Texas is a diverse state with numerous political views and interests. The Lone Star State has seen its fair share of political battles over the years, from the divisive Presidential races to local school board elections. As one of the largest states in the country, Texas politics are complex and often contested. The Republican Party hold sway in statewide office, but there are some prominent Democrats who have made their presence felt in state government as well. Local elections tend to be more diverse than statewide contests, with candidates from all sides vying for office to represent their constituents’ needs and values. Political organizations both large and small work tirelessly to make sure their voices are heard at all levels of government. With so much on the line each election season, Texas voters take an active role in ensuring that their voices are heard loud and clear.
The political climate in Texas is leaning conservative.
In Texas 46.4% of the people voted for the Democratic Party in the last presidential election, 52.0% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.6% voted for an Independent Party.
In the last Presidential election, Texas remained moderately Republican, 52.0% to 46.4%.
Texas voted Republican in the previous six Presidential elections.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Texas is leaning conservative.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index is based on recent voting in national elections, federal campaign contributions by local residents, and consumer personality profiles.
VoteWord™
Displaying 20 years of Presidential voting, visualized in one word.
Texas, Texas: R R R R r r
How It Works:
Here at BestPlaces, we were looking at the voting patterns since the 2000 election and realized that we could express the results of each election as one letter. R if the Republican Party candidate won, D for the Democrat and I for the Independent. The six elections (2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020) would be expressed as six-letter word (R R D R R R).
Then we went a little further and added the dimension of magnitude. If the difference of victory was greater than 10 percent, the letter is upper case, and lower case if the difference was less than 10 percent. This allows us to see interesting voting patterns at just a glance.
Here's the VoteWord for Iowa d r d d r r. In the last six elections the state has been closely contested, voting narrowly for the Republican Party candidate in 2016 and 2020 after voting for the Democratic Party in 2008 and 2012. Virginia (r r d d d D) has voted for the Democratic Party in the last four elections.
Individual Campaign Contributions in Texas
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 985,874 contributions totaling $169,063,424 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $171 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 451,107 contributions totaling $344,647,880 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $764 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)