In Fort Bend County, Texas, the last presidential election saw 54% of people voting for Democrats, 44.0% for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.4% for Independents.
Fort Bend County
is a county located in the United States of America. It was founded in 1837 and organized the following year, and is named after a small fort on a bend in the Brazos River. The county seat is Richmond, and the largest city located entirely within its limits is Sugar Land.Houston is the largest city in the county by population, but most of its population is in neighboring Harris County. Before European settlement, the area was inhabited by Karankawa Indians. Spanish colonists generally did not arrive in the area during their colonization, and they settled more in South Texas. Fort Bend developed a plantation economy based on cotton as a staple crop, with numerous African-American slaves as workers.
In the 1850s, Fort Bend was one of six majority-black counties in Texas. In 1860, the slave population totaled 4,127, more than double that of the 2,016 whites. Few free blacks lived there, as Texas denied them entry. Freedmen and their supporters supported the Republican Party because of emancipation and chose their candidates for office. The state legislature was still predominantly white.
In the 1880s, most white residents were members of the Democratic Party. Tensions between factions were fierce, as political elements were largely divided on racial grounds. The Jaybirds, who represented the majority of whites, fought to regain control of the Woodpeckers, which consisted of some whites who were consistently elected to public office by most African-Americans, since several had been Republican officials during Reconstruction. Governor Lawrence Sullivan Ross sent militia and declared martial law. With their support, the Jaybirds ordered a list of certain Black and Woodpecker officials to leave the county, overthrowing the local government.
The Jaybirds took over the county offices and established a whites-only preschool, depriving African-Americans of the county's only competitive competitions. This device lasted until 1950, when Willie Melton and Arizona Fleming won a lawsuit against this practice in the United States District Court, although it was overturned on appeal. In 1953, they finally won their lawsuit when the U. S. Supreme Court declared the Jaybird primary unconstitutional in Terry v.
Adams, the last of the white primary cases. According to the United States Census Bureau, Fort Bend County has a total area of 885 square miles (2,290 km), of which 24 square miles (62 km) (2.7%) are covered by water. The age distribution was 32.00% under 18 years old; 7.60% between 18 and 24; 32.30% between 25 and 44; 22.40% between 45 and 64; and 5.70% 65 years or older; with an average age of 33 years old. For every 100 females there were 99.10 males; for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 96.30 males. County policy in Fort Bend County is focused on a commissioners court comprised of four county commissioners elected by district every ten years based on population; plus a county judge elected to represent the entire county; plus other county officials such as sheriff, district attorney, assessor-tax collector, county clerk, district secretary, county treasurer and county prosecutor. The Travis Building is just east of Fort Bend County's Justice Center at 1422 Eugene Heimann Cir., while its Rosenberg Annex is located elsewhere in the county. The legislation does not specify which community college district corresponds to parts of Fort Bend Independent School District (FBISD) outside Sugarland and its ETJ (Extra Territorial Jurisdiction) and cities such as Houston, Missouri City and Pearland. Fort Bend County Libraries manage many libraries in the county; while its only publicly owned airport is Sugar Land Regional Airport in Sugar Land. For decades Fort Bend County was a stronghold for Democrats due to their success in disenfranchising blacks at county level in 1889 following Jaybird-Woodpecker War; however Republicans won several county-level offices and judicial courts culminating in 1994 election of Republican county judge to commissioners court for first time since Reconstruction. Unlike Houston metropolitan area in general Fort Bend County's economy is more diverse with numerous service sector jobs in health care, energy industry, education sector hospitality industry etc., plus it has middle classes and minority working people who are not minority here. In November 2020 Fort Bend County had highest direct voter share among state's 10 largest counties but Democrats outnumbered Republicans among 76 percent direct voters. Fort Bend County also has highest percentage Asian Americans in southern United States with largest groups being Vietnamese Chinese Indian Filipino etc. With growing minority populations plus more socially moderate suburban voters who tend to break Republicans on fiscal economic issues Fort Bend County has recently become more competitive. When Bharthi Chittur moved to Fort Bend County six years ago her neighborhood was so diverse heavily Asian it wasn't much different from her life in Mumbai.
