In the Texas High Plains, what's on voters' minds ahead of the election?
With Election Day approaching, candidates up and down the ballot are making their final push to reach voters. CBS News Texas has been following the polls and covering political events all year long in a quest to find the Texas State of Mind.
But ultimately, it's the people who matter and who will decide what happens. In an effort to get a better understanding of what voters across the Lone Star State will be thinking about as they cast their ballots, reporter Jason Allen and a CBS News Texas crew are spending the next few weeks traveling across the state, speaking to people from the Chihuahuan Desert to the Pineywoods.
Last week, Jason traveled 500 miles west to the annual Viva Big Bend music festival in the high desert. This week, we head to a place in the 2011 Richard Linklater movie "Bernie" described as a part of Texas a lot of Texans seem to leave out.
AMARILLO – The Texas High Plains, which includes Amarillo and Lubbock, is a region where population growth is falling behind the rest of the state, according to the Texas Comptroller's Office. While the region's gross domestic product makes up just 3% of the state's total GDP, its contributions to Texas' agricultural industry are significant – making up about 50%.
The CBS News Texas crew traveled to Amarillo in late July for the 29th Annual Original Harley Party Many people there named the small-town feel of their communities as the reason they love living there. But some also expressed a desire for more things to do and more employment opportunities.
"There's not a lot to do in Borger," one woman told CBS News Texas. "And they need to get rid of all the drugs and the crime."
"If we could get bigger factories or bigger something here, people would work more and get off the street," said another person, who was showing off his custom motorcycles.
CBS News Texas also met a man at the event who was selling tumblers with built-in Bluetooth speakers, decorated with imagery of snakes, American flags and slogans like "Don't Tread on Me" and "Come and Take It." He told the crew that despite being retired, he and his wife have to continue working to make ends meet.
"With the economy the way it is, my Social Security and her Social Security, it's not enough to live on," he said. "I could say a lot more, but I'm not going to."
"Everybody's just kind of on edge," said another woman. "Everything's gone up."
High Plains native and Lubbock Avalanche-Journal reporter Alex Driggars said the economy is huge for voters in the region. But so are their value systems and their faith.
"People like Joe that live in Muleshoe," Driggars said, describing what could be considered the typical High Plains voter. "He doesn't make a lot of money. He lives a comfortable life. It's pretty simple."
While there was no shortage of shirts, tumblers and other items sporting the name of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at the Harley Party in deep red Amarillo, one attendee CBS Texas spoke with wore a shirt reading "Nobody 2024."
"Neither one sounds good enough for me," he said.
This story is one of several CBS News Texas is releasing in the weeks leading up to the election, trying to find the Texas State of Mind. See our first report from Marfa here. We asked every person we met on the road for their essential road trip song. Below is the playlist we put together of those recommendations.
