Conservatives are still king in Collin County — for now — but a steady influx of new residents from traditionally Democratic states has local Republicans sounding the alarm about a "possible Californization" of the area.

Local GOP leaders are issuing a call to arms to their party brethren as major corporations continue to move to the area, including Collin County, bringing with them employees who may not be intimidated by Republicans' long-held dominance at the ballot box here.

Collin County Republican Party Chairman George Flint said his role is to be a voice for Republican conservative values. ((Collin County Republican Party))

Political observers say Republicans' stranglehold on Collin County politics isn't likely to change anytime soon. But it's clear that Democrats are gaining ground as new residents arrive daily from Democratic bastions in the Northeast as well as California and elsewhere in Texas.

"The new reality is that each county party has to be a voice for Republican conservative values all the time, in and out of election season," Collin County Republican Party Chairman George Flint said.

He said his role as chairman has shifted to focus less on individual candidates and more on the party's founding principles. "If we win hearts and minds, the ballot box follows," Flint said.

But Democrats, for years an afterthought in Collin County, say Republicans should be concerned.

Collin County Democratic Party Chairman Mike Rawlins predicts his party will eventually be the dominant force in Collin County.

"There's an amount of energy out there and dissatisfaction that makes what was going on in 2009-2010 with the tea party look like child's play," said Mike Rawlins, chairman of the Collin County Democratic Party.

Does that mean Collin County will turn blue?

"It's inevitable," Rawlins said. "The only question is when. Is it going to take two years or 10? It's pretty evident Republicans are in a downward spiral."

Getting organized

When it comes to elections, Collin County has long been near the top of the list among Texas counties for its Republican partisanship. It's also among the top counties in the nation to turn out the GOP vote. Denton County isn't far behind.

But the GOP wall in Collin County is starting to show signs of crumbling. Some precincts, particularly those in the more urban areas of Frisco and Plano, turned purple or even blue on Election Day in 2008 and again last year.

For the first time since at least the 1990s, Democrats fielded candidates in each of the Texas House district races on the most recent Collin County ballot. And more Democrats are looking to run in future elections.

Also to consider are the many companies — including Toyota Motor Corp., MonkeySports Inc. and Jamba Juice — relocating from out of state to Collin County and bringing some of their employees with them.

But the changes, though noteworthy, won't immediately translate into a new voting paradigm in Collin County, according to Southern Methodist University political consultant Cal Jillson.

That's because even though the Democrats have made some strides, they have been on the losing side of elections in both Collin and Denton counties for more than a quarter-century. It will take more than one or two election cycles to turn the tide.

"They have usually been so beaten down that they barely organized at all," Jillson said. And while their numbers are on an upward swing, even in red counties, "it will be the work of decades for them to organize to become a significant challenge to the current Republican majority."

And that's if Republicans do nothing. With awareness and efforts to tackle the problem already underway, Republicans can push the shift even further into the future, Jillson said.

Democrats will also have to change their mind-set. While they seem to celebrate their political affiliations elsewhere, Jillson said, they tend to go silent once they move to Collin County.

"If Democrats in these counties can overcome their being intimidated into silence, that might bring forward their competitiveness," he said.

John Quinn is originally from New York but has lived in Texas for 30 years, 12 of them in Prosper. He said it's frustrating sometimes to live in such a Republican-dominated county.

But November's presidential election showed him that more of his neighbors have a similar mind-set than he previously thought.

"There shouldn't be a chasm between us," Quinn said. "There's a lot of common ground."

And the winner is ...

Ed Griffin, a political consultant and president of the Frisco Area Republicans, coined the term "Californization" for his group's recent meeting to discuss the potential new threat from Democrats.

Residents and businesses relocating here need to understand the political influences at play that make Collin and Denton counties desirable places to live, Griffin said.

From his viewpoint, the Republican Party's numbers in Collin County are stronger than ever. The Frisco Area Republicans, for example, doubled its membership last year and anticipates doing so again this year. It currently has more than 50 members. Other conservative groups are also seeing gains.

But the county's growth combined with a lack of participation by local Republicans "is culminating in a critical crisis of a red county becoming vulnerable to becoming blue," according to the group's meeting agenda.

The mission, then, becomes simple, Griffin said: "He who goes to the polls wins."

To learn more: Economic Snapshot: Is Texas the new California?