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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2009
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 ANALYSIS 
4

Go Ahead and Mess With Texas

Nate Silver does electoral math for 5 Lone Star States

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(Newser) – An obscure provision of Texas statehood gives it the right to split into five smaller states, writes Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight.com. He outlines the potential new entities:

  1. New Texas: Centered on Austin, as populous as Kentucky, and split down the middle politically—city vs. suburbs.

  1. Trinity: Dallas, Fort Worth, and Arlington anchor the richest new state. It's solidly Republican, having favored McCain over Obama, 58% to 42%.
  2. Gulfland: Running from Louisiana to the Rio Grande, Houston's home state would be just a hair more liberal than Trinity.
  3. Plainland: Encompassing the state’s prairies, solid-red Plainland might be the most conservative state in the entire country.
  4. El Norte: El Norte, running along the Rio Grande valley, would be overwhelmingly Hispanic, deeply impoverished, and about 65% Democratic.

1839: The flag of the Republic of Texas, the 'Lone Star' state was admitted to the Union in 1845, supposedly with the right to split five ways.
1839: The flag of the Republic of Texas, the 'Lone Star' state was admitted to the Union in 1845, supposedly with the right to split five ways.   (Getty Images)
The Alamo
The Alamo   (©Nick Suan)
The Texas flag.
The Texas flag.   (©esprit_jap)
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Overall, dividing Texas into five states would probably slightly hurt Democrats in the Senate while slightly helping them in the Electoral College. That's not much of a rationale for Republicans -- or anyone, really -- to mess with it. - Nate Silver

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4 comments
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cornelison
Apr 24, 09 5:00 PM CDT
Almost every time I read the news someone is trying to divide people against one another. Is it a coincidence that it is coming mostly from the "extreme right?" Dividing the state by class, party affiliation & wealth stands for everything that America is NOT. Reply
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Rob
Apr 27, 09 5:32 AM CDT
Are you kidding me? It's american politics as usual and the Democrats do it as much as anyone. You whine because this is going to the right.
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lo9an
Apr 26, 09 12:16 AM CDT
Hopefully they do, that would be great. The GOP believes this would serve their interests and allow for additional Conservative elected officials. Good luck Texas, and good luck GOP. Sooner or later you may want to think up some plausible ideas. Reply
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nick
Apr 26, 09 7:57 AM CDT
Split: to leave without delay. I'm all for it. So I hear, is Governor Perry. Reply
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