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Texas Campaigning Essay

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Campaigning for government office in Texas is very expensive. For example, in the 2014 gubernatorial race, Greg Abbott spent $47 million on campaigning. Campaigning can exist in many forms, but across the board, nearly all campaigning requires money. This is true for all states; however, Texas campaigns are especially expensive for many reasons. Methods of campaigning include print and electronic media, mail, door-to-door, speeches, and phone calls. The most expensive type of campaigning, however, is media ads. This includes television, radio, and print ads. These are also likely the most effective ways to get publicity.
One obstacle for campaigning in Texas is the large population. This distinguishes Texas from many other states. You …show more content…

It is known for its exceptionally low voter turnout. One reason is that in Texas, Republicans control all three branches of government. People feel that their vote doesn’t matter much anyway; a republican will win either way. Furthermore, our traditionalistic-individualistic political culture does not promote voter participation. Also, on average, our younger and less educated population tends to fit the demographics associated with low voter participation.
On top of advertising for themselves, candidates additionally have to actually mobilize people to vote in the first place. This adds significantly more money to the campaigning expenses. Also, there is a large occupancy of undocumented Latino immigrants. Money is paid to advertise to a large audience, some of which includes this demographic, even though they are not allowed to vote. Therefore, there is a sum of money that is wasted.
Texas is a strongly Republican state. This means that the real election is the primary rather than general election. In a competitive two-party state, people can get away with just going to the general election and choosing the candidate with their own partisan affiliation, but in Texas, this is not as easy. Since what really matters is the primary, voters can’t hide behind a party. More money has to go into campaigning than usual, and there is more competition, even before the general

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