Political History of Texas - How Red is Texas? (Austin: house, bankrupt)

[Chimérique]

To the rest of the country Texas appears to pretty darn Red at least in the last 25yrs or so. But I often hear old timers talk about Texas being a Democratic State.

A friend of mine - a retired Spanish Lit Professor got is Docturate at UT in 1968, and he still thinks of Texas as being a Blue State. The Professor left Texas in 1968 to begin his career in another state but visited Austin every year for decades because of family. In his mind, Texas is Blue and always will be. I don't understand him at all.

I know Johnson was a Democrat from Texas but that is all I know of Texas' Democratic leanings. Were the Democrats of that era similar to the Republicans of today?

Anyone care to comment on the what a Texas' Democrat beleives in vs. a Texas Repulican? When did Texas change into a Red State after decades of being a Blue state?

[JayBrown80]

Texas used to be part of the "Solid South". The South generally voted democrat from the end of the civil war until around the 1980s. President Grant was a Republican, and Reconstruction was a terrible time for the south. Since reconstruction was championed by Republicans, it did not endear the party to southerners. As time went on, Democrats and Republicans were largerly indistinguishable. Most people happened to be Democrat b/c that is what their parents were.

It is important that you don't think of the Republican or Democrat parties as they are today. Back in that time, Republicans were actually the more liberal party. When Reagan came to power, many "blue states" went red because he was popular. When the evangelicals took over the Republican party, and especially in 94 with the "Contract with America" Republicans began their vile stranglehold on the South, and they still hold it to this day.

Texas, and the South in general, tends to lean conservative. Republican and Democrat has often been interchangeable terms depending on what period in history you are looking at.

[ROY DUBOSE]

yep, dem's were the conservative party until the red media attack machine got reved up and used mass money to demonize (and personalize) the process -- there are also, as you might have guessed, many tents in the dems "family" which leads to a less than unified message -- many long time, public service minded dems came to realize the only way to get elected was to run as a republican -- and the practice continues today

[Chimérique]

Originally Posted by JayBrown80

Texas used to be part of the "Solid South". The South generally voted democrat from the end of the civil war until around the 1980s. President Grant was a Republican, and Reconstruction was a terrible time for the south. Since reconstruction was championed by Republicans, it did not endear the party to southerners. As time went on, Democrats and Republicans were largerly indistinguishable. Most people happened to be Democrat b/c that is what their parents were.

It is important that you don't think of the Republican or Democrat parties as they are today. Back in that time, Republicans were actually the more liberal party. When Reagan came to power, many "blue states" went red because he was popular. When the evangelicals took over the Republican party, and especially in 94 with the "Contract with America" Republicans began their vile stranglehold on the South, and they still hold it to this day.

Texas, and the South in general, tends to lean conservative. Republican and Democrat has often been interchangeable terms depending on what period in history you are looking at.

Excellent summary; this is what i was looking for, now I know!

Many states went Red because of Reagan, but they also went back to being blue because of Clinton, why not Texas?

[orbius]

Texas had a distinct voting record compared to the South recently. The deep South at the national level abandoned the Democratic party ,until Carter, after the party pursued Civil Rights.
Texas however voted Democrat in '64 and '68 unlike the Deep South which voted Republican in both elections.

I dont think there was a Republican governor of Texas until the 1980's however. Thats over a century of Democrat rule at the State level.

Many states went Red because of Reagan, but they also went back to being blue because of Clinton, why not Texas?

Republicans became the party more cozy with polluting industries and big oil, large employers in Texas. It was more out of fear however than anything tangible however, Clinton didnt do anything useful in regards to the problems of pollution and environmental issues.

[Chimérique]

Originally Posted by ROY DUBOSE

yep, dem's were the conservative party until the red media attack machine got reved up and used mass money to demonize (and personalize) the process -- there are also, as you might have guessed, many tents in the dems "family" which leads to a less than unified message -- many long time, public service minded dems came to realize the only way to get elected was to run as a republican -- and the practice continues today

Care to elaborate and expand on this......i think I know what you are talking about, but....

[Chimérique]

Originally Posted by orbius

Republicans became the party more cozy with polluting industries and big oil, large employers in Texas. It was more out of fear however than anything tangible however, Clinton didnt do anything useful in regards to the problems of pollution and environmental issues.

Yes you a right, their biggest success was (the reds and energy companies) electing jr. bush and and stacking the Fed energy commission with their cronies who in turn relaxed regulations and turned a blind eye when they raped the pacific-western states on energy prices and bankrupted local utility companies and pillaged the huge surplus that California had earlier this decade.

Side note: California's govt had a huge surplus up until the energy companies and speculators drove up prices once the regulations were relaxed. California then had to borrow billions to pay for these energy costs. The Fed energy commission could have stopped all of this at any point but it was stacked with jr. bushes cronies. The result is that California's gov't has never had a surplus since then. The California surplus was in the 100's of billions. After the pillage the surplus was gone and has never been built back up. California won lawsuits to mitigate those losses but the payments were fractions of what they lost. This was back in 2001, 2002, 2003.

[TexasReb]

=orbius;15578003]Texas had a distinct voting record compared to the South recently. The deep South at the national level abandoned the Democratic party ,until Carter, after the party pursued Civil Rights.
Texas however voted Democrat in '64 and '68 unlike the Deep South which voted Republican in both elections.

The Texas vote in '68 was interesting. Wallace got roughly 20% of the vote, which was probably the reason Humphrey (Democrat) carried the state...as it siphoned off a lot of those who would have otherwise voted for Nixon. A case might be made that the reason Johnson won as large as he did in Texas in1964 (63%) was because he was a "native son."

I dont think there was a Republican governor of Texas until the 1980's however. Thats over a century of Democrat rule at the State level.

Not counting the Reconstuction era, I think you may be right. Without looking it up, was it Mark White..?

Up until at least 1970 (according to "Understanding Texas Politics") Texas was a "One-Party Democrat" state. In order of frequency, those states under this heading were: Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, Georgia, and Arkansas. The "Modified One Party Democrat states were North Carolina, Virginia, Florida, Tennessee, Maryland, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kentucky, West Virginia,and New Mexico.

As somebody mentioned earlier, a lot of reasons why many Texans voted so strongly democratic several decades ago was because it was almost a legacy of the "Civil War and Reconstruction" passed on by their parents and their grandparents and etc. Hell, I remember the first year I was able to vote (1976) and overheard some older men standing outside the voting place and talking of how they always voted "a straight democratic ticket" no matter what! LOL

I would argue that, today, there still exists a "Solid South" of sorts...although today it goes Republican at the national level especially and the state to a large degree (even though, as was said earlier, there is still a lot of Democratic influence in the local arena).

Just on a related tangent, I think Texas was one of the first Southern states to swing Republican. I might be wrong, but I am thinking of the election of John Tower as senator, and former governor John Connally's switch to the Republicans (remember too, he organized the "Democrats for Nixon" in '72).

Personally, as a staunch conservative, I usually vote Republican at the state level, but the Constitutional Party at the national. And sometimes democrat at the local just because there is often no other choice (and that most local democrats are conservative themselves). I am just a conservative Independent!

[Chimérique]

Originally Posted by orbius

Texas had a distinct voting record compared to the South recently. The deep South at the national level abandoned the Democratic party ,until Carter, after the party pursued Civil Rights.
Texas however voted Democrat in '64 and '68 unlike the Deep South which voted Republican in both elections.

I dont think there was a Republican governor of Texas until the 1980's however. Thats over a century of Democrat rule at the State level.

Exactly what was so distinct about Texas compared to the rest of the south?

The Democratic party became liberal because of Civil Rights so the south abandoned them. Was not Texas mostly against Civil Rights, as well? I think Texas was late in becoming Red and Republican because of their good ole boy in the white house who was a Democrat. ('64 & '68) Texas was mostly anti-civil rights but they also wanted to keep their man, Johnson in the white house who happend to be a Democrat.

Moving forward in time, did Texas support Carter, i think not because he was too liberal and more importantly not a Texan. Even though Carter was liberal more importantly he was a southerner hence the majority of the south supported him, but not Texas because he was not a Texan, and because Texas' true colors of being consevative came through........there was no reason to vote Democrat anymore.

Correct me if I am wrong on any of this.

[Sean1833]

the major cities of Texas go mostly democrat
but the majority of Texas' population, the small towns, are all republican.
Thats why U of Texas is so hard core democrat cause all the city people go there, and A&M is so Republican cause all the small town people go there.
Its a divided state.
But is mostly Republican