HILLSBORO, Texas (KXXV) — Despite some Hill County residents expressing frustration with Governor Greg Abbott and calling for a change in leadership, the county's election results tell a different story.
On Election Day, voters in Hill County, a traditional Republican county, continued to show support for Governor Abbott at the ballot box. Some residents openly stated they wanted to get rid of Abbott due to his stance on data centers.
25 News talked to a Hill County neighbor back in September who shared the following:
“I don’t trust Abbott any further than I can throw this courthouse. I believe after the election he’s going to go right back where he was before…back in the data centers," said Hill County resident Jan Barnes.
In Hill County, the race for Texas governor sparked mixed reactions. Some voters expressed frustration with Governor Greg Abbott and called for new leadership.
“This is what, his fourth term he’s going to be elected? He’s had three terms to do stuff about the taxes and everything else, and he ain’t doing squat," said Barnes.
But others continued to stand behind him. Election results showed over 70% of Hill County residents voted for Governor Abbott. One political professor said Hill County is still republican.
"I think it’s always useful to compare the county to itself in the past, and so if you look at it, it’s about a 10-point swing, and surely some of those voters are probably voters that were concerned about data centers and Greg Abbott’s role in those," said Patrick Flavin, a political science professor at Baylor University.
Some neighbors who didn’t want to go on camera said they voted for Abbott because they’re republicans. Another said they focused on Christian values, and Republicans followed the Ten Commandments.
“Abbott and republican candidates won those areas, but they won them at lesser margins, and I think that’s one of the stories that contributed to the Democratic sweep," said Flavin.
He said there's an overall state divide.
“Rural Texas always played an important part in showing up with the margins for Republican candidates and has put them over the top in previous elections, and in some ways we were kinda expecting that to maybe happen again in the election last week," said Flavin.
