Please read grading rubric and complete criteria and requirements in the syllabus. Is Texas turning into a Blue State? This is the link to the ..."Is Texas really going purple? Our Heat Index shows ho

Please read grading rubric and complete criteria and requirements in the syllabus.

Is Texas turning into a Blue State?

This is the link to the ..."Is Texas really going purple? Our Heat Index shows how competitive your district was — and is..." article in the Texas Tribune: https://apps.texastribune.org/features/2019/texas-turn-blue-voting-pattern-history/?_ga=2.55882091.1730377328.1568744749-499743800.1568744749

Use the link for your discussion forum so you can see the data.

The PDF of the article is here but only the summary of each section will appear. (The data does not get saved into a PDF.)  Please be sure to use the link to see the active data: Will Texas turn blue or stay red in 2020_ Look at your districts' history. _ The Texas Tribune.pdf

For your interest: How the author's  gathered the data:

"METHODOLOGY

To explore political patterns over time, we analyzed election results and reports from the Texas Legislative Council, a state agency that helps the Legislature draw political maps. TLC’s work lets us examine almost 20 years of elections as if the current congressional and legislative maps had been in place the whole time, ignoring redistricting that took place in the interim. The dots in our charts represent which party dominated, on average, in competitive statewide races in each district in general elections from 2002 to 2018. For each year, we added up the percentage of votes given to the Republicans in all of the statewide races and averaged them, then did the same with the Democratic candidates. The Heat Index represents the difference between the Republican average and the Democratic average, by district.

Darla Cameron, Aman Batheja and Ryan Murphy contributed to this story. Illustration by Emily Albracht."

Things to think about: The data in this report discusses the changing  Texas U.S. Congressional Districts (36), Texas Senate Districts (31), and the Texas House Districts (150). The data highlights for you the major districts of change. Is Texas becoming a blue state? If it is, what does that mean and why should you be interested in knowing? Will this change  impact the many issues we face in Texas - immigration, economic policy, education funding and policy, legalization of marijuana, discrimination faced by minority groups, or gun regulation - to name  a few.

What might our state look like and what values might change if we become a  majority Democratic Party state? It may not make that much of a difference in your district. It may make a large difference in the district next to yours. If so, what might that mean - if anything? These changes will affect the policy-making process in our state or country, or your local political systems and how the laws in your local district are passed. 

At the end of this data, you will put in your address and find out who your representatives are in all three districts. When you click on your representative's name, a map will highlight for you to see if your district is hot, warm, cool,  or cold - in other words - moving into the blue zone or solidly still in the red.

As you answer the discussion question below, think about the issues you are facing and how those issues will be viewed or addressed. In your discussion, be specific about how you feel about one particular issue and what you would like to see changed and why??????

Question for discussion: Is your district changing? If so, what might that mean to you or to your neighboring distinct?