AUSTIN — The "sleeping giant" of Texas politics is showing signs of emerging from the long slumber that has vexed a generation of Democrats and has helped Republicans maintain a stranglehold on power in Austin and the state's clout in Washington, D.C.

That is among the findings of a recent analysis of statewide voting trends, coupled with data supplied by a nonprofit that has sought to increase Latino voter participation both in Texas and across the nation since the 1970s.

"We saw Latino turnout up in 2018 because Latinos had a reason to vote in 2018," said Lydia Camarillo, president of the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project and William C. Velasquez Institute in San Antonio.

That reason, she added, was two-fold: The enthusiasm generated by the upstart candidacy of El Paso Democrat Beto O'Rourke in his close — but not close enough — challenge to Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and the antipathy many in the Latino community had for the policies of President Donald Trump.

For nearly a generation, Democrats in Texas have looked to an emerging Hispanic vote to boost the fortunes of a party that has not won a statewide election since the mid-1990s. As turnout lagged, the Hispanic vote was dubbed "the sleeping giant."

Hispanic turnout by the numbers

By SVREP's count, Latino turnout in the 2018 midterms in Texas reached about 1.87 million, nearly doubled that of 2014. That mirrored the national turnout that saw about 11.7 million Latinos cast ballots, up from 6.8 million four years before.

The spike in Latino turnout was part of an unusually robust turnout across the demographic spectrum in 2018 in Texas and around the nation. However, a county-by-county analysis of voter turnout showed that Latinos represented a larger share of the total vote in nearly all of the state's larger counties during the 2018 cycle than in the midterm elections four years before.

According to data supplied by the Texas Secretary of State's Office and analyzed by the data visualization firm, DataPico, the bump in Hispanic turnout for a midterm election reached into nearly every corner of the state — urban, suburban and rural.

In Dallas County, Hispanics in the 2010 and 2014 midterms made up 8 percent and 9 percent of the total vote. Last year, that percentage about doubled to 16 percent. Next door in Tarrant County, anchored by Fort Worth and Arlington, the Hispanic turnout share ballooned from 7 percent of the total in 2010 to 12 percent eight years later.

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In Harris County, Hispanics made up 20 percent of the total turnout last year, compared with 13 percent in 2010 and 12 percent in 2104.

In many of the fast-growing suburban population centers, the percentage of Hispanic voters did not grow substantially, but the raw numbers did. For instance, in Collin County north of Dallas, the Hispanic vote share has remained about 5 percent during all election cycles dating back to 2010.

But the number of Hispanic voters in the county went from about 5,800 in 2010 to nearly 21,000 last year.

Who is the 'average voter?'

Women continue to vote in greater numbers in nearly every region of Texas. And so do older voters. The DataPico numbers show the average Texas voter in 2018 would likely have been a 52-year-old Anglo woman.

Voters skewed older in the rural counties of West, East Texas and the southern reaches of the Hill Country. The demographic, still largely female, is younger in the urban centers. But "young" is relative. In Travis County, the seat of the Texas Capitol and home of the University of Texas at Austin, the average age is 46.

Along the Rio Grande, the average voter is female, around 50 and female. There is one glaring anomaly in the region: In sparsely populated Kenedy County south of Corpus Christi, the average voter is a 51-year-old Hispanic man.

The politics behind the numbers

Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston said the growth in Hispanic turnout in the 2018 midterms is a reflection of population increases and a tribute to outreach efforts.

"In recent elections we've seen Latino voters being targeted, and that has led to mobilization," he said. "People like being asked."

Also, Rottinghaus said, voting begets voting. "Once a person votes once, they're likely to continue. Voting is habit-forming."

State Rep. Cesar Blanco, a three-term Democrat from El Paso, said Trump's hardline immigration politics are the greatest voter-mobilization effort, both in South Texas and Latino communities around the state.

More:Trump calls for changes to immigration laws, says the border is 'like Disneyland'

He also credited outreach organizations such as the Latino Center for Leadership Development, which helps prepare potential office-seekers to run for office and to serve in government the Latino Victory Fund, which provides campaign resources.

In addition, Blanco said, even though O'Rourke is not Hispanic, his El Paso roots and his focus on immigration and other issues that resonated with that constituency captivated the imagination of Latinos generally and younger members of the community in particular

O’Rourke’s run for the U.S. Senate prompted Jose Robles, a 28-year-old El Paso accountant, to register to vote last year and vote for the first time in the November general election.

“I decided to register and vote because he (O’Rourke) is from El Paso, and in general, was a great candidate,” Robles said. “He’s not on the corporation side” because he did not take campaign contributions from big corporations, he said.

Robles is a Democrat who continues to support O’Rourke in his current bid to become the Democratic nominee for president.

Even if O’Rourke fails in his bid, Robles said he plans to continue to vote, not only in the presidential election, but in local elections, he said.

The face of Texas is changing, Blanco said.

"Demographics are on our side," he said. "We are seeing a growing population of Latinos that are not only politically active, but they are also running for office. When you have more Latinos on the ballot, that helps turn out more Latinos."

He also notes that the Latino population is younger than the population as a whole, which he suggests will dramatically boost the influence of Latino voters in upcoming elections.

"As people age, they are more civically minded," Blanco said. "I think that sleeping giant is growing up, and waking up."

The data visualization was provided by DataPico in conjunction with The Benton Law Firm: Personal Injury Lawyer Dallas.

Vic Kolenc of El Paso Times contributed to this story.

John C. Moritz covers Texas government and politics for the USA Today Network in Austin. Contact him at jmoritz@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @JohnnieMo.