Political Parties in Texas GOVT 2305. The Two Major Parties in Texas are: Texas Democratic Party...
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Transcript of Political Parties in Texas GOVT 2305. The Two Major Parties in Texas are: Texas Democratic Party...
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.