Party Organization In Texas
GOVT 2306
In these slides I’ll try to walk
through the structure of the major
political parties in Texas.
This will include a look at how
Texas parties are connected to
their national compatriots.
A distinction will be drawn
between the organization that
organizes each party on an ongoing
basis, and the organization that
exists temporarily during the
election season.
It’ll conclude with a look at the
current state of the organizations
of the Democratic and Republic an
Parties.
There will be some information
about how minor parties in the
state are organized.
The respective party websites will
be resources for us as we proceed.
You may want to familiarize
yourself with them before you
proceed:
Texas Democratic Party
Texas Republican Party
I recommend this page which
reviews the party structure of the
Republican Party of Texas. Similar
information about the Texas
Democratic Party can be found in
different places on its website –
click “Our Party” and “Resources”
in the drop down menu.
The county party websites are
worth looking at as well.
Brazoria County Democratic Party
Brazoria County Republican Party
Harris County Democratic Party
Harris County Republican Party
Much of the material below is
pulled from these sites.
A quick reminder:
Political parties in the US are decentralized,
much like the entire governing system.
They are organized at the national, state,
county and precinct local levels. As a result
they are very decentralized. Conflict is
common between each level. In fact there
is as much conflict within the two parties
as there is between them.
Here’s a fancy applicable word:
Stratarchy: a political system where
power is diffused among and
within levels of party organization.
Here is one of many definitions of
“political party.”
“A combination of people and
interests whose primary purpose is
to gain control of government by
winning elections.”
I found this language from the
Republic Party of Texas’ “About the
Party” page interesting: “The RPT
is legally classified as a general
purpose political committee whose
structure is determined by Federal
law, State law and by Party rules
not in conflict with State law.”
So, in a strictly legal sense a
political party is actually a:
general purpose political
committee
Now you know
In order “to gain control of
government by winning elections,”
parties have evolved into distinct
institutions in the state that are
intertwined with the electoral and
governing systems in the state.
A handful of functions related to
elections are delegated to political
parties and are defined in state law.
State elections code covers aspects of party
organizations – this despite the fact that parties
are not mentioned in the Texas Constitution.
Click here to go to the State Election Code – look
under Title 10 for laws related to parties.
Each party is chocked full of lawyers who know
this code back and forth, in addition to elected
party members who can make strategic changes
to these laws for advantage when appropriate.
The election code establishes a
very similar structure for each
party. Again – walk through Title 10
of the Election Code (named
Political Parties) to get an idea of
how the state structures parties,
party rules an defines the roles of
parties in the electoral process.
Now let’s look at how parties are
organized – generally - in the state.
Again – a reminder – more detail
can be found in the webpages of
the state and county parties.
Note that the following refers to
the Democratic and Republican
Parties in the state.
Smaller parties are organized differently – they
operate without conventions. More on them later.
For now you click here for the local Green Party,
here for the state Libertarian Party, and the Harris
County Libertarian Chapter here. Rules are
different for these parties due to their small size.
First point:
Party organizations can be broken
down into two broad types:
Temporary Party Organization
Permanent Party Organization
Temporary Party Organization
This refers to the short lived organizations that
exist following primary elections and are
terminated at the conclusion of the national
party convention. They are the precinct, county
or district, state and national conventions that
allow rank and file voters the opportunity to
influence the state party’s decision-making
process. The purpose of this organization to
connect the preferences of precinct voters to
the state and nation.
The temporary party organization is a relatively recent
development in Texas politics, well – if you consider
developments since the early 20th century as being recent. It is
the result of the introduction of the political primary election in
Texas – a subject discussed elsewhere.
The purpose of the primary was to limit the power of party
machines, which were often organized around a powerful
elected official, usually a county judge. The judge’s control over
elections allowed for full control over the local, county
government. Allowing primary voters to determine party
candidates whittled away at that power.
Permanent Party Organization
This refers to the year round organization that
lead and operate the precinct, county or district,
state and national parties year around. They
include precinct, county and state chairs and the
executive committees on the county, state and
national level. These are the people who ensure
that the party remains competitive and that its
interests are served.
The former exists during elections
– specifically between primary
election day and the national
convention.
The latter exists continually and is
held accountable by the temporary
party organization.
The two are inter connected. Members of the
permanent party organization, for example, try
to influence who participates in the temporary
party organization.
Tyr to keep this point in mind: political power
within parties tends to be held by those who
have a deep understanding of, and influence
over, the rules that govern party organizations.
To help clarify, here is a graph. The
temporary party organization is on
the left, the permanent party
organization is on the right.
Note that party authority rests on
the primary voters.
More accurately, those who
choose to show up and vote in
party primaries. This can be a very
small percentage of the general
population.
Note: Primary voters are presented with ballots
that are prepared by the county party. This
means that their choices are constrained. The
decision they are presented with is presented to
them by the permanent party organization
already in place. Note the inter relationship that
exists between the temporary and permanent
party organization.
Question: How do people get on the county
primary ballot?
“In order to be listed on the primary ballot for
one of the two major parties - Democratic or
Republican - a candidate must either collect
signatures on a nominating petition or pay a
filing fee to the county or state chair of the
appropriate party. The number of signatures
needed and the cost of the registration fee vary
according to the level of office being sought.
This chapter's feature entitled Getting on the
Primary Ballot lists the various requirements for
major party candidates.” – From Texas Politics,
Chapter 2.1.
Keep this in mind: both the temporary and
permanent party organizations are based on the
decisions made by the primary voters of each
party in each precinct.
Remember that primary elections are held every two
years in the state according to rules passed by the
legislature that can be found in the state election code.
They are party elections and allow party members to
vote for party leaders and for their party’s candidates
for the general election. Generally primaries in Texas
are held in March of even numbered years.
A quick point about precincts – which were covered in the
section on elections in the state.
The precinct is the smallest political unit in the state. It has no
governing authority. It exists to help organize elections. Each
county commissioners court is responsible for carving each
county into a number of precincts where each election is actually
carried out. Harris County has about 1,000; Brazoria County has
about 60. The county appoints election judges to run each
election. Judges are nominated by each party’s county chair.
Whichever party’s gubernatorial candidate won the majority
vote in the precinct in the previous election gets to run the
election, but the party whose candidate came in second gets to
appoint an alternate judge that assists and oversees the election
judge. So each party has an official that gets to oversee the
elections in each precinct.
There are over 8,500 precincts in the
state of Texas.
The number varies since the design of
precincts can be malleable. This fact,
by the way, has led to the accusation
that the precincts are redrawn in order
to suppress voter turnout.
The drawing of election precincts is
covered in Title 4, Chapter 42 of
the Texas Election Code.
Section 42.001 establishes that this
is the responsibility of the county
commissioners court.
Click here for Brazoria County
Precinct Maps, and here for Harris
County Precinct Maps.
When you register to vote, in addition
to telling the county that you are
qualified to vote you are telling them
where you live, which tells them what
precinct you live in. This determines
where you can vote.
If you show up to vote, your name only
appears on a list in the designated
polling place.
If you show up to vote in a particular party’s primary
election, you are effectively declaring yourself to be a
member of that party for that electoral cycle. This is
true whether you are in fact a true identifier with that
party.
This means that you can help make fundamental
decisions for the party. Stories exist about members of
one party voting in bulk in the other party’s primary in
order to disrupt their organization. There is little real
evidence of this, or that these efforts are effective.
This is a key point: The process for establishing
both the temporary and permanent party
organization begins with the primary voter. We
cover primaries and what conditions apply for
voting in primaries elsewhere.
This connects each party to the rank and file at
the lowest level of government. This can create
opportunity for conflict between the rank and
file and the party leadership. For example, the
Tea Party used the position of precinct chair as a
way to exert influence on the Republican Party.
Primary voters do two things that
impact the temporary and permanent
party organization:
First, they vote for their precinct and
county chairs; Second, they have the
option to attend the precinct
convention that is held immediately
following the end of the election at the
site of the election.
Key point: By voting in the party
primary one has earned the right to
participate in the selection of party
officials, party candidates and the
content of the party’s platform.
If you do not participate, you
relinquish that right.
Here’s more detail on the
temporary party organization
In essence, the temporary party
organization is simply a series of
party conventions that begins with
one held just after the polls shut
down after the party primary has
been held.
The first is the Precinct Convention
This is a short meeting composed of interested
and involved primary voters. Any person who
votes in the party primary can participate in the
precinct convention. These begin soon after the
polls close and the votes are counted. If one can
prove they voted in that election, they can stick
around to participate. Click here for info from
the Wise County Republican Party.
The precinct convention is presided
over by the precinct chair – which
is part of the permanent party
organization discussed below.
Precinct chairs are responsible for
organizing the party at the precinct
level.
Two basic things happen in the
precinct convention.
First, resolutions are introduced, debated,
voted on and adopted that can then be
sent to the county or senatorial district
convention for further consideration.
These resolutions allow for rank and file
input over what the party stands for, what
issues they want the party to prioritize.
Second, delegates are selected to go on to
the county or senatorial district
convention.
In presidential years participants must
state their preferred presidential
candidate. Delegates to the county or
senatorial district conventions are selected
based on the support that each candidate
received in the precinct vote.
The delegates from the precinct are to be a
reflection of the relative strength of each
political faction in the precinct.
Conflict can result from this however and
some groups can walk out of the precinct
and present themselves on the next level
as the real delegates from the precinct.
Credentials committees are used to
determine which delegates from the
precinct are legitimate.
Important point: Participation in precinct
conventions is usually very low. 2% turnout
among primary voters is not unusual.
This allows a small determined minority of
the voters to dominate the conventions. If
they can do so in a number of precincts,
these groups can develop tremendous
influence in the party beyond their
numbers.
Internal partisan political conflict –
ideological or otherwise – often
begins at this level of organization.
Various factions can compete at
the precinct level to define what
the party stands for.
Another important point: Power
tends to be held by those who
understand the rules that govern
how precinct conventions work.
The Precinct Project exists to
encourage people to become more
involved at the precinct level. The
Texas Precincts page contains
information on how to get on the
ballot to be a precinct chair and
how the convention process works.
A quick word on clubs and
organizations would be worthwhile
here. Party organizations are
augmented by a variety of clubs which
help party identifiers participate in
party affairs and socialize with those
with similar views. Click here for a
broad description from the Texas
Democrats here and Republicans here.
These can be very influential.
The Tea Party began a local
organizations prior to receiving
support from national groups.
There are many area clubs and
organizations that provide similar
opportunities in Brazoria and Harris
Counties. You can finds links to area clubs
on the county party websites:
Brazoria County Democratic Party
Brazoria County Republican Party
Harris County Democratic Party
Harris County Republican Party
Clubs can be places where interested citizens
can learn the political process including the rules
governing party activities.
They also can influence elections by providing
endorsements for elected officials – especially in
the primary process when candidates are
competing against other party members. For an
example, click here for the endorsements page
of a 14th Court of Appeals candidate.
Next step:
The County or Senatorial District
Convention
Soon after precinct conventions,
county or senatorial district
conventions are held.
By law, these are normally held on
the second Saturday following the
precinct convention.
The Texas Republican Party website
has instructional videos on how to
run county conventions. Click here
to access it.
A quick clarifying point: Notice that some
conventions are county wide, while some
are held at the senatorial district.
This refers to an interesting conflict in the
organization of parties in the state. Some
organization is based on counties, some is
based on Texas senatorial districts – these
are the 31 districts that Texas’ state
senators are elected from.
County conventions are held in all but
the largest counties in the state – this
includes Harris, Bexar, Dallas and
Tarrant.
The reason is that these are very large
counties that contain more than one
senatorial districts within them.
In counties with smaller population –
those that are included among others
within a senatorial district – the
convention is held at the county level.
Notice that in each situation, the
convention is held in the smallest
political unit.
Here’s the map of area state senate districts.
Notice that Harris County has
several within it, but the
surrounding counties have only
one. Brazoria County has two, but
it holds a county convention
regardless.
County conventions are presided
over by the county chair.
Senatorial Conventions are
presided over by the chair of the
Senate district. Often this person is
closely affiliated with the Senator
that represents that district.
Historical note: County conventions were once
dominated by the county judge and his
supporters – or “machine” if you prefer. These
officials were sometimes referred to as party
bosses. The primary was instituted in part to
limit their control over the county party
apparatus.
Control over the county conventions lent itself
to control of much of the political process.
The same things that happen at the
precinct convention happens at this
level as well.
Resolutions from the precincts are
considered, and are adopted or
rejected. Those adopted are sent up to
the state convention. Delegates are
selected to go to the state convention.
The same political disputes that occurred at the
precinct level can also occur here.
Walkouts can also happen which lead to
conflicts over which resolutions and delegates
should be accepted at the state convention.
Again a credentials committee determines who
has the legitimate right to participate at the
state level.
Specific decisions on these matters
are made in a variety of
committees:
Credentials
Rules
Party Organization
Resolutions
Nominating
Then:
The State Convention
The major parties in the state hold
their conventions – generally – in
June of each even numbered year.
Here’s a rundown of what happens
at the state convention:
1 - They elect the state party
officers.
This means that members of the
temporary party organization hire
the members of the permanent
party organization.
2 - They elect the members of the
State Executive Committee, which is
part of the permanent party
organization and is composed of two
members from each of the 31
senatorial districts in the state.
Again, the temporary organization
selects the permanent organization.
3 – They adopt the party platform
These are based somewhat on the platforms
that the party had previously adopted, but
subject to change due to the resolutions
introduced across the state in the precinct
conventions held a couple months previously.
The “planks” of the state party platforms are
then proposed for the national party platform
when they meet during presidential election
years.
For recent party platforms:
2012 TDP Platform - Texas
Democratic Party
2012 REPUBLICAN PARTY OF TEXAS
- Texas Freedom Network
Note: The party platform is a
product of the influence of the
rank and file participants in the
party. It is not binding upon the
party’s candidate’s – though since
they reflect the wishes of the party
activists, candidate’s run great risks
if they ignore the platform.
4 – Certify to the Texas Secretary of
State’s office of the candidates
selected in the March primary. This
means that they qualify to be the
party’s nominees and are to appear on
the general ballot.
This is evidence that the state’s
election apparatus is tied into the
parties in the state.
In presidential election years, the
state conventions performs three
additional functions.
Each of those years, the primary is
more properly referred to as the
“presidential preference primary.”
1 – They elect the party nominees
from Texas to the national executive
committee.
The state’s influence over the national
party is based on how much
representation the party has in the
national executive committee.
2 – They nominate members to serve as
Texas’ presidential electors should their
party’s presidential candidate win the
majority vote in the state.
Remember that each state has the ability
to determine for itself how to select
presidential electors. Texas has 38 electors,
in case you were wondering, because it has
36 members of the House and 2 Senators.
3 – They select some of the delegates pledged to
presidential candidates to the national
convention.
The presidential preference primary is different
that the primary elections for other positions. It
is a system based – more or less – on
proportional representation. The preferences for
different candidates among party identifiers for
different presidential candidates determines
how many delegates are apportioned to each
candidate.
A quick point: As with the national
convention, the discretionary role of the
state convention in the electoral process
has been limited by the primary electoral
process. Party leaders have less discretion
in determining who delegates will support
for the presidency, and who will be able to
participate in the convention now than
when the state was run by party bosses.
The Texas Democratic and
Republican Parties do this
differently.
The Texas Republican Party selects all of its
delegates based on the basis of primary votes.
The Texas Democratic Party select just over half
of its delegates based on primary votes. A few
more are based on the results of the precinct,
county and district conventions, and the
remainder are “super delegates” that chosen by
elected and national party officials.
So the Republican Party process is
more strictly a primary system.
The Democratic Party process is
more a hybrid of a primary and
caucus system.
Its called the Texas Two Step
Click here for how it works
according to the Houston
Chronicle. And a link to Change the
Caucus, which hopes to change
how Democrats allocate delegates.
Here’s an explanation of the 2008
process from U.S. News and World
Report
“Today, they give us "the Texas Two-Step," a fun
electoral dance in Texas in which voters can participate
in both a primary and a caucus. Delegates are awarded
with a typically overly complicated Democratic twist.
Texans who decide to vote in the Democratic primary
can do so without being a registered Democrat. They
are able to vote during an early voting period, which
occurred February 19-29, or they can vote today. The
candidate who "wins" the Democratic Texas primary
will get a big chunk of the 126 delegates up for grabs.
But there are still an additional 67 delegates to be
distributed to the candidates through a multilayered
caucus process.
Those who have voted in the Texas Democratic primary
are eligible to take part in a caucus at their precinct
location this evening. Those caucuses will choose
delegates who will go on to a county/district
Democratic convention to be held on March 29. But it's
not over after that. Delegates at the county/district
convention will choose delegates to go on to a June 6
state convention in Austin. Those delegates will choose
how the 67 national delegates are split between the
candidates.”
After the conventions are over, the
temporary party organization is
dissipated.
Now let’s shift to the permanent
party organization
Here’s the graph again. Note the
part on the right hand column.
As mentioned above, this
organization is composed of the
officials who hold official positions
within the party between
elections.
They are selected by the
temporary party organization to
run the party.
We’ll start with the lowest level of
organization.
Here is the relevant part
highlighted again.
As with the temporary party
organization, the permanent party
organization is broken down into
precinct, county (no senatorial
districts), and state levels, in addition
to the national level.
And also – the basis of the permanent
party organization is the primary
election voter.
The primary voter – in addition to
the candidates for elected office elects both chair for their precinct,
and the county chair.
Again, the party structure rests on
the primary voter.
Let’s walk through the different
positions.
What is a precinct chair?
This office is at the bottom – or
grassroots level of the party structure.
It is closest to the voter. The person is
elected to a two year term. The race is
often uncontested – sometimes the
position is unfilled. The stronger the
party, the more active the precinct
chairs.
The goal of the precinct chair is to
organize party members in the
precinct and staying in touch with
known party members in the precinct.
This is easy to do by seeing who has
voted in the party primary elections.
They are responsible for voter
registration drives, get out the vote
efforts and are members of the
county’s executive committee.
Parties often have to recruit people to
serve as precinct chairs. Sometimes
this is difficult to do. Not all precincts
have chairs.
The strength of a party in an area of
the state can be determined by how
many precincts have competent chairs
organizing party activity.
Here’s a link to the list of
Democratic precinct chairs in
Brazoria County. And here’s a link
to the Republican precincts chairs
in the county – which includes all
the rest of the executive leadership
General comment.
Becoming a precinct chair is a great
way to become involved in the
political process.
Ron Paul calls the precinct chair
the most powerful office in
America.
The best way to become precinct
chair is through the county party of
your preference.
The only hitch is that precinct
chairs sometimes hold their offices
for long periods of time. Ineffective
chairs can be very damaging to a
political party however.
From the Texas Democratic Party:
Become a County of Precinct Chair.
Here’s similar info from the Harris
County Republican Party.
The next step up is the county
chairs.
What is a county chair?
The county chair is also elected to two year
terms in the party primary. This is a much
more active position. The county chair
presides over the county executive
committee, which is composed of all of the
precinct chairs in the county. It is the
county chair’s responsibility to ensure that
the party is competitive.
The county chair works with the county
commissioners court to organize primary
elections.
They appoint all of the primary election judges,
and determine voting locations. They oversee
the acceptance of candidates who have applied
to run for office under the party label and they
oversee the placement of names on the ballot.
They also are responsible for printing the ballot,
renting voting machines and hiring poll workers.
Note: County chairs have to be on the
lookout for candidates who might not
be party supporters. Sometimes one
party tries to undermine the others by
planting fake candidates in its races.
Hey this is Texas.
Removing someone from the ballot
can be very difficult though.
County chairs must certify to the
Texas Secretary of State’s office,
after each primary election, the
names of the official nominees of
the party for the general election.
Here are the area county chairs:
Brazoria County Republican Chair: Yvonne Dewey
Brazoria County Democratic Chair: Sue Funkhouser
Harris County Republican Chair: Jared Woodfill
Harris County Democratic Chair: Lane Lewis
Together the precinct chairs and the
county chairs comprise the County
Executive Committee (CEC).
The County Chairs presides over the
meetings. The CEC oversees party
business, receives filing fees and petitions
from primary candidates for county wide
office. They place names on the ballot and
arrange for the county and district
conventions.
Here’s a link to the agenda of a
meeting of the Brazoria County
Executive Committee dated June
20, 2013.
And a link to a page describing
resolutions passed in May 2013 by
the Harris County Republican
Party’s Executive Committee.
The State Chair and Vice Chair
The State Executive Committee
The highest level of party
organization in Texas is the state
executive committee (SEC).
These are composed of a party
chair and vice chair as well as two
committee persons from each of
the senatorial districts in the state.
One male, one female.
All are elected by the delegates to
the state conventions.
The chair of the Texas Democratic
Party is Gilberto Hinojosa, the vice
chair is Tarsha Hardy.
The chair of the Texas Republican
Party is Steve Munisteri, the vice
chair is Melinda Fredricks.
Each party has an State Executive
Committee.
Click here for the SDEC, and here
for the SREC.
All these officials are elected in the
state party convention.
The purpose of the committees is
to certify statewide primary
candidates, organize the party
conventions, promote the party
and raise money for the party.