TX-21: Better Know A District
I can't believe how much of a political junkie I am. I'm just bouncing off the walls because I just got a copy of the 2006 Almanac of American Politics! Basically, it's a compendium of factoids about different politicians around the country and the electoral districts they represent. To give you a taste of the kind of information it contains, I'm going to present a little report about my district, TX-21.
TX-21 is the congressional district that includes much of south, west, and central Austin, and north San Antonio, and is currently represented by Republican Rep. Lamar Smith. The district was given its current boundaries by the Texas legislature in the 2003 mid-decade redistricting that occurred after Republicans took over the Texas House in 2002. Rep. Smith is being challenged this November by San Antonio teacher and Democrat, John Courage, Smith's opponent in 2002 (before the district was redrawn).
In 2004, Rep. Smith was unopposed in the primary. In the general election, he spent $606,121 and garnered 61% of the vote (209,774 votes) against Democrat Rhett Smith, who's now running against Texas Governor Rick Perry in the Republican primary. That's nearly identical to President Bush's 61% in the district in 2004.
Roughly 40% of the district's population is in Travis County, but not all of Travis County is in TX-21. The University of Texas campus, the Texas State Capitol, and downtown Austin are all part of it, as are the hills in the western part of the County. The City of Sunset Valley, my hometown, is also in TX-21. In 2004, the Travis County portion of the district was carried by Rep. Smith 50%-46%.
At the other end of the district is San Antonio's Bexar County, where another 40% of the district's population is located. Fort Sam Houston, Randolph Air Force Base, and the mostly white north side of San Antonio are in the district. In 2004, Rep. Smith carried the Bexar County part of the district 70%-28%.
In between the two cities are Blanco, Hays, and Comal counties where the other 20% of the district reside. Rep. Smith carried this part of the district with 65% of the vote in 2004.
The district is 73.1% White, 18.1% Hispanic, 3.8% Black, 3.0% Asian, with the remaining 2% including Native American, Hawaiian, and those of two or more races. The total population is 651,619 people. The district is 82% urban and 18% rural. The median income is $55,609, compared to a U.S. median income of $44,473 and a Texas median income of $41,275. 7.0% of the district is below the poverty line. Jobs are 75.7% white collar, 13.4% blue collar, and 10.9% gray collar. 15.4% are military veterans. 15.2% have German ancestry, 9.7% English ancestry, and 8.6% Irish ancestry.
So now you know about TX-21. The Almanac has stuff like that for every state and every congressional district in the country. If you want to keep track of the race for Representative, check out the candidates sites here and here, and the TX-21 blog.
TX-21 is the congressional district that includes much of south, west, and central Austin, and north San Antonio, and is currently represented by Republican Rep. Lamar Smith. The district was given its current boundaries by the Texas legislature in the 2003 mid-decade redistricting that occurred after Republicans took over the Texas House in 2002. Rep. Smith is being challenged this November by San Antonio teacher and Democrat, John Courage, Smith's opponent in 2002 (before the district was redrawn).
In 2004, Rep. Smith was unopposed in the primary. In the general election, he spent $606,121 and garnered 61% of the vote (209,774 votes) against Democrat Rhett Smith, who's now running against Texas Governor Rick Perry in the Republican primary. That's nearly identical to President Bush's 61% in the district in 2004.
Roughly 40% of the district's population is in Travis County, but not all of Travis County is in TX-21. The University of Texas campus, the Texas State Capitol, and downtown Austin are all part of it, as are the hills in the western part of the County. The City of Sunset Valley, my hometown, is also in TX-21. In 2004, the Travis County portion of the district was carried by Rep. Smith 50%-46%.
At the other end of the district is San Antonio's Bexar County, where another 40% of the district's population is located. Fort Sam Houston, Randolph Air Force Base, and the mostly white north side of San Antonio are in the district. In 2004, Rep. Smith carried the Bexar County part of the district 70%-28%.
In between the two cities are Blanco, Hays, and Comal counties where the other 20% of the district reside. Rep. Smith carried this part of the district with 65% of the vote in 2004.
The district is 73.1% White, 18.1% Hispanic, 3.8% Black, 3.0% Asian, with the remaining 2% including Native American, Hawaiian, and those of two or more races. The total population is 651,619 people. The district is 82% urban and 18% rural. The median income is $55,609, compared to a U.S. median income of $44,473 and a Texas median income of $41,275. 7.0% of the district is below the poverty line. Jobs are 75.7% white collar, 13.4% blue collar, and 10.9% gray collar. 15.4% are military veterans. 15.2% have German ancestry, 9.7% English ancestry, and 8.6% Irish ancestry.
So now you know about TX-21. The Almanac has stuff like that for every state and every congressional district in the country. If you want to keep track of the race for Representative, check out the candidates sites here and here, and the TX-21 blog.
posted by Abram | 8:12 PM
9 Comments:
Nicely done.
I was just thinking I needed to post a district profile and here you've gone and set up a beautifully detailed one.
*Fires up linking hand*
Hope to see you around.
Boadicea from TX 21 Blog
Glad to be of help!
Abram-
Great work on the district profile. In looking at the numbers, though, Travis Co. comes closer to 50% than 40% of the numbers. I believe it's actually around 47%. Hopefully Travis will have less of a drop off of voters from the 2004 election than the other counties as well. If John can win large in Travis (Rhett Smith lost it by 4 points and ran a completely and entirely non-existent campaign), do alright in Hays and cut margins in the other counties, Smith's a goner.
Thanks Nick! And good luck to you guys!
You can forget about North Bexar and Comal County, which are about as Red as they can be.
Anonymous you might be quite surprised. Both those areas are having a constant influx of new voters, many from blue states. Additionally, there is a very large lavender middle of the road group who are very dissatisfied with the current congress and administration. The only really red area is Blanco county and that will only account for 1% of the vote.
Thanks, I just moved to TX-21 myself. John Courage looks like a winner to me. Lamar Smith - I dunno, the toupee bothers me.
johnnyha
Good job.
I, too, have recently received my copy of "The Almanac of American Politics" and I want to do a similar profile for District 26 on Politics Plus Stuff. Where do you get the map to link to?
Thanks! Check out http://www.nationalatlas.gov -- they've got maps of every U.S. congressional district. If that fails, you could try an image search on Google for "TX-26".
Good luck with the district profile. I'll keep an eye out for it.
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