Demographic tides may turn Texas purple or blue

WASHINGTON - In the aftermath of President Barack Obama's re-election victory - fueled by massive turnout among Latinos, African-Americans and other minorities - Texas Democrats began to dream that the nation's demographic tidal wave would eventually hit Texas.

San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro predicted that the reliably "red" Lone Star State is well on its way to "purple" swing state status.

The state's rising Democratic superstar isn't the only politician to speculate on the future political impact of the burgeoning Mexican-American, African-American and Asian-American population in Texas, which accounted for 88 percent of the state's 4.3 million population increase.

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If current demographic trends continue, Democrats would whittle about 5 ½ percentage points off the 15.8-point margin of victory won by Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney in 2012 in every subsequent presidential cycle. That would transform Texas - the center of Republican resistance to Obama's agenda - into a competitive state at the presidential level by 2020 and a toss-up state four years later.

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http://www.chron.com/news/article/Demographic-tides-may-turn-Texas-purple-or-blue-4026956.php