Signs of change abound in the bustling Town of Horizon City – new roads, businesses, homes and a multitude of “opening soon” banners in almost every corner.
But another sign of change in the far east El Paso County town is the growing number of Trump flags flying high alongside U.S., Texas – and often, NFL – flags in front of people’s homes.
“That’s how you know there’s a growing Republican presence here, you see more and more Trump flags,” said Ruben Mendoza, 64, a Horizon City councilman and former town mayor. “I don’t know if it’s been a shift or a growth, but it hasn’t happened overnight.”
President-elect Donald Trump made deep inroads this year among predominantly Hispanic counties on the Texas-Mexico border, and El Paso was no exception.
A home off Darrington Road in Horizon City boasts a Trump 2024 flag, Nov. 12, 2024. The home also showcases U.S. and Texas flags. (Cindy Ramirez / El Paso Matters)
But Trump’s strongest performance in El Paso County came in communities like Horizon City, the rural and suburban parts of the county outside the El Paso city limits. Those areas are close to 90% Hispanic.
In 2020, Trump won 36% of the Horizon City vote in his unsuccessful reelection bid against Joe Biden, losing by more than 1,500 votes, or almost 27 percentage points. This year against Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump won just under 50% of Horizon City’s vote, edging Harris by 14 votes.
Political experts said the shift in historically Democratic towns has come over time and under a deliberate effort by Republicans to woo voters, particularly in rural and suburban communities where conservatism already exists.
“When we’re talking about the border in general, this movement towards the Republican party didn’t happen overnight,” said Joshua Blank, research director for the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin. “The Republican Party has been working these counties in Texas for a number of election cycles.”
He said the shift is not just a function of Republican persuasion, but their grassroots mobilization to put up candidates and to seek out “older, conservative leaning voters who haven’t been reached out to by Democratic candidates.”
Blank said Democrats have generally mistakenly banked on Latino support based largely on their ethnicity – a designation created and put upon people who may not necessarily identify that way or who don’t consider their race or ethnicity as key to their vote.
Conversely, Republicans targeted Latino voters on issues of the economy – their primary concern, he said.
“We asked who they trusted more to improve the economy or to improve inflation and prices, and the majority clearly said Donald Trump over (Kamala) Harris,” Blank said, referring to a poll of likely voters in the presidential race in Texas conducted by the Texas Politics Project in early October. “The border was another big issue, and that was another issue in which Trump was significantly more trusted than Harris by Hispanic voters.”
While Latinos largely tend to vote Democrat, those living in rural areas tend to be conservative leaning voters, he said. Latinos from different generations have also lived very different experiences that impact their views on issues such as immigration.
A Trump flag is displayed alongside a U.S. flag at this home in Horizon City, Nov. 12, 2024. (Cindy Ramirez / El Paso Matters)
Mendoza, the Horizon councilman, said he’s long been a Republican voter, although he grew up in a staunch Democratic family in Lubbock. Mendoza, who served in the Air Force 26 years before retiring in 2004, now works for the Department of the Army. He said many of his life experiences serving in the military shaped his views on patriotism and issues such as the economy and immigration.
“What I hear a lot about, but don’t see with my own eyes I have to say, is this immigration thing,” he said. “People are overrunning the border, rushing the Border Patrol, coming in illegally – I’ve seen all these videos and that concerns me.”
Mendoza said his wife, an immigrant from Mexico, and her family came to the United States legally in a way that he supports.
“A person who migrates legally is a better citizen,” he said. “I believe the type of person who follows the law is a better neighbor.”
Mendoza said aside from immigration, he’s concerned about the economy and China, saying he supports Trump’s ideas to strengthen the U.S. economy.
He said he’s seen increased support for Republicans over the years among his own family and friends, including many who have recently moved to Horizon.
“I believe there’s a growing sentiment that we fare better under a Republican president and also Republicans at the state and local levels,” he said.
In 2020, Trump won less than a third of the vote outside the El Paso city limits, losing by more than 13,000 votes to Biden. The Republican nominee that year carried only one of the 30 precincts outside the city limits.
But in 2024, Trump won almost 48% of the vote outside the El Paso city limits, trailing Harris by 1,400 votes. He carried 18 of the 42 rural and suburban precincts in the county.
Trump also made significant inroads inside the El Paso city limits, though not as much as in the rural and suburban parts of the county. About 82% of city residents are Hispanic.
He went from just over 31% of the vote in the city of El Paso in 2020 to just over 40% this year. Trump won five of the 178 precincts in the city limits in 2020; this year, he carried nine of 174 precincts.
“We get that people feel they’re not in the best place they want to be economically, but we see all of these new homes and businesses going up and can’t wrap our heads around how this signals a bad economy,” said Teresita Rodriguez, 61, a recently retired teacher and lifelong Democrat who moved to Horizon from Central El Paso about a decade ago.
“I don’t think that’s the real reason people are maybe voting Republican now,” Rodriguez said while she had morning coffee with her daughter at a Horizon Starbucks a week after the presidential elections.
Horizon City is one of the few areas of El Paso seeing population growth. The town east of the El Paso city limits has grown from 17,000 people in 2010 to more than 24,000 today.
Rodriguez’s daughter, Sandra Rodriguez, 30, a florist and baker, was a little more direct about the reasons for Trump’s growing support in Horizon City: “It’s all about the immigrants and this idea that they’re criminals and taking our jobs and all that. They’re buying into that and don’t care about anything else.”
Yolie MacCardle, a retired payroll manager who lives in East El Paso, has been a regular Republican voter for about 15 years. Decades back, she voted Democrat alongside her late husband. But over the years, she said her views – especially on immigration – better aligned with the GOP.
“I am a Republican now because of the abuse by the undocumented immigrants and the opportunities given to them by our governments – whether federal, state or local – that’s become absolutely appalling,” she said, saying she believes immigrants are given preference for jobs, including in professional careers. “It feels like they’re taking sides against American citizens. There’s an injustice there.”
A native of Mexico, MacCardle said she came to the United States under a student visa to learn English in a Chicago school in her youth. She married and returned to Mexico for six years while she awaited her legal status in the U.S. to be approved. MacCardle obtained her legal resident status in 1980 and her citizenship four years later.
“I’m not against immigrants, I just don’t agree with them coming over illegally,” she said.
While immigration has been a deciding factor for her, MacCardle said she’s also been concerned about the economy and felt she was best off when Trump was previously in office. She hopes a second turn for Trump in the White House will turn things around for the better.
Still, she’s cautious about Trump’s rhetoric.
“I don’t agree with a lot of things that he says the way they come out of his mouth,” she said. “I wish he would keep his mouth shut and just do the work.”
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