Once GOP stronghold, West veers into Dems' column.

[Rstrstx]

12. TX is more like AZ than FL

Basically Arizonans are Texans who don't go to church as much. FL has perhaps the wildest demographic mix in the country, it's a mess to untangle and dissect.

Once the Hispanic vote reaches a critical mass the two states will flip pretty quickly, spending about a decade in swing state status before passing the point of no return. Arizona will go first for a number of reasons, it's smaller so it's cheaper to flip plus it has a slightly less R lean to begin with. Republicans may try and figure out a way to grab, say, 40% of the Hispanic vote but it will be futile in most cases, I think they've lost that demographic for generations much like Democrats did with the southern white vote. Jorge Bush may have the look down but the average Joe is going to trust Julian 1000 times more for good reason, even if his Spanish isn't as good.

Sure both states will elect the occasional Republican (if Massachusetts did it any state can) but the political machinery should switch to the Democratic party sooner than many think - look at how quickly the Rs took TX over. Now they may not be as liberal as the Democrats of SF or NYC but they will still be Democrats at their core (especially WRT social programs). I think the "culture wars" will have settled down somewhat by then, with the left basically having won most battles (their opponents dying off from old age).