I'll admit to not knowing much about TX politics, but it interests me that College Station is so right-wing for being a big college town. Are A&M students more predisposed to conservatism than, say, T-Tech or UT students? Obviously I can see why Baylor or TCU students would be, I'm just curious about that dynamic.
Yes. It is the agricultural university. You will find that students at any of the agricultural schools are more conservative than the liberal arts schools, whether in Washington, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Iowa, Indiana, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virgina, Arizona, Oregon, New Mexico, Michigan.
A&M was an all-male school into the 1950s. It also has a strong military tradition, with membership in the corps mandatory. While other schools try to get ROTC off campus, A&M embraces it.
If a student goes to A&M, and hates it, they will transfer. Otherwise they will bond to its traditions, and want their children to go there. They will be more conservative, and their children will be more conservative than those who go to to TU.
Tech students will be more conservative because students will be drawn particularly from West Texas, where it is regarded as
their state university. But that would be like saying that students at Nebraska will be more conservative than those at Rutgers.
Bryan would be a small country town without A&M, and College Station is mostly A&M students (it used to be the train station for the college).
