In November 1960, the Democratic party dominated Texas. The newly elected vice president, Lyndon Johnson, was a Texan. Democrats held all thirty statewide elective positions. The state legislature had 181 Democrats and no Republicans or anyone else. Then fast forward fifty years to November 2010. Texas has not voted for a Democratic president since 1976. Every statewide elective office is held by Republicans. Representing Texas in Washington is a congressional delegation of twenty-five Republicans and nine Democrats. Republicans control the Texas Senate by a margin of nineteen to twelve and the Texas House of Representatives by 101 to 49.
Red State explores why this transformation of Texas politics took place and what these changes imply for the future. As both a political scientist and a Republican party insider, Wayne Thorburn is especially qualified to explain how a solidly one-party Democratic state has become a Republican stronghold. He analyzes a wealth of data to show how changes in the state's demographics—including an influx of new residents, the shift from rural to urban, and the growth of the Mexican American population—have moved Texas through three stages of party competition, from two-tiered politics, to two-party competition between Democrats and Republicans, and then to the return to one-party dominance, this time by Republicans. His findings reveal that the shift from Democratic to Republican governance has been driven not by any change in Texans' ideological perspective or public policy orientation—even when Texans were voting Democrat, conservatives outnumbered liberals or moderates—but by the Republican party's increasing identification with conservatism since 1960.

Red State: An Insider's Story of How the GOP Came to Dominate Texas Politics (Jack and Doris Smothers Series Texas History, Life, and Culture)

History

Thorburn, Wayne

Americas

University of Texas Press

The education/political action organization Young Americans for Freedom, founded in 1960, helped forge the growing conservative movement into a political force that seized control of a party, elected one of their own to the presidency and, in the process, changed the world. This is the first comprehensive history of YAF, from which also came 27 members of Congress, eight U.S. Circuit Court judges, a Vice President of the United States, governors, numerous media figures and journalists, college presidents and professors, authors and many of the leaders of the major conservative organizations in the United States today.Following its founding fifty years ago, hundreds of thousands of students were first influenced by YAF in high schools and on college campuses, next leading to their involvement in the 1964 Goldwater campaign, the successful U.S. Senate campaign of James Buckley in New York, and eventually the 1980 presidenial campaign and administration of Ronald Reagan.Praised by prominent historians and journalists , this book will come to be regarded as an essential resource for an understanding of 20th Century American politics.

A Generation Awakes: Young Americans for Freedom and the Creation of the Conservative Movement

Jameson Books

Red State: An Insider's Story of How the GOP Came to Dominate Texas Politics (Jack and Doris Smothers Series in Texas History, Life, and Culture)

Product Description 
On July 4, 1867, a group of men assembled in Houston to establish the Republican Party of Texas. Combatting entrenched statewide support for the Democratic Party and their own internal divisions, Republicans struggled to gain a foothold in the Lone Star State, which had sided with the Confederacy and aligned with the Democratic platform. In The Republican Party of Texas, Wayne Thorburn, former executive director of the Texas GOP, chronicles over one hundred and fifty years of the defeats and victories of the party that became the dominant political force in Texas in the modern era. 
Thorburn documents the organizational structure of the Texas GOP, drawing attention to prominent names, such as Harry Wurzbach and George W. Bush, alongside lesser-known community leaders who bolstered local support. The 1960s and 1970s proved a watershed era for Texas Republicans as they shored up ideological divides and elected the first Republican governor and more state senators and congressional representatives than ever before. From decisions about candidates and shifting allegiances and political stances, to race-based divisions and strategic cooperation with leaders in the Democratic Party, Thorburn unearths the development of the GOP in Texas to understand the unique Texan conservatism that prevails today. 
 Review \nStudents of American politics will find Thorburn’s history valuable. 
 ― 
Kirkus Published On: 2021-03-30\n[A] granular blow-by-blow account...Political historians will appreciate the fine-grained details. 
 ― 
Publishers Weekly Published On: 2021-03-19\nIn presenting a long timeline with pivotal turning points, [Thorburn] offers a panoramic view of Lone Star politics...Thorburn aims for a deeply-researched take on how Republicans were for a long time the underdogs, striving for a definitive 'two-party' state until they gained dominance. 
 ― 
Sightlines Published On: 2021-08-10\nThorburn’s book is most useful as a tightly organized, semi-official record of the party’s growth in Texas, written with apparent evenhandedness by a major participant in the state GOP. More significantly for non-Texans, it’s useful as a stimulus to reflection on the nature of partisan dominance and its potential decay or reversal. 
 ― 
Law & Liberty Published On: 2021-09-06 
 Review \nWith a sure hand and a keen eye, Wayne Thorburn details the peculiar evolution of the Texas Republican Party, as it moved from 'relative irrelevance' to dominance of Lone Star politics. 
 -- Kenneth Heineman, professor of history and global security studies, Angelo State University 
 About the Author 
Wayne Thorburn is a former executive director of the Republican Party of Texas and the author of Red State: An Insider’s Story of How the GOP Came to Dominate Texas Politics and A Generation Awakes: Young Americans for Freedom and the Creation of the Conservative Movement.

The Republican Party of Texas: A Political History

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Thorburn, Wayne. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Thorburn, Wayne

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Thorburn, Wayne. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Red State: An Insider's Story of How the GOP Came to Dominate Texas Politics (Jack and Doris Smothers Series Texas History, Life, and Culture)

A Generation Awakes: Young Americans for Freedom and the Creation of the Conservative Movement

Red State: An Insider's Story of How the GOP Came to Dominate Texas Politics (Jack and Doris Smothers Series in Texas History, Life, and Culture)

The Republican Party of Texas: A Political History