The Texas Political System: Last Man Standing

Texas demographics are changing in a rapid pace and we see many correlations in the Texas political system. The growing trend is the Latino population and the growth of the Democratic Party in Texas with it. The Republican Party has been dominant for the last 30 years and it widely known as a one party state. The times are changing and we are seeing more democratic leaders across Texas. Last Man Standing took place in a very conservative district in the year 2002. It was very surprising to see the republican incumbent be defeated by the democratic challenger in Last Man Standing. According to the documentary (Last Man Standing,) he was the only democratic to beat a republican incumbent in the whole state. When the documentary took place Texas was still

much a republican state, but it showed that it was possible for swing districts to go democratic.
The Democratic Party is popular among the minority people and in 2015 they made up for forty-seven percent of Texas’ population (“Latinos will surpass whites as largest racial”.) A big problem for democratic politicians in Texas is that there is low voter turnout amongst young people and minorities.

This make it hard for democrats to win elections in Texas. This was the case with Governor hopeful Tony Sanchez; He was a Mexican American democratic candidate that was running against Rick Perry(R). In 2002 Democrats focused heavily on race and used democrat Ron Kirk and believed they had a multicultural “dream ballot”. Tony Sanchez was hoping to be the first Mexican American governor of Texas however he fell short and lost to Rick Perry despite spending twice as much as his Republican opponent. This goes to show how strong Republicans in Texas really are and how hard it is to get young people and minorities to vote. Patrick Rose was up against tough competition many questioned his age, experience, and his traditional values. Even though Rick Green was a Republican and the favorite to win the election he had a major ethical problem which open the door for Patrick rose. Rick green was accused of mismanagement of state funds because he was doing supplement commercials in his state office funded by tax payer money. That was not the only problem Rick Green had a connection with a convicted

felon that orchestrated a Ponzi scheme. Rick Green had represented the guy in his hearing and accepted $400,000 from the convicted felon’s company. This gave Patrick Rose a legitimate chance to compete against Rick Green. Since Patrick Rose was a democrat he had his back against the wall and he need to do everything possible to catch up to his opponent. It seemed like Patrick Rose focused more on having a personal connection with the people from district 45 while Rick Green heavily relied on his party affiliation and his religious conviction. This was noticeable when Patrick Rose was going door to door campaigning and he honestly believed that would be the way to win the race. Texas is widely known as a “Bush” state since the Bush family was so popular. This made running against a Texas republican extra difficult since the Republican had bush’s endorsement.
District 45, also known as Dripping Springs was known as a swing district which meant that it was unclear which party was going to win the election since it changes every other election. It was culturally diverse, but it was still known as dominated by republicans. It was relatively small district having only 1788 people (Wikipedia). This is an interesting district because it is in the middle of Texas’ 3 biggest cities. While Texas is known as a Republican state the 3 largest cities are known to me more liberal than the rest of the country. There is a large population of minorities in all 3 cities which makes them more democratic than the rest of Texas. This documentary showed the people of dripping spring and it did a good job of showing the diversity in the district since it interviewed people from all types or races. It was good on showing that most white people where campaigning for the republicans and minorities for the democrats.
Everything was pointing against Patrick Rose he was young, no experience, and wasn’t a Republican. Yet he still managed to win the election. Even with all the trends in Texas it is still surprising that he managed to win. He overcame all odds and beat the incumbent Republican.
One strong point in Rick Green’s campaign was his religious conviction. He was very popular around the district in small suburban churches. Religion is so important in elections especially in more traditional and conservative states like Texas. People care about religion so much because it really outlines the candidates’ views on certain controversial topics, such as abortion and gay marriage. This is why it’s so important for candidates to say they have strong religious ties. It is a good demographic to go after since religious people are more likely to go out and vote to support their opinions. They can be very stubborn and passionate over certain issues and that could definitely help a candidate. Some people feel so strongly about religion they would vote or not vote for a certain candidate just based on their religious views. The Republicans do play this card a lot especially since they are appealing to a more traditional and older demographic. Throughout human history mankind has been at war for religious reasons. We just can’t accept the fact that some people think differently from us. Americans don’t go to war over religion, but we do fight with politics. This is extremely visible in my area since I live Texas. There are many churches in spring and they are very influential in politics. They usually endorse a certain candidate and he becomes very popular.
I am Christian, but I don’t really Religion should be a factor in choosing your vote. Many candidates like to take advantage of the religious card and some people are just too ignorant to see behind their lies. In “The Last Man Standing” Rick Green really stood behind his religious conviction, but he had a major ethics problem. Being religious does not make you a good person. A politician should just focus on what is best for the people they represent and not on trying to con people with religion. So many people are obsessed with the religion of candidates that they overlook some key issues in his policy. In the end the politician is the one that is going to make choices for you not the religion. Many religions have very traditional views and only appeal to certain group of people. This is bad when politicians are making decisions for a group of people based on religion when not everybody shares the same views. I think there should be a separation of church and state. We live in a great country where you are not persecuted based on your religion and everybody is free to practice any religion you want. History has thought us when you mix religion with politics you get radicals and wars start. We are currently seeing this in the Middle East and it currently filled with war. Many of those countries have a national religion and people are forced to practice that religion or else they are put in jail or are killed. It’s never a good idea to mix politics and religion.
Personally I do not believe that religion makes a politician good or bad. I judge a politician based on his ethics and policies. It might be naïve of me but I don’t think there should be a party system in politics or religion. It seems crazy to me how a voter can vote for as candidate solely based on his region or party affiliation. Both major parties have extreme views on certain things and I believe that including parties and religion into politics is counterintuitive in out progression as human beings. Politicians should pay more attention to the people they serve and not what benefits their party or religion. Humans will always disagree in certain topics, but parties makes it difficult to come to compromises since they are super stubborn. This leads to nothing getting done and no real progression happens to help Americans. For the same reason it is so hard for president to do anything if he doesn’t have full support in congress and he usually doesn’t if he doesn’t belong to the majority party.
Patrick Rose was the perfect Democratic representative for district 45. Even though he was a democrat he was not liberal in his policies. He tried to connect with his republican audience by saying he’s a Christian, NRA member, and he believes in the moment of silence. It was important for Patrick Rose to attempt and reach to some of the Republican voters and I believe that was the main reason for his victory. He had help getting elected from the biggest newspaper in dripping springs endorsing him to Rick Green’s ethical investigations turning off many voters. This election was more than 10 years ago but we can see many trends that are happening today. Soon the minority population will surpass the white population here in Texas and we will see more democrat representatives all across Texas.