Texas Democratic Party
|
Texas Democratic Party
|
|
|---|---|
| Chairperson | Gilberto Hinojosa |
| Senate leader | José R. Rodríguez |
| House leader | Yvonne Davis |
| Founded | 1846 |
| Headquarters | P.O. Box 116 Austin, Texas 78767 |
| Student wing | Texas College Democrats |
| Ideology |
Liberalism Progressivism Social liberalism |
| Political position | Center |
| National affiliation | Democratic Party |
| Seats in State Upper Houses |
11 / 31
|
| Seats in State Lower Houses |
51 / 150
|
| Website | |
| www |
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The Texas Democratic Party is one of the two major political parties in the U.S. state of Texas, representing the Democratic Party. It is headquartered in Downtown Austin, Texas.
Prior to the Annexation of Texas, the Democratic Party had a foothold in the politics of the region. A powerful group of men that called themselves the "Texas Association" served as an early prototype for the Democratic Party of Texas. The Texas Association drew its membership from successful merchants, doctors, and lawyers, often traveling from Tennessee. Many members of the Texas Association were close friends of Andrew Jackson, and most had strong ties to the Democratic Party. Similarly, most of the other settlers in Texas were from states in the south, and American southerners of this era generally held strong allegiances to the Democratic Party.
In 1845, the 29th United States Congress approved the Texas Constitution and President James K. Polk signed the act admitting Texas as a state on December 29. In 1848, the party convention system was adopted, and it quickly became the primary method of selecting candidates for the Texas Democratic Party. In the period prior to the Civil War, national politics influenced the state party’s perspective. Texas Democrats began to discard Jacksonian-nationalism in favor of the states' rights agenda of the Deep South. A conflict emerged within the Party between pro-Union Democrats and secessionists. During the war, supporters of the Union disappeared from the political scene or moved north. Those who stayed politically active reluctantly supported the Confederacy. During Reconstruction, the rift between Unionist and Secessionist Democrats remained. For a short period immediately after the war, the Texas Democratic Party was a formidable political force, but they quickly split apart because their positions on freedmen varied greatly; some supported full civil rights, while others opposed anything more than emancipation. As a result, Republicans captured both the governor's office and the Texas Legislature in 1869, but Republican political dominance in the post-Civil War era was short-lived. By 1872, the Texas Democrats had consolidated their party and taken over the Texas legislature. For the remainder of the 19th century and well into the 20th, Democrats dominated Texas politics and Republicans were minor political players.
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