A Texas border county backed Democrats for generations. Trump won it decisively

RIO GRANDE CITY, Texas (AP) — Jorge Bazán's family has lived on the U.S.-Mexico border for generations and voted for Democrats as long as he can remember.

He broke the family tradition this year and voted for Donald Trump because he doesn't trust the Democratic Party's economic policies.

“I think they forgot about the middle class,” said Bazán, who works for the utility company in Rio Grande City, seat of the most Hispanic county in the nation. “People are suffering right now. Everything's very expensive.”

The South Texas region — stretching from San Antonio to the Rio Grande Valley — has long been a Democratic stronghold. A slide toward Trump in 2020 rattled Democrats in the predominately Hispanic area, where for decades Republicans seldom bothered to field candidates in local races. However, few Democrats expected the dramatic realignment that happened Tuesday, when Trump flipped several counties along the border including Hidalgo and Cameron, the two most populous counties in the Rio Grande Valley.

In Starr County, where Bazán lives, voters backed a Republican presidential candidate for the first time in a century. The predominantly Hispanic and working-class rural county, with a median household income of $36,000 that's one of the lowest in the nation, gave Trump a 16 percentage-point victory margin over Vice President Kamala Harris. Roughly 2 million residents live at Texas’ southernmost point, among vast tracts of farmland and many state and federal agents patrolling the border.

Trump’s victories in the Rio Grande Valley starkly showed how working-class voters nationwide are shifting toward Republicans. That includes voters on the Texas border, where many Democrats long argued that Trump’s promised crackdowns on immigration would turn off voters.

“I was always a lifelong Democrat, but I decided to change to Republican with the political landscape that it is now,” said Luis Meza, a 32-year-old Starr County voter. “I felt that going Republican was the better choice, especially with the issues of immigration and everything like that that's going on.”

Meza said that he was against Trump at first, but noticed too few changes under President Joe Biden to justify voting for Harris.

Biden won Hidalgo County by less than half the margin that Hillary Clinton did in 2016. Since then, Republicans have invested millions of dollars to persuade Hispanic and working-class voters soured by Democratic policies.

A similar scenario played out in the state's three most competitive races in nearby counties. Republican Rep. Monica De La Cruz claimed a decisive victory in the 15th Congressional District. In the two other races, seasoned Democratic incumbents barely held on to their seats.

Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar narrowly escaped defeat against a political newcomer in the most competitive race of his two-decade career. Cuellar, whose district includes Rio Grande City, was indicted this year on bribery and other charges for allegedly accepting $600,000 from companies in Mexico and Azerbaijan. His support for abortion restrictions makes him one of the most conservative Democrats in the House.

Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez also narrowly escaped defeat by an opponent he comfortably beat two years ago.

Nationally, Black and Latino voters appeared slightly less likely to support Harris than they were to back Biden four years ago, according to AP VoteCast data. More than half of Hispanic voters supported Harris, but that was down slightly from the roughly 6 in 10 who backed Biden in 2020. Trump’s support among those groups appeared to rise slightly compared to 2020.

In McAllen, Texas, Jose Luis Borrego said that inflation and the promise of tougher border restrictions made him vote for a Republican presidential candidate for the first time.

“I wanted to see change and that’s why I did vote for Trump. I did vote red. I would not call myself a Republican” Borrego, 37, said. He said that he voted for Hillary Clinton and Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders in prior elections.

Borrego's whole family voted Trump.

“We just (made) this choice, because we didn’t have another choice that we felt comfortable with,” he said.

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz said he had months of visits to the region during his campaign race against Democratic U.S. Rep. Colin Allred. In a victory speech on Election Day, Cruz said Hispanic voters are leaving the Democratic Party because of immigration.

“They are coming home to conservative values they never left. They understand something the liberal elites never will: There’s nothing progressive about open borders," Cruz said. "There is nothing Latino about letting criminals roam free.”

Michael Mireles, the director of civic engagement for political organizing group LUPE Votes, believes that Democrats did not engage Hispanic voters enough about the issues that concern them.

“I think that folks on the Democratic side have been really slow to have those conversations with Latino households and families.” Mireles said in Hidalgo County after Election Day.

“We can't wait for a big election to have those conversations. By that point, it's too late.”

This story has been amended to correct the spelling of Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez’s first name and Jose Luis Borrego's age.

Jorge Bazan, general manager of union water supply corporation, a democrat talks about voting for Republican Donald Trump for president, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, in Rio Grande City, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Democrat Nelda Cruz Gonzalez talks about voting for Republican Donald Trump for president, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, in Rio Grande City, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Tania Chavez, right, executive director of La Unión del Pueblo Entero (LUPE), leads members in a chant after making statements about yesterday's election, in San Juan, Texas, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Michael Mireles, Votes Director of Civic Engagement for La Unión del Pueblo Entero (LUPE), talks about yesterday's election in San Juan, Texas, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Members of La Unión del Pueblo Entero (LUPE), listen as Executive Director Tania Chavez makes statements about yesterday's election in San Juan, Texas, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Jorge Bazan, general manager of union water supply corporation, a democrat talks about voting for Republican Donald Trump for president, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, in Rio Grande City, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Michael Mireles, Votes Director of Civic Engagement for La Unión del Pueblo Entero (LUPE), listens as the group holds a news conference to talk about yesterday's election in San Juan, Texas, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

BEIRUT (AP) — The Syrian army has withdrawn from the central city of Hama after insurgents broke through its defenses, the military said Thursday, in another setback for President Bashar Assad.

The announcement came hours after opposition fighters said they had entered the city and were marching toward the center.

The Syrian army said it redeployed from Hama and took positions outside the city to protect the lives of civilians.

The capture of Hama, Syria’s fourth largest city, is another blow for Assad days after insurgents captured much of the northern city of Aleppo, the country’s largest city.

On Thursday morning, Syrian insurgents said they entered Hama after three days of intense clashes with government forces on its outskirts, part of an ongoing offensive.

The Syrian army said in a statement later that a number of troops were killed after resisting the insurgents for days. It accused the attackers of relying on suicide attacks to break through the defenses of the city.

Hama is one of the few cities that remained under full government control during Syria's conflict, which broke out in March 2011 following a popular uprising. Its capture would be a major setback for President Bashar Assad.

The offensive is being led by the jihadi group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham as well as an umbrella group of Turkish-backed Syrian militias called the Syrian National Army. Their sudden capture of the northern city of Aleppo, an ancient business hub, was a stunning prize for Assad's opponents and reignited the conflict which had been largely stalemated for the past few years.

The next target of the insurgents is likely to be the central city of Homs, the country's third largest. Homs is about 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Hama.

Aleppo's takeover marked the first opposition attack on the city since 2016, when a brutal Russian air campaign retook it for Assad after rebel forces had initially seized it. Intervention by Russia, Iran and Iranian-allied Hezbollah and other militant groups has allowed Assad to remain in power.

The latest flare-up in Syria’s long civil war comes as Assad’s main regional and international backers are preoccupied with their own wars.

Tens of thousands of people have been displaced by the renewed fighting, which began with the surprise opposition offensive Nov. 27.

The insurgents claimed on their Military Operations Department channel on the Telegram app Thursday that they have entered Hama and are marching toward its center.

“Our forces are taking positions inside the city of Hama,” the channel quoted a local commander identified as Maj. Hassan Abdul-Ghani as saying.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said fierce battles were fought inside Hama.

“If Hama falls, it means that the beginning of the regime’s fall has started,” the Observatory’s chief, Rami Abdurrahman, told The Associated Press before the city's capture.

Hama is a major intersection point in Syria that links that country’s center with the north as well the east and the west. It is about 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of the capital, Damascus, Assad’s seat of power. Hama province also borders the coastal province of Latakia, a main base of popular support for Assad.

The city's name is known for the 1982 massacre of Hama, one of the most notorious in the modern Middle East, when security forces under Assad's late father, Hafez Assad, killed thousands to crush a Muslim Brotherhood uprising.

Internally displaced people walk among the tents in a camp in Tabqa city, Raqqa governorate, northern Syria, on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. Thousands of Kurdish families displaced from Aleppo and Tel Rifaat have ended up in temporary shelters and on the streets in Kurdish-controlled areas of Tabqa city. (AP Photo/Hogir El Abdo)

Internally displaced people walk among the tents in a camp in Tabqa city, Raqqa governorate, northern Syria, on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. Thousands of Kurdish families displaced from Aleppo and Tel Rifaat have ended up in temporary shelters and on the streets in Kurdish-controlled areas of Tabqa city. (AP Photo/Hogir El Abdo)

Internally displaced people sit in a camp in Tabqa city, Raqqa governorate, northern Syria, on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. Thousands of Kurdish families displaced from Aleppo and Tel Rifaat have ended up in temporary shelters and on the streets in Kurdish-controlled areas of Tabqa city. (AP Photo/Hogir El Abdo)

Internally displaced people arrive at a camp in Tabqa city, Raqqa governorate, northern Syria, on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. Thousands of Kurdish families displaced from Aleppo and Tel Rifaat have ended up in temporary shelters and on the streets in Kurdish-controlled areas of Tabqa city. (AP Photo/Hogir El Abdo)

Internally displaced people sit in a camp in Tabqa city, Raqqa governorate, northern Syria, on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. Thousands of Kurdish families displaced from Aleppo and Tel Rifaat have ended up in temporary shelters and on the streets in Kurdish-controlled areas of Tabqa city. (AP Photo/Hogir El Abdo)