Why Red States Have the Blues
THE BLUE STATES ARE COLONIZING THE Big, Electoral College-Rich RED STATES—AND THERE’S LITTLE THE RED STATES CAN DO ABOUT IT. THE DATA DOESN’T LIE
ONCE UPON A TIME, VIRGINIA WAS RELIABLY red. Now it’s blue.
It’s the same story for California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, New Hampshire and New Mexico. Arizona, North Carolina and perhaps Georgia and Texas are on the way.
Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler is struggling in Georgia. Democrat Cal Cunningham is ahead in North Carolina in the U.S. Senate race. Polls show Democrat Jaime Harrison is in a dead heat with Republican Senator Lindsey Graham in reliably red South Carolina.
Within two presidential election cycles, much of the South will be blue. As former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams told The New York Times: “The Sun Belt expansion (by Democrats) is what will drive the next 30 years of elections.”
Demographers and political pros have been watching and discussing these trends for a decade. Now the data may finally be about to deliver results, starting in the fall. In other words: the Democrats long nightmare in the Sun Belt may be, at last, coming to an end.
These states aren’t turning blue because conservatives are suddenly discovering their inner AOC. The shift is driven by demographics—what demographers call “generational replacement,” urbanization and increasingly, the migration of blue-state residents to red states. Worryingly for Republicans, these new arrivals have brought their voting habits and blue policies with them. Author Kristin B. Tate calls it the “liberal invasion of red state America.” She believes that companies and people are fleeing high-tax/low-growth blue states
