Political Parties in Texas

GOVT 2305

The Two Major Parties in Texas are:

Texas Democratic PartyRepublican Party of Texas

But other smaller ones exist as well

Constitution Party of TexasTexas Green Party

Libertarian Party of TexasReform Party of TexasSocialist Party of Texas

In a separate section we discuss elections and the rules that govern how people get elected to office.

This creates incentives for organizations to develop to effectively compete in those

elections.

That’s what political parties do.

This is what has created incentives for their formation and

maintenance.

Parties are not mentioned in the Texas Constitution, but have grown into seemingly permanent parts of

the Texas political environment.

This is true for the nation as well.

In this section we’ll look at the basic features of political parties, what functions

they serve and – primarily - provide specific detail about political parties in

Texas.

This section builds off the section on political parties in GOVT 2305. I’ll try not to

repeat too much material from that section,

so you might want to review that section, click here for it

.

There are a couple other separate sections that will also provide

detail about parties. So consider this section to be an introduction.

You might also benefit from looking through

this online chapter on political parties in Texas

.

Perhaps the most important place to look to see how parties are

legally organized in the state is to look through the

Election Code, especially Title 10 which regulates how parties in the

state operate.

The election code has been drawn up and redrawn over the course of

Texas history.

Often changes have been drawn to impact the relative power of the

major parties in the state.

Before we go too far, a definition:

What is a political party?

Here’s a reasonable definition: “A political party is defined as an organized group of

people with at least roughly similar political aims and opinions, that seeks to

influence public policy by getting its candidates elected to public office.”

Notice, again, the central point:

The simplest goal of a political party is to win elections. They are unable to achieve their objectives

– to influence public policy – unless they can win elections.

And they are very, very good at this.

That should explain everything you need to know about what

motivates parties and why they do what they do.

If they don’t win office, they cannot control governing organizations, meaning that they

cannot dominate the public policy process. They will not be able to determine who the winners

and loser are.

Parties dominate the political system in the US and in Texas

Proof: No independents serve in the Texas Legislature. And very few

serve in the US Congress.

Its worth noting that parties exist on all levels of government.

Democrats and Republicans have a presence on the national, state

and county levels.

What’s more, there can be conflict between the organizations on each of

these levels about what the parties actually stand for.

Over the course of American and Texas history two large scale political parties – the Democrats and Republicans – have

dominated politics.

Others come and go, but only these two have grown to the point where they become integral part of not only the political process but of the governing

process as well.

In 2305 we mention that this is largely a consequence of the winner take all election

system which creates incentives for people to cluster their support around two large parties.

Smaller parties are – by definition – uncompetitive in this type of election, which means that the two major parties are best

understood as being coalitions of like-minded factions rather than solid groups.

Parties in Texas are noteworthy for having internal conflict. We’ll

discuss this further later.

For now let’s detail what parties in fact do.

What do political parties do to win elections and influence public

policy?

A variety of things.

Here are three things:

1 - provide means for people to participate in the political system.

2 - structure and present the issues of the day to citizens.

3 - provide the glue that connects government vertically (federalism) and horizontally

(separated powers).

Let’s look at the first:

1 - Parties provide means for people to participate in the

political system.

This claim supports the idea that political parties are central to democracy. It is the party that fosters political participation because it makes them more

competitive. Without viable parties there is little incentive to expand

suffrage, or encourage participation.

Here’s a curve ball however.

It’s generally assumed that the two major parties in Texas have different incentives

when it comes to participation. Democrats do better when rates of participation is

high, Republicans do better when rates of participation are low.

Here are four basic ways they attempt to enhance participation:

They help people get registered to vote.

They recruit people to run for public office.

They organize election precincts.

They organize get out the vote drives.

Voter registration drives

Each state requires that eligible voters register prior to election day. Each state establishes its own rules. In Texas people have to be registered 30 days prior to an

election.

Registration rules of course are established by the state legislature, which responds to the wishes of the majority party. These can

be impacted by laws passed on the national level as well.

Registration is conducted by each county in the state, but parties and other groups get involved

in encouraging people to register. Each party attempts to ensure that potential identifiers –

those they think are most likely to vote for them – are registered.

The party with a higher percentage of its supporters registered to vote has an advantage over the other. Generally, the Republican Party

has advantages over the Democratic Party in this regard.

Controversially, parties might attempt to suppress registration among populations that are not

likely to support them.

Links:

- Texas SOS: Voter Registration.- Harris Votes.

- Brazoria County Tax Assessor Collector

.

Recruitment

Parties are more likely to be successful if they recruit quality candidates to run for

office.

Each party is heavily involved in making sure their candidates have name

recognition and are well positioned to win. They also get involved in vetting

candidates – making sure that they have clean backgrounds and are committed to

the party’s positions on issues.

Political parties allow candidates the opportunity to run with a label that grants them a degree of legitimacy

and indicates to voters a minimal level of information about them.

They also provide a network and organization that can assist with their

campaigns.

But here is a problem: Parties have little ability to directly control the positions

their candidates take. There are incentives for candidates to take positions that the

party stands for – it increases the chances that the candidate will be elected – but an

individual candidate might stand for the specific policies promoted by a faction

within the party, rather than the party’s leadership.

Moderate v RINOs

Even if one isn’t recruited to run for office, the political party allows

individuals the opportunity to throw their own hat in the ring and

decide to run for office themselves.

Election Precincts

The major parties, over the many decades they have existed, have organized down to the precinct

level.

This is one of the many factors that grants the two major parties considerable

advantage over minor parties in the state – of which there’s not much history.

GOTV Drives

[get out the vote]

Each party – in cooperation with the campaigns of each candidate –

organize ways to ensure that registered voters who identify with

their party are able to get to the polls.

This can be done in a variety of ways

Vote by MailEarly voting

Election day voting

2 – Parties structure and present the issues of the day to citizens.

The political environment can be very complex.

You probably have thought the same.

A political party can help simplify the political environment to those

who identify with that party. By identifying with a political party

one can simply adopt the positions promoted by the party.

Click here for the TP section on Trends in Party Identification

.

Trends in Party ID from Texas Politics

Many people identify strongly with one or the other political parties. This can make it easier for people to make a decision about what’s going on politically because each party attempts to frame this for

their supporters.

It is simpler to figure out what news is important and what

opinion to have about them if one identifies with a party.

Independents have to figure this out on their own. Of course, that

might be a good thing.

Parties often help determine what the dominant issues of the day

happen to be.

They can also provide supporters with arguments in favor and

against different issues.

Example: What are the arguments for and against gun control? School

vouchers? Voter ID laws?

And of course parties can provide arguments for and against certain

people involved in the political process.

Generally these would be candidates for public office, but it

can include others as well.

Who are the good guys?

Who are the bad guys?

Obviously this implies that independents will have a tougher time figuring out what to make of

the political environment since they do not identify with an

organization that provides cues for how to think about political issues.

3 – Parties provide the glue that connects government vertically

(federalism) and horizontally (separated powers).

A central theme in this class – as well as 2305 – is that government

in the US is very decentralized.

This occurs both horizontally and vertically.

Horizontal decentralization refers to the fact that governmental

powers are separated into three institutions that can then check

and balance each other.

This arrangement can create gridlock and make it difficult for

anything to get done.

Vertical decentralization refers to the fact that government is divided

into three levels: the national, state and local.

As we have seen before, coordination can be difficult in this

arrangement.

A key benefit of political parties is that they can provide coordination between

these institutions and levels.

If one party does especially well in a series of elections across each level of

government – which generally means that the general population supports their

policies more than the other – then the activities of each are more likely to be

coordinated.

Two concepts are important here:

Divided Government Unified Government

Divided government refers to periods of time when the parties only control one of the elected

branches – or at least the legislative and executive branches.

Unified government occurs when one party controls both the

legislative and executive branches.

It’s also argued that unified government enhances democracy

because it allows for a clearer choice for the voters. It is easier

for voters to pin responsibility for what happens in government

when one party is in charge than if each is in control of one branch of

government.

Governing is argued to be easier in unified rather than divided government. Policies are easier to pass, and the agenda of one

party is easier to implement.

This is even easier to do if the same party that dominates the national government also dominates the state governments as

well.

In Texas its easier for parties to tied the three branches of

government together because all major positions in each are

elected.

This gives the majority party the opportunity to control them all.

Texas has a history of one party rule.

From annexation to the 1970s – with the exception of Reconstruction – the

Democratic Party dominated elections. Since 1994 the Republican Party has dominated state elections and has

controlled the state legislature since 2004.

The design of the Texas Constitution allows the dominant political culture to dominate the

governing institutions. Texas government tends to be unified.

This is less the case on the national level. Since 1968, control of the national governing

institutions has been split. Congress tends to be controlled by one party and the presidency by another. Sometimes each chamber in Congress

is controlled by a different party.

But there can be tension between the state government and county and city governments – especially

in the larger ones – because citizens in larger metropolitan areas tend to vote Democratic.

Party Majorities in Each County

Here’s a qualifier:

Parties across the United States and in Texas are decentralized.

We discuss party organization in a separate section.

For now its best to understand that each major party – as well as the minor parties in the state – are organized at the county level, and each county can determine for

itself what it stands for and what candidates it supports.

If the state party is strong enough, it can control the actions of the

county parties, but this is difficult to do in the larger counties.

Harris County especially – since it is the 3rd largest county in the

country – has very strong party organizations.

The Harris County Republican Party is the largest successful local party

in the nation.

The Harris County Democratic Party is quite influential as well.

Brazoria County parties – not so much given the relatively small size

of the county.

How strong are political parties as organizations?

Even though it is essential for candidates to be members of

political parties in order to win elections, it isn’t true that parties

are necessarily that strong as organizations.

Texas does not require that voters register as members of a political

party before they can actually cast a ballot.

So there’s no control over who can vote in party primaries.

Parties have limited control over candidates

Campaign costs are largely handled by the candidate and affiliated

groups.

Here is no mechanism in place to legally bind people to the party

platform.