Even then, Texas had a Democratic governor in the '80's & 90's and a Democratic Senator until 1993. What caused a Blue state to turn so Red?

...pure Texas bullshit...

See: Governor G.W. Bush and Governor Rick A(hole) Perry for more in-depth answers...

.. and it really HURT.

a revolving door of party chairs, a state committee that is more an elite club than leadership. And it goes from there down to many local levels.

The Democratic party is weak and lukewarm here.

Bill White should have slaughtered Rick Perry for governor,
but there just wasn't much of a campaign there. I know
because I went to the Austin headquarters for a month
to phonebank, and it was ridiculous.

The party hasn't won a statewide seat since Bob Slagle was chair of the TDP. Slagle was the best chair I ever remember.

Slagle resigned in the middle of his term when Bill White (that Bill White) circulated a letter and got several influential people to sign off on it saying Slagle needed to resign. White was elected TDP chair by the SDEC. Under White the party fell apart. He moved on and a revolving door of chairs led to weaker and weaker leadership.

Rather than have an orderly succession and waiting to run against Slagle at the convention, White came back from DC, thought he was owed something and overthrew Slagle. This is why I was less than enthusiastic about White running for governor.

OTOH, white did a great job as mayor of Houston and was an wxcellent candidate. But I'll never forgive White for what he did to the TDP.

Openly recruiting all the white racists in the South into the Republican party.

Tom Delay was a big part of that...and then there was Bush.

n/t

The New Deal Coalition pretty much began splintering apart after the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the the movement for more social freedoms as well as the anti-war movement against Viet Nam. All of these essentially meant the base of voters that gave rise to the New Deal Democrats had split apart along socially liberal and socially conservative lines and along racial lines, and the lines exist to this day.

Since the split, the divide has seemingly become entrenched. Propaganda after the Fairness Doctrine was removed only helped cement those in the working class who vote for Republicans into place with the idea that minorities are out to take away their country and their jobs. In reality, they have more in common with poor blacks and poor hispanics than they do with the wealthy 1%, but good propaganda has shown time and time again that people can be made to do the bidding of the elites.

A great deal of the bigoted-wing of the Democratic Party abandoned the party for the Republicans once Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act.

The state's rightward turn was sharp in the 60s. While Humphrey won the state in the '68 election, it was mostly because Wallace took 18% of the vote there. Hump won the state 41-39 over Hump - while four years earlier, LBJ carried the state 63-36. In '72, Nixon and his Southern Strategy, won the state 66-33 - or even a larger margin than LBJ carried in his landslide eight years earlier. Carter briefly was able to break through there, but that was temporary and only because he was a Southerner.

yee haw

They decided the ONLY way they could change America was from the bottom up. they decided they needed to control every small election, from dogcatcher to school board, to mayor and so on.. They did exactly that and look what has happened to America...It has gone batshit crazy...

did you see the cartoon the Tx goppers did, it was hilarious!

Texas can be won if Hillary or Brian Schweitzer were to be the candidate.

Schweitzer is a non-issue, the guy has no electability nationally for the same reasons he's popular back home.

I've covered it enough times before and don't need to rehash but I'm not kidding...I will leave the Democratic Party if Hillary Clinton is ever our nominee for President. It's taken too long to get the Democratic Party back on the right track, even if we're not yet back to as liberal as I'd like. No more Center-Right Democrats ever again. She's done a good job as S of S but that's as high as I hope she ever goes.

It is also not the most reliable red state. It's solidly red, for sure. But it's not dark red, like Louisiana and I think a couple of other southern states.

My county, for instance - Dallas County - is blue. So is the Austin area.

The Bushes live here, so that sealed the Republican deal for awhile, altho it was Republican before then. But Bush won the governorship by claiming to be bipartisan, work across the aisle, compassionate (none of which he was), AND he was a bit successful in appealing to hispanics

The state has only voted Democratic once since the '72 election and that was Carter in '76. Nixon won it. Reagan won it twice. Bush won it twice. Dole won it. Bush won it twice. McCain won it and Romney will win it.

nation in 1980, so TX voted how even blue states did.

That means it only voted Republican when it logically could have easily voted Democratic in:

1984 (Reagan's 2nd term)
1996 Clinton (Dole)
2008 Obama (McCain)

But yeah, it's easier to get Dems on a local level in pockets. But we've elected Perry quite a few times! Go figure.

As opposed to Louisiana, right next door, which is dark red. I guess because when Republicans win there, it's a landslide, but it's more balanced here in TX.?

...favor of course because the USSC aint worth shit.

Tarrant county will turn blue, in less than generation and Fort Worth will fall...

The DNC leadership in the state is crazy lazy, change them and go after baggers ...

Texas has the demographics to go blue

I am thankful for that, living here. I think Texas becoming a swing state will happen sooner than later.

Saw my first Republican primary place ever in 1980. Hardly anyone voted Republican. Oh, we had our a smattering here and there, but they were rare. Reagan and the radical right set the stage for many Texans to switch their party affiliation, including my congressman and family friend Ralph Hall, who changed from Dem To Rep. in the 90s.

And I agree with you. 2016 will see inroads, but give it another four years after that. A lot of old, radical right wingers will be dying off or dead by then.

in 2016, for that to happen!