Their America Is Vanishing. Like Trump, They Insist They Were Cheated.

Many of the people who live in Fort Bend County, Texas, were thrilled when Troy Nehls voted to reject Donald Trump's electoral victory.

They are unhappy with the changes surrounding them. Houston, the big city next to them, has spilled over into their once idyllic towns. Nehls says to build a wall and make Houston pay. The former white majority in the county has fallen to 30%, making it one of the most diverse counties in the country.

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Don Demel, a 61-year-old salesman who turned out last month to pick up a signed copy of a book, said his parents had raised him "colorblind." He said that other white people in FortBend didn't like certain people coming here. The race is on. They are old fashioned.

A shrinking white share of the population is a hallmark of the congressional districts held by the House Republicans who voted to challenge Trump.

Over the past three decades, the portion of white residents in those districts has declined more than in the territory represented by other Republicans. There were higher rates of deaths of despair, such as suicide, drug overdose and alcohol-related liver failure.

The House vote that day was the most consequential of Trump's attempts to overturn the election. It cast doubt on the central ritual of American democracy, galvanized the party's grassroots around the myth of a stolen victory, and set a precedent that legal experts warn could cause Congress to choose a president.

The Times looked at the constituencies of the lawmakers who joined the effort, analyzing census and other data from congressional districts and interviewing scores of residents. The back-room maneuvers inside the House were revealed by The Times.

Many of the objectors said they were driven by their voters. "You sent me to Congress to fight for President Trump and election integrity and that's exactly what I'm doing." According to a recording, at the Republican caucus meeting, Rep. Bill Johnson told his colleagues that if he broke with Trump, his people would go nuts.

The racial or socioeconomic characteristics are reflected in certain districts. demographers said it was striking that the typical objector district showed both.

Because they are more vulnerable, disadvantaged or less educated white voters can feel more at risk if there is a minority majority.

She said that a lot of white Americans are willing to reject democratic standards in order to protect their status.

The white population of the United States is expected to lose its majority within two decades due to economic inequality and the dispute over Trump's defeat.

The decline in the white population was made worse by the fact that many of the objectors districts started with a large Black minority.

The majority of the Republican-held districts that swung to minority white were in California and Texas. In the Dallas-Fort Worth suburbs, the white percentage fell by more than one-third.

There are 70 Republican-held districts with the lowest percentage of college graduates. The southeast Kentucky district of Hal Rogers, currently the longest-serving House member, has a lower percentage of four-year degrees than the average Republican district.

While Nehls' district exemplifies demographic change, H. Morgan Griffith's in southwest Virginia is one of the most impoverished in the country. Competition from new energy sources and foreign imports eroded the area's economic base. Doctors prescribed drugs to injured workers.

The educated elites of the Northern Virginia suburbs don't think that the state stops at Roanoke, according to residents. They don't like what outsiders say about their communities, and they also don't like what Virginia Tech says about their community. Many said in interviews that they had lost faith in the political process and public institutions after a long history of broken government promises.

In a bustling clinic called the Health Wagon, Paula Hill-Collins sees low-income and uninsured patients with ailments from tooth decay to heart conditions.

They have complained about the false claim that Democrats stole Trump's victory many times.

Did you notice that a box of votes was thrown away? Did you see that they found more than one? Hill-Collins grew up in the town of Coeburn, which has 1,600 inhabitants.

She said residents of the area have felt cheated for generations. She said that they believed it because of what had happened to her community. A culture of suspicion has been created by that.

Teresa Owens Tyson said that health workers feel lucky when their patients are able to walk in the door. She mentioned that they collapse in the parking lot.

The districts of the House objectors have the same drawbacks. Households in that area had less income in 2020 than they did in the previous year. High school diplomas were more common than college degrees.

The shift away from its country club image is reflected in the GOP's hold on those districts. The residents of Democratic districts are more educated and make more money.

Some residents said that their reasons for questioning the results should be obvious, such as the relatively small size of Biden's rallies, the overnight disappearance of Trump's early lead, and the allegations about stuffed ballot drop boxes.

It's not a political issue. Alecia Vaught is a homemaker and Republican activist in Christiansburg. Either you're for America or not.

Before joining Congress, he was a lawyer and a state legislator. He defeated a 14-term Democratic incumbent in the Tea Party wave of 2010 by attacking him for his support of carbon caps.

In the district, Trump's claims of a stolen election took hold. Frank Kilgore, a lawyer-lobbyist and local historian who is an independent, said people would want to know if the election was stolen.

Kilgore said thatMorgan heard it more and more from his base. The possibility of a primary challenge was raised by local Republican leaders who said they thought it was stolen. The people want him to fight Trump's loss.

He was not among the many House Republicans who agreed with Trump. Changes to election procedures during the Pandemic were the only reason he voted to object.

The congressman wrote a letter to his people after Biden was inaugurated.

The white population in Texas is now outnumbered by minorities. Over the past 30 years, the district swung from 70% to 40% white.

Changing demographic trends may not be reflected at the polls because of a larger white share of the population. White Texans were the majority of the state's voters in 2020, according to exit polls.

The center of the state is located in the greater Houston area. True the Vote was founded 12 years ago by a Fort Bend resident who claimed that a nonprofit was faking voter registration in Houston. There is a group of congressmen who promoted Trump's election denial. An incumbent who accepted the Biden victory and did not seek reelection is expected to be replaced by a Republican.

Republicans in the Fort Bend area say their doubts about the 2020 results are not related to race.

Jetton, a Texas state legislator and former GOP county chairman, said that it has more to do with partisan issues than it does with race or demographic issues. He said that everyone can't accept that their opponents believe what they believe.

There is an obvious connection between the declining white share of the population and the refusal by Nehls and his supporters to accept the outcome of the election.

The first nonwhite person to hold the office was K.P. George, a Democrat who was elected as the county's top executive.

Nehls served as the county sheriff for eight years before running for Congress. The Republican-controlled state Legislature redrew the boundaries of his district in order to include more predominantly white and Republican areas outside Fort Bend County. Most of the eligible voters in the district are white.

The greatest leader of my lifetime will not be able to return to the Oval Office in 2024 because of election fraud, according to Nehls.

You can't beat Trump in a fair election. Nehls posed for a picture in front of a picture of the former president.

He didn't see a fear of demographic change among his supporters. The people are not against brown or black people. They don't like how Democrats run the country.

The New York Times Company is owned by The New York Times.