Republican Party of Texas
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Republican Party of Texas
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Chairperson | Tom Mechler |
| Senate leader | Dan Patrick |
| House leader | Joe Straus |
| Founded | 1854 |
| Headquarters | PO Box 2206 Austin, Texas 78768 |
| Ideology |
Conservatism Fiscal conservatism Christian right 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 |
99 / 150
|
| Website | |
| www.texasgop.org/ | |
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.
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).
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. 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.
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Wikipedia