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For about a hundred years, from afterReconstruction until the 1990s, theDemocratic Party dominatedTexas politics, making it part of theSolid South. In a reversal of alignments, since the late 1960s, theRepublican Party has grown more prominent. By the 1990s, it became the state's dominant political party and remains so to this day, as Democrats have not won a statewide race sinceBob Bullock won the 1994 Lieutenant gubernatorial election.
Texas is a majority Republican state with Republicans controlling every statewide office.[1] Texas Republicans have majorities in the State House and Senate, an entirely Republican Texas Supreme Court, control of both Senate seats in the US Congress. Texas is America's most-populous Republican state.[2] A number of political commentators had suggested that Texas is trending Democratic since 2016, however, Republicans have continued to win every statewide office through 2022. Despite continued victories, the margin of victory for Republicans in statewide races has continued to shrink. Abbott's win in 2014 was by more than 20 points, shrinking to 13 in 2018, and to just under 11 points in 2022.[3] In 2020, Donald Trump won the state by less than 6 points, the narrowest margin of victory for a Republican since 1996. Notably, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, said Donald Trump would have lost in Texas in the 2020 election if he had not successfully blocked counties from mailing out applications for mail-in ballots to all registered voters.[4]
The 19th-century culture of the state was heavily influenced by theplantation culture of theOld South, dependent onAfrican-Americanslaves, as well as thepatron system once prevalent (and still somewhat present) in northern Mexico and South Texas. In these societies, the government's primary role was seen as being the preservation of social order. Solving individual problems in society was seen as a local problem with the expectation that the individual with wealth should resolve his or her own issues.[5] These influences continue to affect Texas today. In their book,Texas Politics Today 2009-2010, authors Maxwell, Crain, and Santos attribute Texas' traditionally low voter turnout among whites to these influences.[5] But beginning in the early 20th century, voter turnout was dramatically reduced by the state legislature'sdisenfranchisement of most blacks, and many poor whites and Latinos.[6]
As a response to the Congressional Reconstruction Act, which was passed in 1867, Texans banded together to what is now called the "Republican Party". Those called "radical republicans" disagreed with President Andrew Johnson's proposal for lenient Reconstruction policies.[7] These republicans believed in the liberation of African Americans and that they deserved to have the same rights as everyone else.[7] The Reconstruction Act of 1867, which designated the actions necessary for the former Confederate states to rejoin the Union was mostly crafted by these Radical Republicans.[7] In order for the rebel states to rejoin the Union, they had to craft a new constitution, which could only be approved through majority consent of residents including African Americans, divide into five military districts (not including Tennessee), and ratify the 14th amendment of the Constitution. After abiding to these stipulations, these states would regain full representation in Congress.[8] These endeavors resulted in the official establishment of the Republican Party. A majority of these party members were freed African Americans, immigrants, and Texas Unionists. The party gained more popularity after demanding that any government official involved in the Rebellion was removed from office.[9] The party continued to grow as it rallied for risky plans that ultimately made the economy boom.
From1848 untilDwight D. Eisenhower's victory in1952, Texas voted for the Democratic candidate for president in every election except1928, when it did not support CatholicAl Smith. The Democrats were pro-slavery pre-Civil War, as Abraham Lincoln was a Republican in the North. Most Republicans were Abolitionists. In the mid-20th century1952 and1956 elections, the state voters joined the landslide forDwight D. Eisenhower. (Texas did not vote in 1864 and 1868 due to theCivil War andReconstruction).[10]
In the post-Civil War era, two of the most important Republican figures in Texas were African AmericansGeorge T. Ruby andNorris Wright Cuney. Ruby was a black community organizer, director in the federalFreedmen's Bureau, and leader of the GalvestonUnion League. His protégé Cuney was a person ofmixed-race descent whose wealthy, white planter father freed him and his siblings before the Civil War and arranged for his education in Pennsylvania. Cuney returned and settled in Galveston, where he became active in theUnion League and the Republican party; he rose to the leadership of the party. He became influential in Galveston and Texas politics, and is widely regarded as one of the most influential black leaders in theSouth during the 19th century.
From 1902 through 1965, Texas had virtuallydisenfranchised most Black, many Latino, and poor White people through the imposition of thepoll tax andwhite primaries. Across the South, Democrats controlled congressional apportionment based on total population, although they had disenfranchised the black population. TheSolid South exercised tremendous power in Congress, and Democrats gained important committee chairmanships by seniority. They gained federal funding for infrastructure projects in their states and the region, as well as support for numerous military bases, as two examples of how they brought federal investment to the state and region.
In the post-Reconstruction era, by the late 19th and early 20th centuries, theRepublican Party became non-competitive in the South, due to Democrat-dominated legislatures'disenfranchisement of blacks and many poor whites and Latinos. In Texas, the Democrat-dominated legislature excluded them through passage of apoll tax andwhite primary. Voter turnout in Texas declined dramatically following these disenfranchisement measures, and Southern voting turnout was far below the national average.[6]
Although black people made up 20 percent of the state population at the turn of the century, they were essentially excluded from formal politics.[11] Republican support in Texas had been based almost exclusively in the free black communities, particularly in Galveston, and in the German counties of the ruralTexas Hill Country inhabited byGerman immigrants and their descendants, who had opposed slavery in the antebellum period. The German counties continued to run Republican candidates.Harry M. Wurzbach was elected from the14th district from 1920 to 1926, contesting and finally winning the election of 1928, and being re-elected in 1930.
Some of the most important American political figures of the 20th century, such as PresidentLyndon B. Johnson, Vice PresidentJohn Nance Garner, Speaker of the HouseSam Rayburn, and SenatorRalph Yarborough were Texas Democrats. But, the Texas Democrats were rarely united, being divided intoconservative,moderate andliberal factions that vied with one another for power.
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Beginning in the late 1960s, Republican strength increased in Texas, particularly among residents of the expanding "country club suburbs" aroundDallas andHouston. The election, to Congress, of Republicans such asJohn Tower, (who had switched from the Democratic Party) andGeorge H. W. Bush in 1961 and 1966, respectively, reflected this trend. Nationally, outside of the South, Democrats supported thecivil rights movement and achieved important passage of federal legislation in the mid-1960s. In the South, however, Democratic leaders had opposed changes to bring about black voting or desegregated schools and public facilities and in many places exercised resistance. Following the passage of theCivil Rights Act of 1964, southern white voters began to align with the Republican Party, a movement accelerated after the next year, when Congress passed theVoting Rights Act of 1965, providing for federal enforcement of minorities' constitutional right to vote. Voter registration and turnout increased among blacks and Latinos in Texas and other states.
Unlike the rest of the South, however, Texas voters were never especially supportive of the various third-party candidacies of Southern Democrats. It was the only state in the former Confederacy to back DemocratHubert Humphrey in the1968 presidential election. During the 1980s, a number of conservative Democrats defected to the GOP, including SenatorPhil Gramm, CongressmanKent Hance, and GOP GovernorRick Perry, who was a Democrat during his time as a state lawmaker.
John Tower's 1961 election to the U.S. Senate made him the first statewide GOP officeholder since Reconstruction and the disenfranchisement of black Republicans. Republican GovernorBill Clements and SenatorPhil Gramm (also a former Democrat) were elected after him. Republicans became increasingly dominant in national elections in white-majority Texas. The last Democratic presidential candidate to win the state wasJimmy Carter in1976. In the1992 election,Bill Clinton became the first Democrat to win the Oval Office while losing Texas electoral votes. This result significantly reduced the power of Texas Democrats at the national level, as party leaders believed the state had become unwinnable.
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| Year | Republican / Whig | Democratic | Third party(ies) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | |
| 1848 | 4,509 | 29.71% | 10,668 | 70.29% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1852 | 4,995 | 26.93% | 13,552 | 73.07% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1856 | 0 | 0.00% | 31,169 | 66.59% | 15,639 | 33.41% |
| 1860 | 0 | 0.00% | 0 | 0.00% | 62,986 | 100.00% |
| 1872 | 47,468 | 40.71% | 66,546 | 57.07% | 2,580 | 2.21% |
| 1876 | 44,800 | 29.96% | 104,755 | 70.04% | 0 | 0.00% |
| 1880 | 57,893 | 23.95% | 156,428 | 64.71% | 27,405 | 11.34% |
| 1884 | 93,141 | 28.63% | 225,309 | 69.26% | 6,855 | 2.11% |
| 1888 | 88,422 | 24.73% | 234,883 | 65.70% | 34,208 | 9.57% |
| 1892 | 81,144 | 19.22% | 239,148 | 56.65% | 101,853 | 24.13% |
| 1896 | 167,520 | 30.75% | 370,434 | 68.00% | 6,832 | 1.25% |
| 1900 | 130,641 | 30.83% | 267,432 | 63.12% | 25,633 | 6.05% |
| 1904 | 51,242 | 21.90% | 167,200 | 71.45% | 15,566 | 6.65% |
| 1908 | 65,666 | 22.35% | 217,302 | 73.97% | 10,789 | 3.67% |
| 1912 | 28,530 | 9.45% | 219,489 | 72.73% | 53,769 | 17.82% |
| 1916 | 64,999 | 17.45% | 286,514 | 76.92% | 20,948 | 5.62% |
| 1920 | 114,538 | 23.54% | 288,767 | 59.34% | 83,336 | 17.12% |
| 1924 | 130,023 | 19.78% | 484,605 | 73.70% | 42,881 | 6.52% |
| 1928 | 367,036 | 51.77% | 341,032 | 48.10% | 931 | 0.13% |
| 1932 | 97,959 | 11.35% | 760,348 | 88.06% | 5,119 | 0.59% |
| 1936 | 104,661 | 12.32% | 739,952 | 87.08% | 5,123 | 0.60% |
| 1940 | 212,692 | 18.91% | 909,974 | 80.92% | 1,865 | 0.17% |
| 1944 | 191,425 | 16.64% | 821,605 | 71.42% | 137,301 | 11.94% |
| 1948 | 303,467 | 24.29% | 824,235 | 65.97% | 121,730 | 9.74% |
| 1952 | 1,102,878 | 53.13% | 969,228 | 46.69% | 3,840 | 0.18% |
| 1956 | 1,080,619 | 55.26% | 859,958 | 43.98% | 14,968 | 0.77% |
| 1960 | 1,121,310 | 48.52% | 1,167,567 | 50.52% | 22,207 | 0.96% |
| 1964 | 958,566 | 36.49% | 1,663,185 | 63.32% | 5,060 | 0.19% |
| 1968 | 1,227,844 | 39.87% | 1,266,804 | 41.14% | 584,758 | 18.99% |
| 1972 | 2,298,896 | 66.20% | 1,154,291 | 33.24% | 19,527 | 0.56% |
| 1976 | 1,953,300 | 47.97% | 2,082,319 | 51.14% | 36,265 | 0.89% |
| 1980 | 2,510,705 | 55.28% | 1,881,147 | 41.42% | 149,785 | 3.30% |
| 1984 | 3,433,428 | 63.61% | 1,949,276 | 36.11% | 14,867 | 0.28% |
| 1988 | 3,036,829 | 55.95% | 2,352,748 | 43.35% | 37,833 | 0.70% |
| 1992 | 2,496,071 | 40.56% | 2,281,815 | 37.08% | 1,376,132 | 22.36% |
| 1996 | 2,736,167 | 48.76% | 2,459,683 | 43.83% | 415,794 | 7.41% |
| 2000 | 3,799,639 | 59.30% | 2,433,746 | 37.98% | 174,252 | 2.72% |
| 2004 | 4,526,917 | 61.09% | 2,832,704 | 38.22% | 51,144 | 0.69% |
| 2008 | 4,479,328 | 55.38% | 3,528,633 | 43.63% | 79,830 | 0.99% |
| 2012 | 4,569,843 | 57.13% | 3,308,124 | 41.35% | 121,690 | 1.52% |
| 2016 | 4,685,047 | 52.09% | 3,877,868 | 43.12% | 430,940 | 4.79% |
| 2020 | 5,890,428 | 52.00% | 5,259,215 | 46.43% | 177,231 | 1.56% |
| 2024 | 6,393,597 | 56.03% | 4,835,250 | 42.37% | 182,952 | 1.60% |
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Despite increasing Republican strength in national elections, after the 1990census, Texas Democrats still controlled both houses of the State Legislature and most statewide offices. As a result, they directed the redistricting process after the decennial census.[14] Although Congressional Texas Democrats received an average of 45 percent of the votes, Democrats consistently had a majority in the state delegation, as they had in every election since at least the end ofReconstruction.
In 1994, In the midst of theRepublican Revolution, Democratic GovernorAnn Richards lost herbid for re-election against RepublicanGeorge W. Bush, ending an era in which Democrats controlled the governorship for all but eight of 120 years. Republicans have won the governorship ever since. In1998, Bush won re-election in a landslide victory, with Republicans sweeping to victory in all the statewide races. Republicans won the Texas Senate for the first time since Reconstruction in 1996.[15][16]
After the2000 census, the Republican-controlledstate Senate sought to draw a congressional district map that would guarantee a Republican majority in the state's delegation. The Democrat-controlledstate House desired to retain a plan similar to the existing lines. There was an impasse. With the Legislature unable to reach a compromise, the matter was settled by a panel of federal court judges, who ruled in favor of a district map that largely retained the status quo.[17][18] Republicans controlled the Legislative Redistricting Board, which defines the state legislative districts, by a majority of four to one. They used their voting strength to adopt maps for the state legislature that strongly favored them, as Democrats had done before.[19]
In2002, Republicans gained control of the Texas House of Representatives for the first time since Reconstruction.[20][21] The newly elected Republican legislature engaged in an unprecedented mid-decaderedistricting plan. Democrats said that the redistricting was a blatant partisangerrymander, while Republicans argued that it was a much-needed correction of the partisan lines drawn after the 1990 census. The plan was based on the 2000 census, not taking into account the effects of nearly one million new citizens in the state. In the first elections following the redistricting, the Republicans enjoyed a gain of six seats in the2004, giving them a majority of the state's delegation for the first time since Reconstruction.[22]
In December 2005, theUS Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal that challenged the legality of this redistricting plan. While largely upholding the map, it ruled theEl Paso-to-San Antonio23rd District, which had been a protected majority-Latino district until the 2003 redistricting, was unconstitutionally drawn. The ruling forced nearly every district in the El Paso-San Antonio corridor to be reconfigured.[23] Partly due to this, Democrats picked up two seats in the state in the2006 elections.[24]
In 2018, Democratic CongressmanBeto O'Rourke lost his Senate bid to the incumbentTed Cruz by 2.6%, the best result for a Democratic Senate candidate sinceLloyd Bentsen won in 1988.[25] O'Rourke's performance in 2018 led analysts to predict greater gains for the Democrats going into the 2020s.[26] In the 2020 elections, Texas voted for the Republican nominee for president Donald Trump by a narrower margin than in 2016, and re-elected the Republican incumbent senator, John Cornyn. In the 2022 governor race, the Republican governorGreg Abbott easily won reelection against Beto O'Rourke.[27]
Texas remains a strongly Republican state. In 2024, Trump expanded his win margin to almost 14 percentage points, the first Republican victory by double digits since 2012, whileTed Cruz won reelection with an eight-percent margin. Both Texas U.S. senators are Republican, as are all statewide elected officials. Texas Republican dominance has continued unabated.[28][29]
Texas has a reputation for strict "law and order" sentencing. Texas leads the nation in executions in raw numbers, with 578 executions from 1976 to 2022. The second-highest ranking state isOklahoma at 119.[30] A 2002Houston Chronicle poll of Texans found that when asked "Do you support the death penalty?" 69.1% responded that they did, 21.9% did not support and 9.1% were not sure or gave no answer.[citation needed] The Death Penalty Information Center article "Why is Texas #1 Executions?", explains that the three main reasons that Texas' capital punishment cases progress so quickly are that the judges are harsh because that's how they get reelected, Texas doesn't supply a public defender to defendants in need of one, and that Texas didn't allow evidence significance to be lightened while weighing sentencing extents.[31] Historians and death penalty enthusiasts speculate that Texas’ natural gravitation towards the death penalty is due to its history of having very traditional values.
Texas has a long history with secession. It was originally aSpanish province, which in 1821 seceded from Spain and helped form theFirst Mexican Empire. In 1824 Texas became a state in the newMexican republic. In 1835Antonio López de Santa Anna assumed dictatorial control over that republic and several states openly rebelled against the changes:[citation needed]Coahuila y Tejas (the northern part of which would become theRepublic of Texas),San Luis Potosí,Querétaro,Durango,Guanajuato,Michoacán,Yucatán,Jalisco,Nuevo León,Tamaulipas, andZacatecas. Several of these states formed their own governments: theRepublic of the Rio Grande, theRepublic of Yucatan, and the Republic of Texas. Only the Texans defeated Santa Anna and retained their independence.
Some Texans believe that because it joined the United States as a country, the Texas state constitution includes the right tosecede.[32] However, neither the ordinance ofThe Texas Annexation of 1845[33] norThe Annexation of Texas Joint Resolution of Congress March 1, 1845[34] included provisions giving Texas the right to secede. Texas did originally retain the right to divide into as many as five independent States,[35] and as part of theCompromise of 1850 continues to retain that right while ceding former claims westward and northward along the full length of theRio Grande in exchange for $10 million from the federal government.[36] SeeTexas divisionism.
The United States Supreme Court's primary ruling on the legality of secession involved a case brought by Texas involving a Civil War era bonds transfer.[37] In deciding the 1869Texas v. White case, the Supreme Court first addressed the issue of whether Texas had in fact seceded when it joined the Confederacy. In a 5–3 vote the Court "held that as a matter of constitutional law, no state could leave the Union, explicitly repudiating the position of the Confederate States that the United States was a voluntary compact between sovereign states."[38] In writing the majority opinion Chief JusticeSalmon Chase opined that:
When, therefore, Texas became one of the United States, she entered into an indissoluble relation. All the obligations of perpetual union, and all the guaranties of republican government in the Union, attached at once to the State. The act which consummated her admission into the Union was something more than a compact; it was the incorporation of a new member into the political body. And it was final. The union between Texas and the other States was as complete, as perpetual, and as indissoluble as the union between the original States. There was no place for reconsideration or revocation, except through revolution or through consent of the States.[39]
However, as the issue of secession per se was not the one before the court, it has been debated as to whether this reasoning is merelydicta or a binding ruling on the question.[40] It is also worth noting that Salmon Chase was nominated by Abraham Lincoln and was a staunch anti-secessionist. It is unlikely that he or his Republican appointed court would have approved of the Confederacy and Texas' choice to join it.
The state's organized secessionist movement is growing, with a notable minority of Texans holding secessionist sentiments.[41] A 2009 poll found that 31% of Texans believe that Texas has the legal right to secede and form an independent country and 18% believe it should do so.[42] The Texas Nationalist Movement has been working towards Texas independence for 15 years. In January 2021, State Representative Kyle Biedermann filed HB 1359, which would bring a vote for Texas independence to the citizens of Texas in November 2021.[43]
Until 2010, Texas had weathered the Great Recession fairly well, buffered by its vast oil and gas industries. It avoided the housing industry meltdown and its unemployment rate continues to be below the national level. It benefited from having a two-year budget cycle, allowing officials create budget plans with more time to focus on issues of importance. However, Texas was impacted by the economic downturn just like many other states, and by 2011 was suffering from tens of billions of dollars in budget deficits. In order to deal with this deficit, a supermajority of Republicans led to a massive cost cutting spree.[44] In order to draw new businesses to the state, Texas has developed a program of tax incentives to corporations willing to move there.[45] These efforts, along with Texas focusing on developing their natural energy resources, has led to a surplus as Texas begins its next two year budget cycle.[46][47]
For FY 2011, the top Texas revenue sources by category were approximately:[48]Federal Income: $42,159,665,863.56Sales Tax: $21,523,984,733.17Investments: $10,406,151,499.48Other Revenue: $8,569,805,443.66Licenses, Fees, Fines and Penalties: $7,741,880,095.57
As of 2008, Texas residents paid a total of $88,794 million in income taxes.[49] This does not include Federal taxes paid by Texas businesses.
Besides sales tax, other taxes include franchise, insurance, natural gas, alcohol, cigarette and tobacco taxes. Texas has no personal state income tax.
For FY 2011, the top Texas State Agency spending categories were approximately:[50]Public Assistance Payments: $26,501,123,478.54Intergovernmental Payments: $21,014,819,852.52Interfund Transfers/Other: $12,319,487,032.40Salaries and Wages: $8,595,912,992.82Employee Benefits: $5,743,905,057.61
Texas currently has 38House districts. In the 119th Congress, 13 of Texas's seats are held by Democrats and 25 are held by Republicans:
Texas's two United States senators are RepublicansJohn Cornyn andTed Cruz, serving since 2002 and 2013, respectively.
Texas is part of theUnited States District Court for the Western District of Texas, theUnited States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, theUnited States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, and theUnited States District Court for the Northern District of Texas in the federal judiciary. The district's cases are appealed to the New Orleans–basedUnited States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
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