Republican Party of Texas

Republican Party of Texas
Chairperson	Tom Mechler
Senate leader	Dan Patrick
House leader	Joe Straus
Founded	1854 (1854)
Headquarters	1108 Lavaca, Suite 500 Austin, Texas 78701
Ideology	Conservatism Fiscal conservatism Christian right[1] Social conservatism
Political position	Centre-right to Right-wing
National affiliation	Republican Party
Seats in State Upper Houses	20 / 31
Seats in State Lower Houses	98 / 150
Website
www.texasgop.org/
Politics of the United States Political parties Elections

The Republican Party of Texas (RPT) is one of the two major political parties in the U.S. State of Texas. It is affiliated with the United States Republican Party. The State Chairman is Tom Mechler, an oil-and-gas executive from West Texas, and the Vice-Chairman is Amy Clark of Floresville. The RPT is headquartered in Downtown Austin. The RPT's mission is to promote a conservative philosophy of government by promoting conservative principles. The RPT is legally classified as a political action committee whose structure is determined by state law and by party rules not in conflict with state law.

History

The Republican Party developed dramatically in Texas during Reconstruction after constitutional amendments freeing the slaves and giving suffrage to black males, as blacks joined the party that had ensured the end of slavery. African-American leaders, frequently men of mixed race who had been free and educated before the war, provided leadership in extending education and work opportunities to blacks after the war. They supported establishment of a public school system for the first time. Men such as William Madison McDonald in Fort Worth, Norris Wright Cuney in Galveston, and Henry Clay Ferguson worked for the black community and the state.

In 1870, Edmund Davis was elected Governor, but was soundly defeated in 1874. In the year 1876, Republicans had made gradual gains in Texas, earning nearly one-third of the statewide vote and electing a small number of candidates to the State Legislature (including several African Americans). Democrats established legal racial segregation and disfranchisement.

After the Reconstruction era, the Republican Party of Texas gradually lost power, and after the turn of the century, the "Lily Whites" pushed blacks out of power. The Democrats passed disfranchising laws near the turn of the century requiring poll taxes be paid prior to voter registration; together with the party establishing white primaries, black voting dropped dramatically, from more than 100,000 statewide in the 1890s, to 5,000 in 1906.^[2] Mexican Americans and poor whites were also adversely affected by such measures. For more than 100 years, the Republicans were a minority party in the state.

Between the departing of Robert B. Hawley from his second U.S. House term in 1901 and the seating of Bruce Alger in 1954, the sole Republican to represent Texas in Congress was Harry M. Wurzbach, who served in the U.S. House for most of the 1920s and left office in 1931.^[3] The first Republican statewide primary was held in 1926, but drew only 15,239 voters. By contrast, the Democratic primary in the same year drew 821,234 voters, as disfranchisement was well established, and Texas was essentially a one-party, white-only voting state. Only two more Republican primaries were run in the next thirty-four years.^[4]

In 1961, James A. Leonard, was the "first Executive Director of the Republican Party of Texas to emphasize the Party's new intention to become a force in state government." "In the dead of night," he moved the Party Headquarters from Houston to Austin" and "mobilized the Party's meager resources to support the candidacy of a 36-year-old Associate Professor of Government, John Tower, to fill Lyndon Johnson's vacant US Senate Seat." James A. Leonard "was an architect to John Tower's breakthrough 1961 Senate victory claim to Lyndon Johnson's (US) seat..." " in the special election after Johnson had been elected as vice-president with John F. Kennedy on the Democratic ticket.^[5] John Tower served in this position until his retirement in 1985.

African Americans had been mounting challenges to segregation and disfranchisement across the South to have their constitutional rights enforced. After Kennedy's assassination in 1963, President Lyndon Johnson urged passage of the civil rights legislation he had supported. Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In reaction across the South, conservative whites began to realign with the Republican Party, while African Americans overwhelmingly registered with the Democratic Party, which was helping enforce their rights.

In 1966, two Republicans were elected to the US House of Representatives, including future President George H.W. Bush, for the first time since Reconstruction. That same year, three Republicans were elected to the Texas House of Representatives, and the first Republican was elected to the Texas Senate in 39 years. By 1972, Texas Republicans increased their gains to 17 members of the Texas House and 3 members of the Texas Senate.^[4]

The true turning point for Texas Republicans occurred in the May 1976 primary, when Ronald Reagan defeated Gerald Ford by a two-to-one margin in the state's presidential primary. According to former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, due to Reagan's victory in the Texas primary, "the whole shape and nature of the state changed."^[6]

104 years after the most recent previous Republican governor, Bill Clements eked out a narrow victory in November 1978. In 1984, Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Phil Gramm led a GOP ticket that relied upon the RPT to provide a centralized network of communications. Throughout the rest of the decade, the total Republican vote continued to increase, and the party made large gains in both the state legislature and in local races.^[4]

Since 1994, every statewide elected office has been held by a Republican. Both houses of the Texas Legislature feature Republican majorities. After the 2010 elections, Republicans held a super-majority of 101 Republican representatives in the 150-member body.^[7] After the 2014 elections, majority is now 98 of 150 in the House. In the Texas Senate, Republicans hold 20 of 31 seats post-2014 after holding 19 for the previous six years. Both houses are officially organized on a bi-partisan basis, with both Republicans and Democrats holding committee chairs. At the federal level, the Texas Congressional delegation is composed of 24 Republicans and 12 Democrats; both of its US Senators are Republican. The last time Texas was carried by a Democratic presidential candidate was in 1976.

Platform

In its 2012 platform, the Republican Party of Texas rejected the teaching of "Higher Order Thinking Skills... critical thinking skills and similar programs," giving as a reason that this sort of teaching has "the purpose of challenging the student's fixed beliefs and undermining parental authority." Media ridicule led to a response from RPT Communications Director Chris Elam that the inclusion of the term "critical thinking skills" was an oversight which cannot be corrected until 2014, when the next state convention will occur.^[8][9]

In a 2014 interview with YNN, executive director Beth Cubriel voiced her opposition to equal pay legislation and encouraged women to negotiate better for the pay they deserve instead of backing up court dockets and saying that "Men are better negotiators. I would encourage women instead of pursuing the courts for action to become better negotiators".^[10]

On June 7, 2014 approximately 8,000 delegates to the Republican Party of Texas State Convention in Fort Worth, Texas voted to add a plank to the platform in support of reparative therapy for homosexuals. Shortly after the convention, Chairman Munsiteri said in an interview with Texas Public Radio that he was opposed to the plank and that its inclusion in the platform was due to a "parliamentary maneuver" that prevented debate on the plank before the platform as a whole was adopted and that there is no way in knowing if the plank is representative of the views of the majority of Texas Republicans.^[11] Despite Chairman Munisteri's statement, the platform plank received strong support from delegates in the majority of Senate District conventions across the state and has been vigorously defended by previous state chair Cathie Adams ^[12] as well as several statewide grassroots organizations such as "Texas Values," the "Texas Republican Assembly," and the Eagle Forum.^[13][14][15]

The full language of the reparative therapy plank is as follows:

Reparative Therapy- We recognize the legitimacy and efficacy of counseling, which offers reparative therapy and treatment for those patients seeking healing and wholeness from their homosexual lifestyle. No laws or executive orders shall be imposed to limit or restrict access to this type of therapy. ^{[1][16][17][18][19][20]}

Current elected officials

The Republican Party of Texas controls all but one elected statewide offices, holds a 20-11 majority in the Texas Senate, and a 95–55 majority in the Texas House of Representatives. Republicans also hold both of the state's U.S. Senate seats and 24 of the state's 36 U.S. House seats.

Members of Congress

U.S. Senate

• John Cornyn
• Ted Cruz

U.S. House of Representatives (listed by district number)

• TX-01: Louie Gohmert
• TX-02: Ted Poe
• TX-03: Sam Johnson
• TX-04: John Ratcliffe
• TX-05: Jeb Hensarling
• TX-06: Joe Barton
• TX-07: John Culberson
• TX-08: Kevin Brady
• TX-10: Michael McCaul
• TX-11: Mike Conaway
• TX-12: Kay Granger
• TX-13: Mac Thornberry
• TX-14: Randy Weber
• TX-17: Bill Flores
• TX-19: Randy Neugebauer
• TX-21: Lamar S. Smith
• TX-22: Pete Olson
• TX-24: Kenny Marchant
• TX-25: Roger Williams
• TX-26: Michael C. Burgess
• TX-27: Blake Farenthold
• TX-31: John Carter
• TX-32: Pete Sessions
• TX-36: Steve Stockman

Statewide officials

• Governor: Greg Abbott
• Lieutenant Governor: Dan Patrick
• Attorney General: Ken Paxton
• Comptroller of Public Accounts: Glenn Hegar
• State Land Commissioner: George P. Bush
• State Agriculture Commissioner: Sid Miller
• Railroad Commission Chairman: Ryan Sitton
• Railroad Commissioner: David Porter
• Railroad Commissioner: Christi Craddick

Legislative

• President of the Senate/Lt. Governor: Dan Patrick
• Speaker of the House: Joe Straus

State Republican Executive Committee Members

Biannually, in even-numbered years, delegates at the Texas GOP State Convention elect a man and a woman from each of the thirty-one State Senatorial districts to serve a two-year term on the State Republican Executive Committee (SREC). The State Republican Executive Committee along with the elected State Chair and State Vice Chair manage the affairs of the Republican Party of Texas between state conventions.^[21]

List of state party chairmen

• Thad Hutcheson (1958)

State Party Chairmen since 1962

• Peter O'Donnell (1962-1969)
• William Steger (1969-1971)
• Missing (1971-1976)
• Ray Hutchison - (1976-1977)
• Ray Barnhart - (1977-1979)
• Chet Upham - (1979-1983)
• George Strake, Jr. - (1983-1988)
• Fred Meyer (Texas politician) - (1988-1994)
• Tom Pauken - (1994-1997)
• Susan Weddington - (1997-2003)
• Tina Benkiser - (2003-2009)
• Cathie Adams - (2009-2010)
• Steve Munisteri - (2010–2015)
• Tom Mechler - (2015- )

Auxiliary organizations

The official college Republican Party of Texas' student wing is Texas College Republicans, which has over 35 chapters statewide.^[22]

High School Republicans of Texas is the Republican Party of Texas' Official High School Republican Auxiliary with chapters in high schools and communities across Texas. For more information, visit their website at www.hsrtx.org.^[23]

The Texas Federation of Republican Women (TFRW) is a volunteer women's organization that has "long-standing goals of education, training, participation in government, electing Republicans and encouraging Republican women to run for office". TFRW has 164 local clubs across Texas with over 10,000 members.^[24]

The Texas Republican County Chairmen's Association (TRCCA) is composed of the elected chairman of the county Republican party organizations in Texas and operates to support and provide networking opportunities for elected Republican county chairmen in Texas.^[25]

The Texas Young Republican Federation (TYRF) is an organization composed of Young Republican clubs across Texas which are open to registered voters who are between the ages of 18 and 40 years old. The TYRF goals are grassroots activism, leadership development, community service and club development.^[26]

The Texas Federation for Republican Outreach is committed to increasing participation and affiliation of African-American voters within the Republican Party, and to increase the number of elected Republican African-American candidates in Texas.^[27]

The Texas Republican Assembly is a grassroots volunteer organization dedicated to promoting and electing conservative Republican candidates in Texas. There are six charter clubs across Texas.^[28]

The Republican National Hispanic Assembly has a chapter in Texas, whose mission is to increase participation and affiliation of Hispanic American voters within the Republican Party, and to increase the number of elected Republican Hispanic candidates in Texas.^[29]

The Latino National Republican Coalition of Texas believes "in active civic engagement as a means to bridge the gap between the Hispanic Community and the GOP." There are five chapters throughout Texas.^[30]

References

External links

• The Republican Party of Texas website
• County Party Web Site Directory
• Texas House Republican Caucus
• Texas Federation of Republican women
• Texas Ethics Commission
• Texas Young Republican Federation
• 2010 Texas Republican Party Platform

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