well as several congressional representatives from the 15th, 34th and 35th Districts. At the state level, Brownsville-Harlingen has three state Representatives in District 36, 37 and 38. In addition to these legislative representatives, there are also many mayors and city council members from the numerous cities that make up this area. Local politics are filled with various issues and debates about taxes, economic development, public safety policies, immigration reform initiatives, and education funding. The local community also takes an active role in advocating for their interests through grassroots organizing and direct action campaigns. With such an influential population base, politics in Brownsville-Harlingen can have a major impact on the larger region's agenda.
The political climate in Brownsville-Harlingen Metro Area is somewhat liberal.
In Brownsville-Harlingen Metro Area 56.0% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 42.9% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.1% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, the Brownsville-Harlingen metro area remained strongly Democratic, 56.0% to 42.9%.
The Brownsville-Harlingen metro area voted Democratic in five of the last six Presidential elections (2004 went Republican).
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Brownsville-Harlingen Metro Area is somewhat 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.
Brownsville-Harlingen, Texas: d r 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 for the Democrat and I for the Independent. 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 four elections.
Individual Campaign Contributions in Brownsville-Harlingen Metro Area
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 4,559 contributions totaling $754,758 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $166 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 2,013 contributions totaling $1,106,690 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $550 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)