Elections in Texas
| Elections in Texas |
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| Government |
From 1836 to 1845, Texas existed as an independent Republic of Texas and elected its own presidents before agreeing to annexation by the United States in 1845. Ever since, the state of Texas began participating in every presidential election with the exceptions of 1864 and 1868. The reason Texas choose not to participate in these two elections was due to its secession from the Union to join the Confederate States of America on February 1, 1861, and later remained as an unreconstructed state following in the American Civil War.
Following annexation, Texas began an election system that was quite similar to other U.S. states, with early constitutions establishing offices for governor, judges, and legislators. Records from the Legislative reference library also documented every governor from 1846 and on. The state's election laws codified in the Texas Election Code in some ways included primary election rules and vote thresholds.
Texas holds its statewide elections including the gubernatorial race as well as other state offices. Every four years these elections are held on the nationwide Election Day, the Tuesday following the first Monday in November. They occur in even numbered years that are not divisible by four, meaning they take place during a midterm and don't coincide with the presidential elections. The Texas House of Representatives hold their election every two years, while the Texas Senate seats are more staggered. About half the chamber is elected in each two-year cycle with the exception of years where there has been redistricting and all the seats are contested.
For about a century, Texas politics was dominated by the Democratic party, making the state a part of the Solid South which was the "electoral voting bloc for the Democratic Party in the Southern United States between the end of the Reconstruction era in 1877". In a reversal of alignments, since the late 1960s, the Republican 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 since the 1994 Lieutenant gubernatorial election. Texas is a majority Republican state with Republicans controlling every statewide office. 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. There have been arguments that Texas has trended more competitive since 2016 by citing demographic change, urban population growth, and narrowing statewide margins. However, the 2020 presidential election saw Texas become the third closest state won by republicans, illustrating both the party's strength and the state's gradual movement towards competitiveness.
Texas, simultaneous to Wyoming, was the first state to elect a woman governor in 1924 with the election of Miriam A. Ferguson. (Huddleston, 2003) Conversely, Texas has never elected a person of color to be governor.
In a 2020 study led by political science researcher Scot Schraufnagel, Texas was ranked as the hardest state for citizens to vote in due to strict pre-registration laws and in-person voter registration deadlines. Additionally, by the 2020 election, Texas had cut down the amount of polling stations in the state, making voting less widely available.