Texas Almanac, 1949-1950 Page: 454
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TEXAS POLITICS-POLITICAL PARTIES
The political policies pursued in Texas and
the officialdom of state and practically all
local offices, as well as Texas' Senators and
Representatives in the National Congress, are
decided in the conventions and primary elec-
tions of the Democratic party. The Demo-
cratic party. headed by the *Democratic
State Executive Committee, is dominant in
political affairs. Texas is a one-party state.
And Texas is politically the most influential
of the members of the Solid South.
Texas' one-party political one-sidedness
and its one-crop (cotton) economic one-sided-
ness have been more than coincidence. Both
came out of the Old South whence came
most early Texas settlers. Political one-sided-
ness arose in large measure from the
economic one-sidedness. The one-crop system
has given way to a diversified agriculture.
One-party dominance remains.
First and Second Primaries.
The two-primary election system of selec-
tion of party nominees is followed, by statu-
tory mandate. Any party whose candidate
for Governor polls as many as 200,000 votes
must hold primary elections in the next suc-
ceeding political biennium. The first primary
is held the fourth Saturday in July, the
second, or runoff, primary on the fourth Sat-
urday in August, in even numbered years.
The second primary is held only for those
contests in the first primary in which no can-
didate receives a majority of the total vote.
When no candidate receives a majority, the
two leading candidates only enter the second
primary, regardless of the number of candi-
dates in the first primary.
Parties not holding primaries choose candi-
dates in convention.
Twice in the past the Republican party in
Texas has polled sufficient vote to require it
to hold popular pr. maries, first in 1926 and
again In 1934, because of the large vote polled
by its nominees, George C. Butte in the elec-
tion of 1924 and Orville Bullington in the
election of 1932. The Republicans would have
been required to hold a primary in 1946 be-
cause their nominee, B. J. Peasley, received
100,287 votes in 1944. At that time the holding
of a popular primary was mandatory on any
party whose nominee for Governor had re-
ceived as much as 100,000 votes in the next
preceding election. However, the Forty-ninth
Legislature, 1945, amended the law to raise
the number to 200,000.
First Primary in 1906.
Prior to the election of 1906 all Democratic
nominations were made in convention. In that
year a cumbersome twofold popular primary-
convention system was used in the selection
of candidates, but the law was amended and
the straight popular primary was first held
In 1908. (See pp. 479-480.) With the primary
elections of 1918, the law providing for first
and second primaries became effective,.
Few Democratic Party Reverses.
The Democratic party has won all major
political contests with the exception of the
defeat of Hardin R. Runnels (Democrat) by
Sam Houston (Know-Nothing) in the race for
Governor in 1859 (see p. 139). and the de-
feat in Texas of Al Smith by Herbert Hoover
in the presidential contest of 1928; and even
In these instances personal factors and un-
common political distractions rather than
political party loyalty were the cause.
*The party committee in Texas has traditionally
been called the State Democratic Executive Com-
mittee, reversing the order of the first two words
as customarily used in most states and in the
Democratic National and Republican National
Committees. In 1944, the committee officially
adopted the order given above, putting "'Demo-
cratic" ahead of "State." This official prefer-
ence is used in the Texas Almanac though, popu-
larly, the order "State Democratic" persists.The same can be said also of the several
serious but unsuccessful threats against
Democratic party domination, including the
large vote cast by George C. Butte (Republi-
can) in 1924 and by Orville Bullington (Re-
publican) in 1932 in their races against Mrs.
Miriam A. Ferguson (see p. 146).
The only serious threat to Democratic party
domination was that of the Populist, or Peo-
ple's party, which reached its peak of
strength in the election of 1896 when its
nominee, J. C. Kearby, lost to Charles A.
Culberson in the gubernatorial race by the
relatively narrow margin of 298,528 to 238,692.
(See p. 143.) For a number of years before
and after this election the Populist party was
a serious contender.
Republican Party Strength.
The strength of the minority Republican
party in Texas is difficult to estimate because
of the practice of many persons of voting
Republican only on presidential election
years.
In 1948. a presidential election year, Deno-
cratic Nominee Beauford H. Jester polled
1,024,160 against Alvin Lane (Republican)
with 177,399. Senatorial Nominee Lyndon
Johnson (Democrat) polled 702,985 against
Jack Porter (Republican), 349,665. This rela-
tively higher Republican vote in the sena-
torial race, however, was partly a protest
Democratic vote resulting from the bitter
contest in the Democratic primaries. (See
p. 459.)
In other than presidential election years
the Republican vote is usually much smaller.
In 1946 its candidate for Governor received
33,231 votes.
The strength of parties in Texas, other
than Democratic and Republican, Is negli-
gible. In 1948 candidates of the Progressive
(Henry A. Wallace) and Prohibition parties
had a scattered vote. In other recent years
small votes have been polled for nominees of
the Socialist, America First and Communist
parties.
Acts of Fifty-first Legislature.
The political calendar of Texas can pos-
sibly, though not necessarily, be changed by
statutes passed and constitutional amend-
ments submitted by the Fifty-first Legisla-
ture in 1949. The two statutes that might af-
fect the Texas election and political party
procedure are as follows:
HB 3 provides for the appointment of a
commission to revise, digest and recodify all
election laws. The work of this commission
will not, of course, be completed in time to
affect the Political Calendar for 1950, begin-
ning on p. 456, but it might radically affect
political party and election procedure for
following years.
HB 37 provides for a general registration
system for all voters at all elections. How-
ever, it is to become effective only in event
(1) the National Congress passes a statute
voiding the requirement that a poll tax re-
ceipt will be necessary for voting in federal
elections, (2) an amendment to the State
Constitution is adopted voiding the require-
ment of a poll tax receipt as a certificate of
registration for voting, or (3) the Legislature
should by statute change the poll tax re-
quirements. Adoption of one of the amend-
ments mentioned below would make this stat-
ute effective.
The two amendments, which would affect
the political calendar, submitted to the peo-
ple subject to election Nov. 8, 1949, are (1)
SJR 1, abolishing the poll tax as a require-
ment for voting, which would make HB 37
(see above) effective, and (2) HJR 5 which
provides for annual sessions of Legislature.
This would affect only those notations in the
political calendar relating to convening dates
for Legislature.
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Texas Almanac, 1949-1950, book, 1949; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117167/m1/456/: accessed May 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.