I live in the Texas District 30 of the United States House of Representatives that serves the greatest part of Dallas city as well as parts of the Dallas County. With the population of over 690,000, the blacks and the Hispanics enjoy the majority while the Native Americans are the minority. The major city in the region is Dallas while there are also smaller towns located within the Dallas County. Most of the regions covered by the 30th Congressional District are predominantly urban. However, some areas within the Dallas County are suburban. Besides, the current representative of the 30th District is known as Eddie Bernice Johnson who is a Democrat hence the region leans politically towards the Democrats. The current Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson has been representing the region since it was created in 1993. She has been winning all the elections including the 2010 and 2012 elections that were contested. In 2010, Johnson almost lost the seat to the Republican Stephen Broden but held on strongly. In 2012, she faced another strong challenge from the Republican Travis Washington Jr. as well as the Libertarian ED Rankin. However, Bernie Johnson still managed to emerge as the winner despite the strong challenge and is currently serving her 23rd year in office.
Since the first elections held on November 3, 1992, the voting pattern for the region has been primarily Democrat. For example, Bernice Johnson won the 1992 general elections on the Democrats ticket with total votes of 107, 831 ahead of the Republican Lucy Cain who came second with 37,853 votes. Two years later, on November 8, 1994, the second general elections were held with Bernice Johnson winning her re-election ahead of Lucy Cain and Ken Ashby. In 1994, Lucy Cain still contested on the Republican ticket while Ken Ashby vied on the Libertarian ticket. Although the number of people who voted for Bernie Johnson reduced to 73,166 against Lucy’s 25,848, she still emerged as the winner. In 1996, Bernie Johnson retained her seat in the general elections held on November 5, 1996, having won 54% of the total votes casted. Johnson also won the 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014 general elections. In other words, Bernie Johnson and the Democrat Party have never been less than favorites in Dallas. Besides, Bernie Johnson has never faced election disputes because the elections have always been won on fair grounds. Currently, Bernie Johnson has launched an aggressive push for the federal government to increase the funding required to combat the spread of Zika virus in Texas. According to Johnson, the current funding allocated for the fight against the Zika virus is not enough to contain the virus that is threatening to spread widely across Texas. Moreover, Bernie Johnson has also been spearheading several development projects and trade agreements that have enabled the region’s economic boom.
From what we learnt in class about the trustee model or the delegate model, I have realized that my representative, Eddie Bernie Johnson uses the trustee model of voting. Since, she was first elected in 1992; Bernie Johnson has been serving the best interest of the people who elected her. She has not been so inclined to the party although she has been winning on the Democrats ticket. For example, her current push for the increase of federal funding for Zika virus is aimed at helping the people of Texas.
