CHAPTER 4 - POLITICAL PARTIES

Why Political Parties Matter

• Two parallel developments:

-- Domination of the _______ ______ in Texas

Republican Party

-- The state's growing minority population, which is increasingly ______

Latino

• Texas has largely been a one-party state---first ___, & then ____

Democrat, Republican

• The future will be shaped by how parties are organized, how candidates are selected, and the role of ______

Partisanship

The Role of Political Parties in Texas Politics

political parties:

-- Help candidates win elections

The Role of Political Parties in Texas Politics

political parties:

-- Assist voters in making their choices

-The Role of Political Parties in Texas Politics

political parties:

Organize the government if their party wins the election

The Role of Political Parties in Texas Politics

political parties:

• Importantly, parties in Texas provide a label under which candidates run and with which voters identify

--

The Role of Political Parties in Texas Politics: In the National Context

• States differ in the strength of the political parties

--The Role of Political Parties in Texas Politics: In the National Context

State political parties have less power

--The Role of Political Parties in Texas Politics: In the National Context

State political parties have less power

-- The Role of Political Parties in Texas Politics: In the National Context"

“All politics is local"

The Role of Political Parties in Texas Politics: In the National Context

Local issues are usually not ideological in nature

-- Partisan polarization is becoming more pronounced in the Texas legislature

--- Compromise has become increasingly difficult

--- Compromise has become increasingly difficult

Partisan Polarization

Refers to the cases in which an individual's stance on a given issue, policy, or person is more likely to be strictly defined by their identification with a particular political party or ideology

The Role of Political Parties in Texas Politics: Public Attitudes about Parties

• Public Attitudes about Parties

-- Political socialization occurs in our early years

--- Agents of socialization: parents, religious leaders, teachers, others

-- For many, partisan affiliation is important when deciding how to vote

-- The Tea Party is particularly strong in Texas

-- " Swing" voters may ultimately decide elections

Political Socialization

A lifelong process by which people form their ideas about politics and acquire political values. The family, educational system, peer groups, and the mass media all play a role

The Role of Political Parties in Texas Politics: Contemporary Republican Party

• The Contemporary Republican Party in Texas

-- Texas Republican are experiencing major division within the party

--- The Tea Party has had considerable influence

-- Republicans hold all major statewide elected offices, but the party has not always been so powerful

-- Before 1992, Democrats held many statewide offices

--- Ann Richards, a proud liberal, was the state's last Democratic governor

The Role of Political Parties in Texas Politics: Contemporary Democratic Party

• The Contemporary Democratic Party in Texas

-- Texas Democrats have been consigned to minority status since the early 2000s

--- The party's base: African Americans, Latinos, and white liberals in urban areas

-- Seven of the nine Democrats representing Texas in Congress are Latino of African American

The Role of Political Parties in Texas Politics: Party Organization

• Democratic and Republican Party Organization

-- Texas does not have party registration

-- Voters may vote in either primary

-- Candidates must win either:

--- A majority of the primary vote

--- A runoff between the two highest vote-getters

-- Parties in Texas are organized at the precinct, county, and state levels

-Precincts and County Chairs

-- In each election precinct, a precinct chair elected in the party primary

--Also elected in the primary, the county chair heads the county executive committee, composed of the chair and the precinct chairs

• Committees and Conventions

-- At state level, a state executive committee includes a state chair and vice chair

-- Precinct conventions send delegates to the county convention and may resolutions for the party platform

-- The county conventions ( or in urban areas, distinct conventions) then elect delegates to the state convention

Precinct

The most basic level of political organization at the local level

Precinct Chair

The local party official who heads the precinct convention and serves on the party's county executive committee

County Chair

The county party official who heads the county executive committee

County Executive Committee

The party group made up of a party's county chair and precinct chairs, that is responsible for running a county's primary elections and planning county conventions

State Executive Committee

The committee responsible for governing a party's activities throughout the state

• Accepts filings by candidates for statewide office

• Helps raise funds for the party

• Helps establish party policy

State chair and vice chair

The two state-level leaders in the party, selected every two years at the state party conventions

The Role of Political Parties in Texas Politics: Third Parties

• Third Parties in Texas

-- The two parties in power make it difficult for third parties, and third-party candidates rarely win

-- Third parties and candidates do, however, emerge

--- The Grange and Populist movements

--- States' Rights Party and Dixiecrats

--- George Wallace and segregation

--- The civil rights movements and La Raza Unida

--- The Libertarian Party

--- The 2006 election for governor

-- Why don't people vote for third parties?

--- Texas employs a "first past the post'" single-member district electoral system

--- Duverger's Law: in single-member system, a two-party system will emerge

-- Some other countries use a system of proportional representation, a multi member district system that allows each political party representation in proportion to its percentage of the total vote

Dixiecrats

Conservative Democrats who abandoned the national Democratic Party in the 1948 presidential election

La Raza Unida Party

Political party formed in Texas in order to bring attention to the concerns of Mexican Americans

"First past the post"

An election rule that states that the winner is the candidate who recives a plurality of the votes

Single-member district

An electorate that is allowed to elect only one representative for each other district

Duverger's Law

The principle that in a democracy with single-member districts and plurality voting, like the United States, only two parties' candidates will have a realistic chance of winning political office.

Proportional representation

An election system in which each party running receives the proportion of legislative seats corresponding to its proportion of the vote.

The Role of Political Parties in Texas Politics: Occupy and Tea Party Movements

The Occupy and Tea Party Movements in Texas

• The Occupy movement protests the influence of big banks and Wall Street in American

• The Tea Party movement has had more influence in Texas because of their libertarian anti tax message

-- Implication: less funding for education and fewer social services

• Tea Party organizers have focused on influencing Republican

Texas's History as a One-Party State

• After the Civil War, Texas entered one-party rule that lasted over a century

-- The real election was the Democratic primary

-- Republican frequently did not any candidates at all for many offices

-- Many counties had no Republican Party at all

• By about the mid-1940s, a split between liberal and conservative Democrats developed in response to New Deal and civil rights policies

Texas's History as a One-Party State: Shivercrat Movement

The Shivercrat movement of the 1950s and a strengthening pattern of presidential Republicanism signaled coming change

Presidential Republicanism

a voting pattern in which conservatives vote Democratic for state offices but Republican for presidential candidates

Texas's History as a One-Party State: Conservative Democrats

The Era of Conservative Democrats

• Democrats were conservative on fiscal and racial issues

• The Republican Party was initially started in Illinois as an antislavery party

• Many southern Democrats were elected to Congress and gained seniority in the Democratic-controlled Congress

Texas's History as a One-Party State: Growth of Republican Party

The Growth of the Republican Party

• Reagan's election in 1980 marked a significant change in how Texans began vote not only in presidential elections but also in state elections

• At the end of the Reagan and Bush years, Texas became a Republican state not only in presidential races but also in state races

• In 1999, every statewide elected official was Republican

Texas's History as a One-Party State: Disappearance of Conservative Democrats

The Disappearance of Conservative Democrats