West Texas

==Politics==
Except for the Trans-Pecos region, West Texas has become well known as a stronghold for [[Conservatism|conservative]] politics. Some of the most heavily [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] counties in the United States are in the region. Former U.S. President [[George W. Bush]] spent most of his childhood in West Texas.

The Panhandle and several counties in the Midland-Odessa area were some of the first parts of Texas to abandon the state's "[[Solid South]]" [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] roots; nine counties{{efn|West Texas counties voting Republican at every election since 1952 comprise [[Ector County, Texas|Ector County]], [[Gray County, Texas|Gray County]], [[Hansford County, Texas|Hansford County]], [[Hutchinson County, Texas|Hutchinson County]], [[Lipscomb County, Texas|Lipscomb County]], [[Midland County, Texas|Midland County]], [[Ochiltree County, Texas|Ochiltree County]], [[Randall County, Texas|Randall County]], and [[Roberts County, Texas|Roberts County]].}} have not supported a Democrat for president since [[United States presidential election in Texas, 1948|1948]]. The Rolling Plains to the east remained Democratic substantially longer: although [[Walter Mondale]]'s [[United States presidential election in Texas, 1984|1984 campaign]] lost Texas by 27.50%, he won five counties in this region.{{efn|West Texas Plains "Bible Belt" counties voting for Mondale in 1984 were [[Cottle County, Texas|Cottle County]] (which was in fact one of 130 counties nationwide to vote for [[George McGovern]] in 1972), [[Dickens County, Texas|Dickens County]], [[Fisher County, Texas|Fisher County]], [[Stonewall County, Texas|Stonewall County]] and [[Swisher County, Texas|Swisher County]].}} Since 2000, this region swung very rapidly toward the Republican Party due to its population's intransigent opposition to the liberal social policies of the Democratic Party,<ref>Cohn, Nate; [https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/24/upshot/southern-whites-loyalty-to-gop-nearing-that-of-blacks-to-democrats.html 'Demographic Shift: Southern Whites' Loyalty to G.O.P. Nearing That of Blacks to Democrats'], ''[[New York Times]]'', April 24, 2014</ref> and by 2016, it had nearly the same [[Cook PVI]] as the Panhandle.