One candidate elected to legislative body
Single-member districts
What are the main political parties in Texas?
- democratic party
- republican party
- libertarian party (third party)
- Green party (third party)
True or false?
Political parties are not mentioned anywhere in the US Constitution or the Texas constitution
True
What intensified party divisions?
Civil War
No parties prior to Texas joining union
The __________ helped solidify democratic control in Texas politics until the 1990s
Great Depression
- The growth of the conservative democratic faction in Texas in the 1930s and 1940s
What is a political party?
What is the main goal of political parties?
A group of people who share common goals and attempt to control government by winning elections. Main goal is to win elections
Election districts were only one candidate is elected to a legislative body
Single-member districts
Who was elected to US Senate in 1961?
He was a conservative Democrat that ran as a Republican
John Tower
-highlighted his conservative positions on many of the highest profile issues. He was reelected three times
Who was elected governor in 1978?
Contributed to the transformed Texas into “Republican country”
Bill Clements
Which political party since the end of the 1990s continues to hold all of the statewide offices in Texas today?
Republican party
What are the thoughts on if Texas whatever turn blue?
With the increase of democratic young Texans and Latinos Democrats to gain control of Texas again
A rise in independents
- dominated the Texas Republican Party
- concerned with such issues as family, religion, and community morals
- tea party: also grew in influence within the Texas republican party
Evangelical (fundamentalists) Christians
A persons attachment to one political party or the other
Partisan identification
When increasing numbers of voters choose not to identify with either of the two parties and consider themselves to be independent
Dealignment
What group of voters could cause the phenomenon of “tipping”?
Latinos
Those that are not bound by party identification
Swing voters
- increased in Texas
- evidence of Latinos as swing voters
