By Matthew Cavazos

RIO GRANDE VALLEY, TEXAS – MAY 21, 2025 – Scholars from around the world are fascinated with the Rio Grande Valley, a region whose political beliefs often are covered by newscasts and newspapers, but not through published research.

To combat that information gap, a group of UTRGV professors have collaborated on a new compilation book, "Politics of the Rio Grande Valley: An Insider's Perspective to Regional Politics," in an effort to showcase the area’s complex and deep-rooted politics. 

“We are in an area that everybody wants to know more about, but there is very little scholarly work about the region,” said Dr. Alexandre Couture Gagnon, UTRGV associate professor of Political Science and one of the book’s two editors. “Now, we’re going to have an edited book where a lot of scholars contributed their expertise. And maybe, it will lead to more research on the area.” 

The book, available online at Rowman & Littlefield and Amazon, offers comprehensive analyses of the historical, political, and social perspectives of the Rio Grande Valley, shedding light on its evolution of ideals and beliefs.

Gagnon solicited contributions from six other professors in the UTRGV College of Liberal Arts including, Dr. Carlos D. Gutierrez-Mannix as an editor, along with Dr. Alvaro J. Corral, Dr. Terry Garrett, Dr. Dongkyu Kim, Dr. Mi-Son Kim, and Dr. Ruth Ann Ragland as contributing authors. 

In addition, three faculty members from El Colegio de la Frontera Norte A.C. in Matamoros, Mexico, and faculty members from California State University-Bakersfield, Florida Atlantic University, and Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, Spain, also contributed to the story. 

She said this compilation not only fulfills the need for political background and history but also should incite others to do research on the Valley.

That’s important beyond Valley boundaries and political lines, she said, because research conducted here can help predict future voting trends for Hispanic and Latino populations across the country.

“If you want to know the future of U.S. politics, you look at the Rio Grande Valley,” Gagnon said. “This is an area of growth. This is where the demographic growth of the country is happening. If you want to know how Hispanics or Latinos are going to vote or what they think about politically, you have a microcosm right here in the Rio Grande Valley.” 

She said the book provides comprehensive analyses of the historical, political and social perspectives of the area, all supported by valuable insight into the evolution of ideals and beliefs for a region historically under-analyzed area.

The four counties that make up the Valley – Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr and Willacy – all rank in the top 10 for the highest percentage of Hispanic or Latino population in their respective county. In all, the Valley is estimated to have 1,287,748 Hispanic or Latinos of the 1,411,152 people living there.

That makes it a prime location for researchers to study the trends of Hispanic or Latino voters, Gagnon said, because of the larger population and its extremely high percentage of Hispanics or Latinos. 

In fact, while gathering research for the book in 2022, Gagnon found one constant, salient trend in the past presidential election.

“Hispanic and Latinos are actually a lot more conservative than what the perception can be when you read a newspaper,” Gagnon said. “We also saw that trend in the last presidential election, so our book just may have forecasted it.”

Politics of the Rio Grande Valley: An Insider’s Perspective to Regional Politics” is available online at Rowman & Littlefield and Amazon.