Redistricting: U.S. Census Bureau Releases 2010 County Level Counts

The U.S. Census Bureau this month started releasing 2010 Census details, including data on race, Hispanic origin and voting age data for multiple geographies within each state.

The U.S. Census bureau today delivered Texas' 2010 census details, including first look at race and Hispanic origin data for legislative redistricting.

Texas is a majority-minority state for the first time in a redistricting period, according to the just-released census data, a fact that could complicate Republicans’ hopes for a partisan gerrymander—and make the state competitive for Democrats in future years.

Anglos now account for just 45 percent of the state's population, down from 52 percent a decade ago. The Hispanic population is now 38 percent of the total population—growing by 42 percent—while the African-American population grew slightly and is now 12 percent of the total population. The voting age population is a little different: 49.6 percent Anglo, 33.6 percent Hispanic, 11.4 percent black and 3.9 percent Asian.

The decennial census for Texas totaled 25,145,561 people living in the state in the first half of 2010 for a 20.6% increase over the number of people living in the state in 2000, courtesy of the burgeoning Texas Hispanic and black populations. Almost 90 percent of the state's growth was from minorities.

The local level data released today will serve as the starting point for a lengthy political and legal battle over how to redraw the political boundaries around Texas. (Census data release | Texas redistricting information | View proposed redistricted maps at the Texas Legislative Council's district viewer | Brown's Census Viewer)

The Texas Legislative Council, which handles the mechanics of redistricting for the Legislature, will make the detailed census data available for download to Texas lawmakers’ computers in the coming days. Lawmakers can than begin to draw new district lines using redistricting software applications already provide by the legislative council. In recent weeks, lawmakers and their staff have been learning how to use the software using old census data.

A fair redrawing of new district lines must allow the minority groups, who accounted for 90% of the population increase, the opportunity to share in the four additional U.S. House Texas earned by Texas' overall population increase. When the legislature completes its redistricting task Texas will have 36 rather than 32 seats in the reconfigured 435-member U.S. House of Representatives.

Republicans under former Rep. Tom DeLay re-redistricted the state in 2003, gerrymandering and tearing apart districts held by Democrats to create new districts favoring non-minority Republicans. The plan was a big success for Republicans: The U.S. House delegation from Texas went from 17-15 Democrat earlier in the decade to 21-11 Republican in 2004. Republicans now hold 23 of the 32 House seats after picking up three districts in the 2010 election.

Republicans performed relatively well among Texas Hispanics in the 2010 elections. Gov. Rick Perry took 38 percent of the Hispanic vote last year, better than other Republicans in recent years, and the GOP picked up two majority-Hispanic House seats. While whites made up about 45 percent of the population in 2010, they accounted for about 68 percent of the turnout; Hispanics, with 38 percent of the population, accounted for only about 20 percent of the vote

State Sen. Kel Seliger, one of the Republicans in charge of the redistricting process, has suggested there would be one additional Hispanic district in the Rio Grande Valley. Democratic State Rep. Garnet Coleman predicts Republicans will draw two new Republican districts, one near Dallas and one near Houston, and "pack" heavily minority Democratic districts in the Rio Grande Valley and Houston.

Texas Democratic strategist and Lone Star Project Director Matt Angle believes the new congressional districts should clearly represent minorities. Angle believes one Hispanics district can be drawn in north Texas in the Dallas area, a second Hispanics district should be drawn in the San Antonio to Austin corridor, and the remaining two districts should be drawn elsewhere to represent the voting strength of minorities.

Now that the still growing Hispanic population makes up 38 percent of Texas residents Republicans must increasingly compete for the Hispanic vote in the future to win statewide as well as local elections. The Hispanic population is very young and trends progressive, and as more Latinos turn 18, become citizens, and register to vote, Texas could become a swing state sooner rather than later, if Republicans do not make strong inroads with the Hispanic electorate.

Based on the 2010 census count of 25,145,561 people now living in Texas, the ideal population count for each of the 36 Texas congressional districts is 701,901, the ideal Senate district is 811,147, the ideal state House district is 167,637, and the ideal State Board of Education district is 1,676,371.

Should the Republican-dominated Texas Legislature gerrymander the new districts to disenfranchise the larger minority populations, the gerrymandered congressional map would likely be challenged by the Obama Administration Justice Department, which under the Voting Rights Act must approve any changes affecting minority representation. The George W. Bush Justice Department all but ignored enforcement of the Voting Rights Act after Republicans gerrymandered the state in 2003. According to Matt Angle, "Texas redistricting plans will be reviewed by the Justice Department, and partisan Republicans will no longer be able to count on partisan operatives within DOJ to subvert the law. . . This puts harshly partisan Republicans on notice that they must respect and abide by the Voting Rights Act or face objection from the Justice Department."

Given Collin County's 60 percent population growth from 491,675 residents in 2000 to 782,341 residents in 2010, it seem likely the county will see some adjustment to some or all of the various district lines, including for the Congressional, Texas House, Texas Senate and State Board of Education districts.

It is, however, unlikely that Collin County will see a new congressional district or other major changes in the various district lines that crisscross over the county.

Collin Co. ranks seventh in population size after Harris, Dallas, Tarrant, Bexar, Travis and El Paso Counties. The county also has a substantial percentage of residents with Hispanic, Asian, and African American heritage. (U.S. Census Bureau 2010 Custom tables Excel)

Hispanics now make up the majority of Texas public school students. About 50 percent of the state's 4.9 million students are Latino, up from 40 percent a decade ago.

A little more than 20 percent of Plano ISD students currently are Hispanic, up from 10 percent a decade ago. Nearly 18 percent of Plano students are Asian students up from 13 percent in the 2000-2001 school year. The percentage of black Plano students has gone from 3 percent to almost 10 percent over the last decade while the percentage of white students has dropped from 91percent to 50 percent. The notion of "white flight" from Dallas to Collin Co. suburbs is no more.

Collin County currently holds most of Texas Congressional District 3, represented by Republican Sam Johnson since he first won election in 1991. The 3rd congressional district includes the county's densely populated southwest quadrant and a small corner of northern Dallas county.

The remaining three quarters of Collin County's more sparsely populated geographic area is included in Texas Congressional District 4, currently represented by Republican Ralph Hall. Hall's District 4 geographic area includes all or parts of Bowie, Camp, Cass, Collin, Delta, Fannin, Farnklin, Grayson, Hopkins, Hunt, Lamar, Morris, Rains, Red River and Rockwall counties.

Other districts in Collin Co. include State Senate Districts 8 and 30, State House Districts 66, 67, 70 and 89, and State Board of Education Districts 9 and 12.

County 2000 2010 Change Harris County 3,400,578 4,092,459 20.3% Dallas County 2,218,899 2,368,139 6.7% Tarrant County 1,446,219 1,809,034 25.1% Bexar County 1,392,931 1,714,773 23.1% Travis County 812,280 1,024,266 26.1% El Paso County 679,622 800,647 17.8% Collin County 491,675 782,341 59.1% Hidalgo County 569,463 774,769 36.1% Denton County 432,976 662,614 53.0% Fort Bend County 354,452 585,375 65.1%

Most of the state's other largest counties kept pace with the statewide population growth rate of 20.6 percent, but Dallas County's population only increased by 6 percent, from 2.21 million to 2.36 million residents. The city of Dallas' population increased less than 1 percent, a fact that's likely to cause Dallas to lose two of its 16 House seats during redistricting.

Suburban areas around Dallas County had strong growth throughout the last decade. Denton counties grew by more than 53 percent, and Rockwall County lead all counties in growth at a rate of 81 percent. Seventy-nine of the state's 254 counties lost population during the decade, most of them clustered in West Texas.

Another 97 counties grew less than 10 percent, and another 41 grew between 10 and 20 percent. The fastest growing 37 counties were clustered in the Hill Country, the Metroplex, the Valley and around Houston with growth rates that range between 20 and 82 percent for the decade.

1. Communities of color are driving population growth in Texas. Texas is one of five states in the country where people of color make up the majority of the population. Between 2000 and 2009 Hispanic population growth accounted for 63.1 percent of all growth in the state. Texas’s black and Asian populations—2.8 million people and 850,000 people, respectively—were the third largest in the country in 2010.
2. The majority of children in Texas are children of color. For children under age 5 in the state, children of color outnumbered non-Hispanic white children 2.2-to-1 in 2011. According to the Children’s Defense Fund, in 2009, 64 percent of the state’s children were of color.
3. Houston is the most racially and ethnically diverse metropolitan area in the country. According to a report from Rice University, the percentage of Latinos in the region increased dramatically from 20.8 percent in 1990 to more than one-third at 35.5 percent in 2010. This thriving racial and ethnic diversity places Houston at the head of the state’s rapid demographic changes.
4. Nearly a third of immigrants in Texas are naturalized—meaning they are eligible to vote. In 2010 immigrants comprised 16.4 percent of the state’s total population. That year there were 1.3 million naturalized U.S. citizens in Texas, approximately 32 percent of immigrants in the state.
5. Voters of color make up a growing portion of the Texas electorate. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Latinos accounted for 20.1 percent of Texas voters in the 2008 elections. African Americans and Asians comprised 14.2 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively, of the state’s voters that same year.
6. Even more Latinos are eligible to vote but are currently unregistered. According to the political opinion research group Latino Decisions, there are 2.1 million unregistered Latino voters in Texas in 2012. The Department of Homeland Security estimates that there are an additional 880,000 legal permanent residents (green card holders) in Texas who are eligible to naturalize and vote for the first time. Put together, this means Texas has close to an extra 3 million potential voters this fall.
7. The Department of Justice blocked a Texas voter ID law that threatened to disenfranchise Hispanics. According to the Brennan Center for Justice, far fewer non-Hispanic voters—4.3 percent, compared with 6.3 percent of Latino voters—lack a proper photo ID, which voters would have been required to show under the law. Texas’s own state data listed 174,866 registered Latino voters without an ID.
8. Communities of color add billions of dollars and tens of thousands of jobs to Texas’s economy through entrepreneurship and spending. The purchasing power of Latinos in Texas increased more than 400 percent from 1990 to 2010, reaching a total of $176.3 billion. Asian buying power increased by more than 650 percent in the same period to a total of $34.4 billion. And in 2007 Texas’s nearly 450,000 Latino-owned businesses had close to 400,000 employees, and sales and receipts of $61.9 billion.
9. Immigrants are essential to the economy as workers. In 2010 immigrants comprised 20.9 percent of Texas’s workforce. As of 2007, 21 percent of Houston’s total economic output and 16 percent of Dallas’s economic output was derived from immigrants.
10. Immigrants contribute to the state economy through state and local taxes. In 2010, according to the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy, undocumented immigrants in Texas paid $1.6 billion in state and local taxes.

Mouse over the state counties in the map tool below to view county level Census data.

2010 Interactive State and County Census Map

Additional Data: To access data from multiple geographies within the state, such as census blocks, tracts, voting districts, cities, counties and school districts, visit American Factfinder: http://factfinder2.census.gov.

The Census Bureau will deliver state data on a rolling basis through March. See what states are coming next.

Collin County Census Redistricting Data by Election Precinct
note: VAP = Voting Age Population

Voting District Precinct	Area Land in Sq Miles	Ave Age of Reg Voter	Housing Units	TL Pop	TL VAP	VAP Reg to vote	White alone	Hispanic Latino alone	Black or Af/Am alone	Asian alone	Am Indian or Alaskan Native alone	Two or More Races
1	1.0	51	1,549	3,521	2,661	1,526	1,609	764	221	20	8	35
2	2.3	44	2,949	6,409	4,635	2,719	2,568	1,250	592	126	31	54
3	5.5	47	1,771	5,991	3,887	1,815	567	2,434	807	21	9	37
4	23.2	51	469	1,068	836	743	725	75	10	8	9	8
5	1.8	53	577	1,450	1,119	958	925	110	52	8	14	9
6	1.6	42	2,702	8,866	5,623	4,400	3,452	612	580	874	10	80
7	0.5	44	807	2,051	1,543	1,521	1,054	227	143	96	8	14
8	16.1	48	1,881	4,977	3,613	2,394	2,744	736	40	29	25	34
9	25.2	47	2,609	6,954	4,922	3,370	3,771	771	223	54	34	65
10	10.8	50	231	635	489	393	416	59	0	0	3	8
11	54.6	49	2,570	6,632	4,841	3,575	3,660	816	260	28	23	50
12	1.3	48	2,274	6,025	4,181	4,043	3,624	248	141	99	20	42
13	19.4	46	1,445	4,006	2,756	2,228	2,153	276	216	63	19	26
14	1.4	42	2,634	5,662	4,163	1,768	1,950	330	412	1,351	1	118
15	0.5	51	1,545	3,659	2,762	1,434	1,373	782	204	351	6	45
16	20.6	46	2,140	6,061	4,077	3,394	3,294	501	161	28	34	54
17	16.7	43	1,764	5,284	3,512	2,432	2,555	586	265	26	27	48
18	26.7	51	613	1,516	1,118	757	947	138	13	1	7	12
19	0.4	50	782	1,981	1,575	1,608	1,311	76	50	108	6	24
20	28.6	49	550	1,345	1,040	966	925	91	11	1	2	9
21	1.5	50	2,138	5,405	4,277	3,641	3,101	343	246	499	9	66
22	57.7	47	1,936	5,514	3,830	3,146	2,918	700	127	16	23	39
23	3.5	44	1,462	4,120	2,781	917	696	1,263	615	170	1	30
24	0.4	41	2,565	4,119	3,546	2,097	2,002	560	618	250	16	75
25	2.8	45	2,641	9,429	5,797	4,709	3,339	422	542	1,346	22	113
26	1.2	49	1,162	3,129	2,249	1,397	1,220	711	170	108	9	28
27	1.7	43	1,572	5,062	3,306	2,611	2,308	452	342	139	15	43
28	0.8	47	1,824	3,842	3,067	2,292	1,993	267	256	494	7	44
29	19.0	45	1,517	4,656	3,030	2,454	2,435	422	88	30	18	36
30	9.8	45	2,718	7,680	5,101	4,111	3,610	839	344	211	23	54
31	0.6	51	977	2,607	2,044	2,012	1,732	109	61	120	4	15
32	0.7	50	1,258	3,071	2,383	2,395	1,966	169	97	113	15	22
33	23.4	47	1,532	4,254	3,047	2,279	2,490	360	118	29	28	17
34	1.1	45	1,988	6,679	4,208	3,380	2,068	156	114	1,791	7	64
35	41.6	48	1,896	5,023	3,711	2,748	3,134	427	50	26	35	35
36	0.7	49	829	2,294	1,761	1,957	1,464	66	50	164	1	13
37	79.7	49	1,454	3,504	2,624	2,028	2,340	210	9	2	18	36
38	6.3	42	4,442	10,302	6,985	4,274	4,780	721	738	599	36	97
39	0.8	46	1,885	4,871	3,564	2,641	2,253	655	370	210	10	63
40	1.0	48	1,521	4,094	3,138	3,099	2,624	248	142	67	23	26
41	7.7	49	894	2,792	1,878	1,869	1,646	142	23	39	11	11
42	10.8	45	555	1,722	1,140	697	777	281	53	9	9	10
43	10.1	42	2,768	9,392	6,339	4,075	3,772	1,199	1,016	218	34	90
44	0.8	49	1,507	4,096	2,925	1,730	1,580	1,177	108	20	9	27
45	2.8	49	973	1,885	1,422	1,045	1,007	156	117	122	4	16
46	1.1	49	2,639	6,515	4,850	2,396	2,034	2,217	372	140	15	47
47	0.9	48	1,387	3,643	2,783	2,358	1,887	517	217	103	14	40
48	1.4	51	2,101	4,504	3,524	2,867	2,718	227	191	310	16	54
49	0.9	55	1,364	2,672	2,177	2,029	1,884	148	43	76	7	17
50	2.7	42	2,392	6,304	4,610	2,202	1,591	1,359	619	894	13	115
51	0.8	46	1,291	4,167	2,842	1,305	893	1,557	272	87	13	19
52	1.8	43	2,049	6,281	4,266	2,773	1,554	782	533	1,275	21	98
53	0.7	51	1,056	2,767	2,155	2,076	1,784	161	72	94	11	33
54	1.8	45	2,187	4,921	3,750	2,608	2,078	613	503	466	9	74
55	1.9	47	2,333	5,389	4,748	2,106	2,919	407	249	1,055	17	90
56	5.3	45	3,135	8,735	6,061	4,240	4,204	1,041	457	260	24	64
57	2.8	46	2,685	6,945	4,844	3,735	3,142	962	520	140	32	46
58	1.4	47	2,409	5,346	4,205	3,167	2,706	296	380	729	10	76
59	1.1	43	1,892	5,946	3,956	3,325	2,817	400	253	403	33	45
60	5.3	49	809	2,484	1,710	1,555	1,328	206	48	102	9	16
61	1.0	50	797	2,142	1,658	1,564	1,266	162	112	89	7	22
62	0.7	49	1,404	3,637	2,785	2,422	2,073	387	172	103	15	32
63	0.6	50	920	2,398	1,909	2,006	1,642	87	40	111	7	19
64	0.8	47	1,877	4,207	3,205	2,641	2,244	259	188	452	9	45
65	0.4	50	795	1,996	1,499	1,146	1,000	259	107	96	15	20
66	0.6	49	1,324	3,505	2,564	1,966	1,651	549	153	153	13	43
67	1.3	54	892	2,046	1,676	1,587	1,379	86	43	143	4	18
68	0.6	52	1,263	3,524	2,591	1,888	1,510	757	196	73	17	35
69	0.9	50	2,066	4,884	3,853	3,596	2,875	244	172	501	14	42
70	0.5	51	923	2,380	1,856	1,739	1,481	154	56	124	9	24
71	0.6	51	1,000	2,246	1,835	1,602	1,417	152	77	159	9	20
72	0.7	49	1,204	2,786	2,166	1,446	1,193	583	98	260	8	21
73	0.3	44	1,922	3,074	2,630	1,538	1,502	269	367	443	6	38
74	0.7	48	1,299	2,802	2,159	1,646	1,486	227	189	192	8	52
75	1.1	54	1,018	2,184	1,777	1,799	1,500	83	20	147	5	21
76	0.9	49	1,948	4,894	3,753	2,982	2,784	244	253	408	12	41
77	0.8	45	2,003	5,164	3,835	3,312	2,339	406	382	617	11	69
78	1.9	50	1,004	2,373	1,912	1,721	1,425	112	69	256	0	43
79	0.7	46	3,597	6,580	5,283	2,542	2,239	1,292	693	933	13	97
80	0.9	44	1,751	5,065	3,530	3,200	2,496	351	329	285	21	47
81	0.7	46	2,134	4,472	3,472	2,539	2,330	371	251	433	12	66
82	0.7	47	1,734	4,573	3,290	2,524	2,139	693	255	144	15	41
83	4.5	45	2,498	7,241	4,950	3,912	3,795	656	314	74	37	64
84	0.6	47	2,126	3,825	3,139	2,215	2,069	402	397	216	11	35
85	0.7	46	1,711	4,532	3,456	2,867	2,188	400	240	546	6	65
86	0.9	48	1,667	4,175	3,097	2,564	2,054	212	265	493	9	53
87	4.6	43	1,400	4,923	2,906	2,447	1,980	163	124	570	13	46
88	0.5	39	3,044	4,161	3,463	1,720	1,584	516	1,062	213	9	65
89	1.3	46	2,687	7,334	5,345	4,375	3,009	274	306	1,611	16	116
90	1.3	48	1,432	4,053	2,841	2,696	2,136	168	97	393	6	35
91	0.7	47	1,432	3,704	2,706	2,151	1,996	271	174	201	17	43
92	2.0	46	2,115	4,869	3,527	2,264	1,939	1,124	292	103	6	54
93	9.6	49	180	449	346	281	314	29	0	0	0	2
94	2.2	47	1,779	5,767	3,766	3,207	2,024	195	193	1,276	9	65
95	0.7	44	1,441	4,420	2,959	2,617	1,911	244	327	402	8	53
96	4.5	38	592	2,487	1,803	935	821	438	481	32	4	19
97	0.7	53	582	1,549	1,182	1,244	1,099	35	13	15	7	12
98	3.1	70	930	2,135	1,591	800	847	690	31	5	4	9
99	0.3	49	610	1,610	1,171	655	615	468	77	1	2	8
100	1.4	54	20	48	40	26	34	5	0	0	0	1
101	1.8	44	1,521	4,476	2,958	2,615	2,196	226	134	339	12	44
102	1.1	49	1,085	3,207	2,227	2,277	2,004	98	24	69	12	16
103	0.4	48	912	2,810	1,966	1,179	921	800	159	44	16	25
104	0.4	40	3,112	4,839	4,021	2,296	1,875	659	1,028	338	14	84
105	1.6	49	889	1,918	1,583	1,020	1,110	135	112	188	9	20
106	0.4	44	1,016	2,912	2,039	1,785	1,505	200	180	124	8	22
107	0.8	47	1,611	4,633	3,343	3,040	2,276	167	128	698	7	61
108	1.1	46	1,989	4,788	3,555	2,551	1,896	332	266	939	12	102
109	2.7	46	1,749	4,697	3,210	2,813	2,235	221	210	473	10	53
110	0.8	51	1,558	3,550	2,995	2,521	2,000	163	168	624	5	32
111	2.4	45	2,512	6,665	4,605	3,410	3,156	794	293	283	30	41
112	0.7	48	1,349	3,971	2,809	2,335	1,785	131	54	781	9	43
113	0.8	44	1,992	5,626	3,932	2,505	2,583	694	402	167	12	64
114	13.2	47	1,702	4,620	3,261	2,213	2,419	703	54	35	20	26
115	0.8	49	1,825	3,585	2,924	2,589	2,138	268	189	274	2	48
116	2.4	46	1,984	5,598	3,800	3,502	2,683	184	142	728	7	53
117	1.5	43	2,848	6,624	4,732	3,360	3,106	581	425	511	20	74
118	1.1	45	2,237	6,130	4,150	3,839	3,314	316	139	300	25	53
119	1.2	47	2,256	6,952	4,889	4,632	3,178	197	203	1,211	11	79
120	2.7	46	2,727	8,142	5,300	4,584	3,747	319	244	881	19	85
121	1.1	45	2,109	6,626	4,333	3,169	1,971	214	183	1,849	11	100
122	1.6	47	1,886	5,663	3,696	3,557	3,112	221	148	153	14	44
123	1.0	46	1,454	3,038	2,273	1,974	1,594	169	186	286	5	29
124	0.9	47	2,787	5,505	4,288	2,656	2,302	296	318	1,267	22	77
125	2.0	46	2,528	7,178	4,899	3,666	2,525	316	497	1,445	18	86
126	1.0	43	2,176	6,932	4,429	3,835	3,072	463	516	287	23	59
127	1.1	44	2,082	5,554	3,963	3,089	2,747	428	279	428	17	59
128	15.3	48	1,607	5,009	3,366	3,281	2,947	157	119	86	21	33
129	1.3	46	1,674	3,637	2,646	2,105	1,994	248	268	77	9	43
130	3.5	45	2,844	8,093	5,391	4,260	3,565	365	239	1,119	14	80
131	2.1	46	2,770	7,467	5,078	4,553	4,139	349	272	215	32	61
132	0.6	47	2,022	3,914	3,195	2,588	2,276	260	292	307	9	49
133	2.4	44	1,644	4,416	3,036	1,941	1,958	500	366	141	22	48
134	13.9	42	4,324	13,151	8,423	5,539	4,749	967	1,147	1,339	19	171
135	1.1	44	2,369	6,057	4,218	2,970	2,442	359	360	958	10	78
136	0.6	52	1,504	2,719	2,275	1,762	1,574	280	275	103	12	27
137	0.9	47	1,250	2,827	2,116	1,787	1,410	135	118	395	6	52
138	0.4	52	558	1,467	1,174	1,166	1,049	55	11	36	9	13
139	1.5	45	3,462	7,693	5,568	3,436	3,457	494	612	866	22	109
140	2.6	46	3,668	10,338	6,723	3,820	5,464	446	418	270	29	91
141	1.6	48	1,284	3,801	2,793	2,519	1,914	226	233	370	8	36
142	0.9	47	2,232	4,504	3,634	2,525	2,256	205	280	814	11	63
143	1.5	48	988	2,282	1,766	1,672	1,389	86	68	183	4	33
144	1.7	47	1,236	3,881	2,676	2,326	1,734	133	299	462	13	35
145	0.5	42	701	2,207	1,481	1,223	928	154	181	186	6	21
146	1.5	43	2,441	6,978	4,766	3,870	3,130	553	480	470	18	100
147	1.5	45	1,227	2,950	2,036	1,346	1,222	237	238	299	13	25
148	0.1	49	34	97	77	66	59	2	3	9	0	4
149	2.5	44	1,236	3,805	2,467	1,989	1,665	299	296	145	15	35
150	16.7	52	217	539	412	345	379	26	3	0	2	0
151	0.4	42	677	2,232	1,448	990	755	143	231	276	6	26
152	0.2	43	339	1,174	889	62	35	834	9	6	2	1
153	2.5	44	1,271	3,814	2,621	1,961	1,629	251	294	407	3	32
154	0.0	37	126	434	213	133	51	33	114	8	0	7
155	1.2	45	1,528	3,367	2,205	3,622	1,756	177	160	80	8	22
156	1.6	44	2,257	6,651	4,469	3,784	3,185	529	447	228	21	53
157	3.5	45	1,848	6,145	3,832	3,028	2,342	223	243	922	15	81
158	1.9	46	852	2,654	1,869	1,310	823	144	245	615	7	33
159	2.0	43	2,602	8,349	5,376	3,496	2,762	1,027	839	644	12	82
160	0.2	57	7	12	10	14	10	0	0	0	0	0
161	0.2	0	4	10	9	6	9	0	0	0	0	0
162	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
163	4.5	41	3,923	10,764	7,142	4,954	4,608	1,034	897	446	24	116
164	0.6	81	450	467	466	444	448	4	0	8	2	3
165	3.7	50	324	936	676	653	536	29	23	65	3	20
166	1.5	44	1,378	4,606	2,992	2,044	1,467	255	344	866	7	47
167	1.4	45	2,507	7,146	4,882	3,718	2,508	308	295	1,645	7	116
168	0.9	45	668	2,329	1,433	1,390	1,150	70	59	127	11	13
169	1.0	41	1,387	3,837	2,571	1,860	1,619	335	299	264	14	37
170	0.6	44	975	2,466	1,713	1,355	1,259	165	147	112	5	20
171	4.2	44	2,748	7,062	4,854	3,181	3,420	308	296	737	21	63
172	22.4	45	1,628	4,570	3,144	2,395	2,404	523	110	28	31	45
173	0.9	46	944	2,964	2,004	1,761	1,626	149	101	103	6	16
174	6.4	44	2,125	6,280	4,204	3,055	2,893	602	418	194	21	66
175	2.3	44	1,145	3,792	2,527	1,928	1,746	256	271	208	8	33
176	3.2	39	3,717	5,136	4,655	2,129	3,056	455	451	550	13	111
177	4.3	45	3,200	5,528	4,527	2,343	3,121	424	476	381	28	80
178	8.8	46	2,316	6,137	3,920	2,987	3,280	262	211	96	21	45
179	7.7	58	2,100	4,940	4,003	3,910	3,685	152	31	67	29	33
Totals	841.2	46	300,960	782,341	557,664	421,386	368,136	72,370	44,429	61,146	2,320	8,164

Explanation of census/redistricting tables' headings and terms - PDF
2010 Census - Texas Redistricting Data

Matthews: Republicans are Becoming the Party of the John Birch Society

Chris Matthews in a "Let me finish" segment states the obvious; the Republican Party has become the party of the John Birch Society.
MATTHEWS: "Let Me Finish" tonight with this unbelievable presidential campaign that’s about to begin.

Watching President Obama today explaining and defending his budget, both the substance and the politics, I was struck by the question: could any of the possible Republican candidates out there do this?

Does any one of them have the precision of mind, the command of recall, the orderly process of thinking and evaluating, the reasonable moral compass?

You can play this game, too. Think it through. Throw those names and faces onto your mental viewing screen and think deep. Romney, Huckabee, Palin, Bachmann, Barbour, Santorum, Gingrich -- is there one of them we think could do what Obama can do?

I’ve been in close quarters with the president twice. The first time I came to the conclusion that this guy ought to be president of the United States. There’s a peace to his presentation, a calm understanding of the information, of his values, of the world.

A look at the Republican field, with all its negatives, I look at Nate Silver’s numbers and see the problem that the party has in finding someone to field against the president -- someone who can stand up on the same platform, talk the issues with this competence and wonder -- then it come to me, that they may not be in the business of looking for something with the match to Obama, simply someone to attack him. I’m talking about a protest candidate -- someone who is -- who yells at the government, mocks the country’s condition, is clever, sarcastic, and when it works best, cute in their cutting.

A look at the joke-telling at last week’s Conservative Political Action Convention, a look at the new poll showing a majority of Republican voters don’t believe the president was born here, even though it was announced in the newspapers at the time. I look at the strange wackiness that echoes through the one stable party of Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt, and Ike, and wonder if they accept any of those guys today? Do you think they’d take a guy who wanted to take away states` rights? Who wants to fight for conservation of our wilderness lands, who wants to build an interstate highway system or create a federal system of loans and grants for higher education?

Forget about it, they’d never pick those guys. No, The Republicans aren’t that party anymore. They’re becoming more and more the party that doesn’t believe in science, whether it’s evolution or climate change; doesn’t believe in government; doesn’t believe the president is an American.

It’s veering off to being the party of the John Birch Society, adhering to the white parchments of that society’s latter day apostle, Glenn Beck. That’s right -- the John Birch Society that said Ike was a communist; the apostle who now believes that President Obama is an avatar of a burgeoning world-dominating caliphate.

That’s HARDBALL for now. Thanks for being with us.

The Birch Society has long been considered wacky and extreme by old guard conservative leaders. William F. Buckley famously denounced the John Birch Society and its founder Robert Welch in the early 1960s as “idiotic” and “paranoid. ” Buckley’s condemnation effectively banishing the group from the mainstream conservative movement. Welch had called President Dwight D. Eisenhower a “conscious, dedicated agent of the communist conspiracy” and that the U.S. government was “under operational control of the Communist party.” Buckley argued that such paranoid rantings had no place in the conservative movement or the Republican party.

Two years after Buckley’s death, the John Birch Society is no longer banished; it is listed as one of about 100 co-sponsors of the 2010 CPAC.

The Southern Poverty Law Center has listed the John Birch Society as a group that “advocates or adheres to extreme anti-government doctrines.”

Right-wing conservatives align themselves with the banking oligarchy, which has facilitated massive transfer of wealth to the ultra-rich.

They are for no taxes on business or the wealthy, elimination of Medicare, privatization of Social Security, abolition of unions, elimination of the Corporation of Public Broadcasting, elimination of all regulatory agencies, including those that guarantee food, product and banking safety and abolition of social programs of any kind, which they believe are socialistic.

MSNBC Rachel Maddox expose on the Birchers

Those spending billions to fund the Tea Party, like the billionaire Koch Brothers, are aligned with John Birch Society. JBS advocates the abolition of income tax, and repeal of civil rights legislation, which it sees as being Communist in inspiration. They want to eliminate the Federal Reserve, the Department of Education and most of the Federal Government, with the exception of those parts of the government funneling $670 billion into defense spending annually, which includes $117.8 billion dollars to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan this year.

What is the John Birch Society