Political Changes In Texas

Texas was not always the conservative and mainly Republican state as most people know it to be today. Before the 1970s, Texas was predominantly Democratic. For many years before the 70s very few Republicans were elected or held office. However, that all began to change. During the 70s and 80s there were a lot of people migrating into Texas. These people heard about the money they could make off of Texas’s farm land, cattle industry, oil and steel industry. These people had a little bit more money than the average person in Texas and brought a long a different set of beliefs with them. With this inflow of people came a demographic change for Texas. This was just the beginning of the change that was about to take place. The Democratic Party becoming more liberal, the economic downfalls, Texas’s change in demographic makeup and the Election of William Clements were all things that set in motion the shift to a more Republican Texas. It is highly unlikely that Texas will ever return to being a Democratic state again. What paved the way for the Republicans to take such a victory was the demographic change of Texas, the change in the Democratic Party and the economic downfalls that took place. The Democratic Party had two different sides to itself before the 70s. The Republican Party …show more content…
After such a large demographic change Texas underwent, something very drastic would have to happen to change the conservative ways of most Texans. A Conservative Democratic wing would have to surface again in Texas politics for there to be such a change. Also, there are fears that there would be another economic catastrophe if Democratic returned to office. The memory of the crash of the energy industry, rising unemployment and the Sharpstown Scandal still remain in Texan’s memories. Today, most of Texas is conservative and enjoys the ways of the Republican Party. Something very drastic would have to occur for that to