[llamaorama]

I'm not sure if Texas has an obviously dis-favored region in state politics. Areas that are on the periphery of the Houston-Dallas-Austin-San Antonio "triangle" region seem to receive greater than their expected share of highway funding and they all have large public universities, etc. If anything, it is the urban districts that get the short end of the stick.

In my experience traveling, Beaumont and Texarkana are both kind of grungy and Corpus Christi has some issues too. Conversely, the border cities like El Paso and panhandle cities exceeded my expectations. The poorest part of the state is South Texas, but in the RGV there's pockets of affluence and economic vibrancy so it doesn't come off as hopeless.