African American Influence On Texas Politics

For decades, the state of Texas was Democratic and then suddenly in 1998 the state flipped to Republican. Currently, Texas is the boldest Republican state in the country. For so long it was Democrat and strongly so but it has been Republican now since the nineties. The big question surrounding this topic is what happened to make it flip suddenly? Well, research provided a very strong answer that I didn’t expect to find. In 1988 two people were voted in that changed everything for Republicans; Kent Hance and Judge Thomas Phillips were the first republicans voted in since the Reconstruction. This kick started a Republican makeover of the state that all through the nineties Texans saw Republicans overtaking Democrats in every area. To understand how this went down in the nineties there must be an examination of the past. The Democratic party was the face of Texas for a century until the Republicans came back stronger than ever.

Texas is a state that has always been recognized for its size and politics. Elections are a huge part of democratic societies that are intended for citizens to choose their public leaders and approve the policies set by candidates. Political parties and interest groups also play a key role in shaping opportunities for public participation. Most Texans and historians know that the Democratic Party’s historical dominance is important to state politics. It is less likely that people are not aware of the consequences of the one-party system for public participation and democracy in Texas. Like many of the rim South states, the white elitist belonged to the Democratic Party which stemmed from the end of Reconstruction until the late 20th

States’ rights, the fight for the unborn and their right to life, and resistance to gun legislation, tend to be some of the top issues for conservative Texas voters. The last time a Democrat carried the state of Texas was in 1976, when Jimmy Carter won the Presidential election. During the 2004 presidential election, then President and Republican candidate, George W. Bush, won with 61.09% against 38.30% votes for the Democratic candidate John Kerry. However, in the more recent Presidential elections that were held in 2008 and in 2012, the very popular Democratic candidate, Barack Obama, did not win the majority vote for Texas. Thus, looking at this information, it can be said that the state of Texas tends to lean more towards the Republican side.

The most significant Republican State in America is Texas. Around the year of 1854, the organization of the Republican party was established. The Republican party was also known as the GOP. During the Civil War, Texas became it’s own state in 1845. Prominently, all southern states were extreme believers on the Democratic party, until President Abraham Lincoln took office, who in which was the first Republican president to take the position. The democratic party were firm believers and wanted to continue the slavery movement, on the other hand, the Republican party wanted to abolish slavery. Before the reconstruction era, slavery was prominent amongst all southern states compared to the northern states. Also, African American men were allowed

In “Populist Dreams and Negro Rights: East Texas as a Case Study,” Lawrence Goodwyn keys in on the triumphs of the People 's Party in Grimes County, Texas. I discovered Populism in Grimes County is the narrative of an interracial alliance that had its beginning in Reconstruction and persevered for more than an era. I resolved why the long post-Reconstruction period emerges as the social request that has been composed progressively along racial lines; the time period encroached as a brief gleaming light in parts of the South. I learned how some white Southerners have generally been a spread for the district 's skepticism and other issues. Goodwyn establishes a viewpoint about the possible results for a greater number of individuals voting in a free society. I understand that the variables of pressure and coercion caused an end to influence at the polling stations; there was corruption occurring with vote counts. The Grimes County story significantly describes this disappointment; however in the understanding, it gives into the hidden legislative issues of black disfranchisement and the accomplishment of a solid single-party political environment in the American South it is not one of a kind.

In 1845, Texas became Democratic state once joining the United States. However, between the years of 1867 and 1873 Texas was govern by Republican Party. Soon after the Civil War in 1873, the primary party became Democratic (Owens, 2015). What few Republican candidates there were could not defeat the Democratic candidates. There were members of the Republican Party that would crossover and vote the Democratic candidates (Owens, 2015).

Due to the civil rights battle in Texas, the face of politics was reformed. An era of conservatism was initiated within Texas politics. Previously, Democrats occupied all major state offices. By 1950 the momentum shifted. Allan Shiver’s governor election initiated the change. The change reached the presidency. Eisenhower became only the second Republican president to win the state’s Electoral College at the time. (Morris)

Another reason Texas will remain a Republican state, is because our rights to bear arms is extremely important to most of the population. Many citizens within the state use guns to hunt, protect themselves and their homes, and for school events like FFA. The Democratic Party is trying to take away this right due to their liberal views. They think extended background checks will help keep guns out of the hands of law breaking citizens and criminals. Majority of the people within Texas have broken the law, to something as minor as speeding and to severe as murder. On top of law breaking citizens, many criminals do not have the background of

The next four generations of Texans would not forgive the Republican Party. Early support in time African Americans were one group of Texans that would consistently support the Republican Party in Texas in the early years.

Texas political culture is one that can be described as a combination of three main ideas: individualistic, traditionalism and moralism. Considering Texas and its overwhelming 254 counties we can see these main ideas undoubtedly. The 254 counties each have their own general set of ideas, attitudes and beliefs. The whole state of Texas is simply not just considered individualistic, traditionalism, or moralism, it is considered all three. Individualistic, traditionalism and moralism are all strong values that coexist in our society and they all affect how we as the people live our lives. A political culture shapes a region’s politics.

Due to the timing of the Gilded age, a lot of voters repression was present during the time. They saw the cut backs of Reconstruction, because of the limits within the community of those who can vote. Black people were incapable of voting in the South by dint of unfair literacy tests, poll taxes, and violent threats posed by those of higher authority. ("Literacy and the Immigration of "undesirables,")

The right to vote for African American became difficult during the time because the northern didn’t want to consider the blacks as equal to the society. As Frederick Douglass, has once stated “Slavery is not abolished until the black man has the ballot.” African American fought their way to gain their right to vote is by coming together, free blacks and emancipated slaves, to create parades, petition drives to demand, and to organize their own “freedom ballots.” As a free African American, they except the same respect as the whites and nothing

Before JFK was elected in 1960, segregation was a huge problem. In most southern states; To vote you would have to pass a literacy test (JFKlibray.org staff). Southern states did this intentionally because they knew seven out of ten blacks were illiterate (nces.ed.gov). Even though preventing blacks from voting was declared unconstitutional,

Whether or not there is a legitimate reason for Republicans to worry about states like Texas leaning Democratic because of their minority, including Hispanic, populations, may depend largely on the level of political engagement of these groups. Increasing voter registration and turnout is a decidedly mixed proposition for the Republicans: if past is prologue, Latinos tend to vote Democrat so that in order for Republicans to prevail in elections, they must either launch an aggressive campaign to win over Latinos, or try to suppress the Latino vote so that there will be fewer votes for Democrats. For Texas, its electoral future depends on whether it can engage a larger number and broader range of its citizens to meet the opportunities and challenges that lay ahead (Lawrence.) If not, Texas will continue to be a state in which there are minimal levels of voter participation overall, and where minority groups are significantly underrepresented.

Black voting fell off sharply in most areas because of threats by white employers and violence from the Ku Klux Klan.The reading and writing ability test did not just keep out the 60 percent of voting-age black men (most of them ex-slaves) who could not read. It left out almost all black men because the clerk would select complicated technical passages for them to understand. Very differently, the clerk would pass whites by picking simple series of words that make sense and that have a subject and a verb in the state constitution for them to explain.Mississippi also puts into law a "grandfather clause" that allowed registering anyone whose grandfather was qualified to vote before the Civil War. Obviously, this benefited only white person (who