“Houston – The streets were unpaved and the mud bottomless. I found justification in the fact that everybody, even the elegantly dressed gentlemen, stuffed their trouser legs into their boots.” – “Texas” by Ferdinand von Roemer was published in German in 1849 but was not translated into English for nearly a century. Yes, this sleepy, muddy fishing village on the bayou still has paving problems, mud and we still wear boots, otherwise our population has increased somewhat –1850: 2,396; today: 2.31 million. Of the top 10 largest metropolitan areas in the country, the Houston three-county (Harris, Fort Bend, Montgomery) population has grown more than all but Dallas-Fort Worth since 2010, increasing in population by 25 percent or more than 1.5 million people.
A lot of newcomers have moved to the suburbs. Montgomery County had 620,443 residents in 2020. Today the estimated population is 774.954. Fort Bend County had a population of 822,779, in the 2020 census. Today it’s estimated at 972,496. This huge influx of people has created changes of all sorts. There is another change which links our massive population growth with how millions of Texans vote and who we vote for: congressional redistricting, and we are pawns in a political power grab.
Without anyone asking us, we may well have a total stranger representing us in Washington. So let’s see if our new pols truly reflect our values. For starters we turn to the Kinder Houston Area Survey: 2025 Results, an excellent study of us. The survey was administered in January-February 2025 to nearly
10,000 individuals in Harris, Fort Bend and Montgomery counties. What do we like the most about living in the Houston area? About 80 percent in all three counties said the Houston area was a better place to live compared to other major metro areas around the country. Just more than half of residents were either born in the area or moved here as children. More than half have lived here for around two decades or more. For those who moved here as adults, jobs and family were the main factors drawing them to the
area.
OK, so much for the roses, how about the thorns? Our biggest problems are not the Houston Texans’ offensive line but crime and safety, the economy and the cost of housing. More than 6 in 10 rated local infrastructure as either poor or fair with 23 percent of Fort Bend County residents, 30 percent of
Harris County residents, and 28 percent of Montgomery County residents rating it as poor. We are concerned about both water and air pollution. What with Hurricane Harvey and Beryl and last year’s derecho, not to mention mosquitoes and the West Loop, it’s not surprising that nearly 40 percent said they were thinking about leaving Houston in the next few years, with about 1 in 6 saying it was very or extremely likely they would leave.
Quality of life and perceptions of Houston depends on your income. Those earning below $25,000 are three times as likely as those earning $100,000 to rate their quality of life as poor or fair. One of the highest approval ratings of all the questions were for government action to reduce economic inequality between the rich and poor (81 percent agree) and to ensure everyone who wants to work can find a job (88 percent agree). In addition, 84 percent agree the government should ensure all Americans have a basic standard of living. You hear that, my rep?
Unlike our government, we like immigrants. Houston-area residents feel that immigrants contribute more to the economy than they take. Seventy one percent have a favorable opinion about all immigrants, and 61 percent agree when it comes to undocumented immigrants. This is interesting: People across all three counties share a civic identity as “Houstonians” and take pride in the area’s diversity and opportunities. About 1 in 4 residents cited diversity as the best thing, and nearly 9 in 10 believe our diverse culture is good, very good or excellent. One more: 67 percent of respondents said the region’s higher education institutions are good, very good or excellent. [Editor’s note: Find the Kinder survey results at kinder.rice.edu/research/kinder-houston-area-survey-2025-results. Read the Fort Bend Star’s coverage, with an emphasis on Fort Bend respondents, here.]
This is what we like, don’t like what we want to change, and if we’re going to have a different voice in Congress, we may want to change that, too. It’s all about one phone call. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott had a conversation with President Donald Trump. Trump desperately needs to pad his slim Republican majority in the U.S. House. Where to find more GOP reps? Where are the easy pickings? Texas, of course. Thus the phone call. Abbott the Lapdog said, “Whatever you want, Your Highness.” So when the Guv called lawmakers back for a special session, their first priority was not to deal with rampaging floods, poor medical care or transgender high school athletes or even about the Texans’ offensive line. It was about redistricting. Think priorities. Trump flatly said he thinks he can get five more Republican Texans in Congress if the new district lines are gerrymandered. The Texas GOP has drawn up redistricting maps which look like a Rorschach test, with boundaries going every which way. (My district depends whether I’m in the living room or the den.)
To get input, after the fact, some lawmakers held public meetings in places like Houston Arlington and Austin. The auditoriums were so packed that hundreds had to wait outside. Almost no one was in favor of redistricting. I’m sure the protests did absolutely no good. (After the 2020 census which gave Texas two more representatives, the districts were redrawn and guess which party got those two new seats? It wasn’t the Greens or the Whigs.)
Now we face two separate but joined situations. In the Houston area we have a lot of new resident-voters. The Kinder survey shows how we feel about what we like and don’t like. We may be represented by different members of Congress. Wonder if they will truly represent us? Until then, keep your trouser legs stuck into your boots – it’s getting deep around here and it’s not mud.
Ashby is redistricted at ashby2@comcast.net