Texas is big, and getting bigger, in population and influence

Twice a day, throngs of tourists – many from as far away as Asia and Europe – gather in the historic Fort Worth stockyards a few miles from the city’s gleaming downtown to watch a herd of longhorns parade along Exchange Avenue.

The re-creation of scenes that played out in Fort Worth when it was a dusty cow town more than a century ago is just one of the many ways that Texas pays tribute to its fabled rough-hewn heritage. Cattle and oil, cowboys and wildcatters, pioneer courage and out-sized bravado – all given immortality in movies and novels – still help define the Lone Star mystique as much as they ever did.

But the Texas of today also is a bright and shiny new frontier, a land of opportunity boasting the nation’s fastest-growing cities and a surging, diversified economy that has helped the state largely outpace the rest of the country in population growth and job creation.

Given its reputation as one of the nation’s reddest red states, non-Texans might be surprised that the Lone Star State was thoroughly dominated by Democrats from the end of the Civil War until well past the midpoint of the 20th century. Republicans began making gains in the late 1970s and have held power for the past two decades. The last Democratic governor was Ann Richards, who left office in 1995. The last time Texans voted for a Democrat for president was Jimmy Carter in 1976.

As the largest state in the March 1 Super Tuesday primaries, Texas could play a dominant role in the nomination fight in both parties. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who has longtime ties to Texas, has consistently held a solid lead among Democrats, aided by strong support among Hispanics, who constitute the state’s fastest-growing and most sought-after constituency.

On the Republican side, first-term U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas has maintained an unbroken hold among grass-roots conservatives since he staged a come-from-behind Republican runoff victory over former Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst to win his Senate seat in 2012.

That victory, fueled by the state’s take-no-prisoners tea party wing, immediately propelled Cruz into national prominence as an unpredictable Republican maverick. Poll after poll has repeatedly showed Cruz leading as a presidential favorite in Texas, though Donald Trump has also surged and was tied with him in one poll.

Although Texan voters are generally divided among Republicans, Democrats and independents, the majority seem to share a strong conservative streak, reflected by a deep distrust of federal government and the general belief that state and local political leaders can do a better job confronting pressing problems than those in Washington.

“Texans still have this kind of optimism and confidence in the way we’re doing things compared to the way everybody else is doing things,” said University of Texas professor Daron Shaw, who conducts the Texas Lyceum Poll. In the latest Lyceum Poll of Texas adults, conducted last September, only 18 percent identified themselves as liberals. Twenty-nine percent said they were moderates, and the most – 43 percent – said they were conservative.

Over the last decade-plus, Texas has grown faster than other states to amass a population of nearly 27 million, and hundreds of new residents march into the state every 24 hours. State Demographer Lloyd Potter says the nation’s second largest state adds about 1,000 people daily – half through births, the other half from out-of-state migration.

Along with the people have come legions of corporate transplants, many of them Fortune 500 companies, drawn by the state’s favorable tax climate and pro-business policies that are rigidly advanced and protected by the state’s conservative Republican leadership. The headquarters of two corporations based in Torrance, California – Toyota North America and Farmer Brothers Coffee – are relocating to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, the nation’s fourth most populous metropolitan region.

“We studied a lot of different places, and Texas rose to the top,” said Mike Keown, president and CEO of Farmer Brothers.

Even though one of the state’s economic mainstays – the oil industry – has suffered in recent months with a prolonged drop in oil prices, economic diversification through 21st-century growth industries such as high tech, life science and commercial space development has helped the state continue to expand and to retain its claim as a robust job creator. From 2000 to 2013, Texas was responsible for 41 percent of the nation’s job growth, creating 2 million jobs, compared with 2.9 million in the remaining 49 states.

Gov. Greg Abbott and his long-serving predecessor, Rick Perry, have touted the state’s economic performance as a hallmark of their administrations, traveling to other states in an effort to lure more corporate converts to the Lone Star State. Perry touted the state’s economic record in his two unsuccessful presidential campaigns, while Abbott delivered a similar message to Cuban leaders in a recent trip to the newly open communist nation.

Others point to less flattering statistics to underscore troubling challenges. During the job-creation boom over the last decade and half, the state’s poverty rate increased from 15.1 percent to 17.5 percent, giving Texas the 13th highest poverty rate in the country, according to federal census data. The state also has the 10th highest rate of low-wage jobs in the country, and the largest number of uninsured residents – 5 million, 19.1 percent of the population.

“We are a leader in creating jobs, and that’s a terrific thing,” said Ann Beeson, executive director of the Center for Public Policy Priorities in Austin, which advocates for low-income residents. “The problem is we’ve created too many low-wage jobs, and that’s why . . . you also see this growing poverty and inequality.”

Another modern-day characteristic that distinguishes Texas from its frontier past is its diverse and urbanized population. More than 90 percent of the state’s residents live in metropolitan areas, suburbs and adjacent communities, many of them in the burgeoning Interstate 35 corridor linking San Antonio, Austin and Dallas-Fort Worth. Houston, Dallas and San Antonio are among the nation’s 10 largest cities, and rapid-fire population growth spreading from those urban centers has made scores of nearby communities among the fastest-growing in the country.

Austin, a once-quiet college town that is now the 11th largest city in the country, exemplifies both the advantages and disadvantages of the state’s urban landscape. Fueled by a vigorous high-tech industry that has given it the nickname “Mini-Silicon Valley,” Austin has sprouted a widening expanse of skyscrapers and it boasts an international reputation for music, film and entertainment. But its residents also bristle over traffic congestion, environmental concerns and the soaring cost of living, which has given rise to an issue known as “affordability.”

The big headline over the past two decades has been the explosion in the number of Hispanic residents in Texas, who now constitute 38 percent of the population and are being aggressively targeted by both parties with the approach of the presidential election. Democrats have long hoped to unleash Hispanic voting power to mount a comeback in Republican-led Texas but have been generally unsuccessful in getting Hispanics to vote in sufficient numbers to make a difference.

Whatever its pluses or minuses, Texas, at least in the eyes of its boosters, is a place with a rich culture, a fabled past and a bright future. “The name recognition of Texas helps sell Texas,” said David Berzina, executive vice president of the Fort Worth Chamber of Commerce. “It’s an established brand.”

This story was originally published February 29, 2016 at 11:55 AM with the headline "Texas is big, and getting bigger, in population and influence."