Demographers are suggesting the unthinkable.

Texas might become a Democratic state by 2020, researchers and political scientists are predicting. The Lone Star State, so reliably Republican for the past two decades, could become the second-most Democratic state — behind California — by the end of the next decade.

What’s driving the shift? The large influx of Latino residents, who vote as heavily Democratic as rich white guys have voted Republican.

It all goes to show, if the demographers are right, that nothing is permanent in politics.

Democrats used to own virtually every elected office in Texas, even west of I-35, prior to about 1978. Then came Bill Clements to win the governorship for the Republicans. Other GOP candidates began winning statewide office, and Democrats leaving their party for the other side. State Rep. Warren Chisum of Pampa was one of them, in the early 1990s.

Now, every statewide office belongs to the Republicans, and it will take some doing to bust loose that vise grip.

But the state ought to be come a two-party battleground, not one dominated by one party. A healthy two-party system in Texas keeps pols on both sides of the aisle more honest than if they are running the show with no one on the other side watching them every step of the way.