HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) — While Democrats won most of Harris County on Tuesday, a stretch of west Harris County near the Katy Freeway stood out as a Republican stronghold.
In the Senate race, the majority of voters inside the Beltway supported the Democratic candidate. The villages just south of the Katy Freeway were a notable exception, appearing as what one voter described as a red island in a sea of blue.
Beth Payne, a voter who lives in the area, said the broader results saddened her.
“I’m a little disappointed. A little disappointed, but hope things will turn around,” Payne said.
As for why the area leans so heavily Republican, Payne pointed to the people who live there.
“The reason it’s ruby red is it’s got a lot of people who have great values and are hard-working,” she said.
Rice University political science professor Mark Jones said the explanation goes further than that. He said other parts of the county have higher home values, including River Oaks, but the number of apartment residents in those areas can affect election results. The villages, he said, have more single-family homes.
“That’s a group of people are also very in tune to property taxes, in which case they view Republicans very favorably even if they object to their policies on a host of other issues,” Jones said.
Republicans in the area also backed their local representative. The GOP candidate in that district was leading by more than six points, according to county election results.
Jones said that result, however, should not be the main takeaway for the Republican Party.
“Republicans are far better off looking at the districts they lost and figuring out why they lost those districts, and not why they won a district they should be winning in every single election,” Jones said.
Payne said she believes the party could do better by focusing on its candidates’ character.
“The same values, the same moral character that we typically believe is right,” she said.
This story comes from our news partner ABC13 Houston.