Texas Political Party Structure

Although neither the U.S. Constitution nor the Texas Constitution mentions political parties, these organizations are an integral part of the American governmental process.  A political party can be defined as a combination of people and interests whose primary purpose is to gain control of government by winning elections. Political parties (often aligned with political clubs, political action committees, etc) are chiefly concerned with the recruitment, nomination, and election of individuals to governmental office.  As mandated by the Texas Election Code, the political parties are the foundation of the state's governmental and judicial systems.  


American political parties exist on four levels: national, state, county, and precinct. In part, these levels correspond to the organization of the federal system of government in the United States. Whereas a corporation is organized as a hierarchy, with a chain of command that makes each level directly accountable to the level above it, a political party is organized as a stratarchy in which power is diffused among and within levels of the party organization.

Each major party is loosely organized, so that state and local party organizations are free to decide their positions on party issues. State- and local-level organizations operate within their own spheres of influence, separate from one another. Although these levels of the two major parties are encouraged to support national party policies, this effort is not always successful.

In Texas, as throughout the United States, the Democratic and Republican parties are the two leading political parties. State election laws have contributed to the continuity of the two-party system. These laws specify that a general election is won by the candidate who receives the largest number of votes (a plurality) without a runoff.

As mandated by the Texas Election Code, Texas’s two major parties are alike in structure. Each has permanent and temporary organizational structures.


The temporary party organization consists of primaries and conventions in which members of the major political parties select candidates for public office. Permanent organization of each state party is made up of:

1. State party officers and a state executive committee, elected every two years by state convention delegates; and 
2. County Chairs and Precinct Chairs, elected by popular vote in each party's county primary elections, who together comprise county executive committee. 

Temporary Party Organization constituted under Texas Election Laws and Party Rules

Each convention is a "temporary" event because they are not ongoing party activities. Conventions are held by each party every even numbered year starting shortly after primary election day. 

Rules of the Texas Democratic and Republican parties mandate that party policy be determined at their conventions. This is done by passing resolutions, in both local and state conventions, and adopting a platform at the state conventions. A party’s platform is a document that sets forth the party’s position on current issues.

In presidential election years, conventions at each level select delegates who advance to the party’s national convention to select the party's nominees for president and vice president of the United States.

County and District Conventions

State law requires that both county conventions and district conventions occur the third Saturday after the precinct conventions, normally 11 days after the primary election. However, if that Saturday is during Passover or Easter weekend, the conventions are held the next Saturday in which neither religious holiday occurs. District conventions, rather than a single-county convention, are held in heavily populated counties (such as Harris, Dallas, Travis, Tarrent, Collin, and Bexar) that have more than one state senatorial district within or crossing their county's borders. 

The main business of county and district conventions is to elect delegates to the state convention. Under the rules for each party, county and district conventions may select one delegate to the state convention for every so many votes cast in the county or district for the party’s gubernatorial nominee in the last general election. The "every so many votes cast" formula is set by the state executive committee.

Rules of the Democratic Party allow state delegates to be selected by precinct delegations. If not all state delegate positions are filled in this manner, the county or district convention’s nominations committee proposes the remaining state delegates, subject to selection by the county or district convention delegates. These delegates consider resolutions submitted from the party’s precinct conventions. The resolutions adopted at this level then go to the party’s state convention for consideration. 

State Conventions

In June of even-numbered years, each Texas political party must hold a biennial state convention to conduct party business. State conventions occur over a two-day period. Delegates to a party’s state convention elect a chairperson to preside over the convention and a secretary to record the proceedings. Additionally, delegates conduct the following business:

• Certify to the secretary of state the names of party members nominated in the March and April primaries for Texas elective offices (or by convention if no primary was held)
• Write the rules that will govern the party
• Draft and adopt a party platform
• Adopt resolutions regarding issues too specific to be included in the party platform
• Select members of the party’s state executive committee In presidential election years, the June convention delegates also perform the following three functions:
• Elect delegates to the national presidential nominating convention (the total number for Texas is calculated under national party rules)
• Elect members from Texas to serve on the party’s national committee
• Elect a slate of potential presidential electors to cast Texas’s electoral votes if the party’s ticket wins a plurality of the state’s popular presidential vote 

Selection of delegates to a national party convention depends on their support for particular candidates for the party’s presidential nomination. In a presidential preference primary, rank-and-file party members can vote directly for the presidential candidates of their choice. Primary voting is by precinct. Delegates to the party’s national convention are chosen according to the results of the primary vote.

The respective national conventions nominate the parties’ candidates for president and vice president. In many states, parties select delegates to a national convention in caucuses. Party members assemble in caucuses at the respective precinct, county, and state levels. In Texas, parties choose national convention delegates who either are pledged to support a particular presidential candidate or are uncommitted.

National delegates include those selected by state senatorial district, those selected on an at-large basis, and super delegates (unpledged party and elected officials). 

Permanent Political Party Organization, constituted under Texas Election Laws

Each major political party in the United States consists of thousands of virtually autonomous executive committees at local, state, and national levels. For both Democrats and Republicans, these executive committees nationwide are linked only nominally. At the highest level, each party has a national committee.  In Texas, the precinct chairs, together with the county, district, and state executive committees, comprise the permanent organizations of the state parties. The role of the permanent party organization is to recruit candidates, devise strategies, raise funds, distribute candidate literature and information, register voters, and turn out voters on election day.

Level One

The first level in the framework of the party organization is the election precinct, supervised by the Precinct Chair, who serves as a member of the County Executive Committee and is elected every two years by a majority of the qualified election precinct voters in the party primary election. The election precinct is the smallest unit of the party organization, often referred to as “the grassroots” level.

Any qualified voter in the precinct may become a candidate for Precinct Chair by filing the appropriate application with the party’s County Chair during a designated period preceding the election. The party office of Precinct Chair is a non-salaried position.

Level Two

The second level in the framework of the party organization is the County Executive Committee, composed of all the elected or appointed Precinct Chairs and the County Chair, who is elected every two years by a majority of the qualified county voters in the party primary election.

A qualified voter of the county may become a candidate for County Chair by filing the appropriate application with the party’s County Chair during a designated period preceding the election. The party office of County Chair is a non-salaried position. The Executive Committee conducts the business of the party according to the county party bylaws and Texas Election Laws.  The Executive Committee also oversees the conduct of the primary elections, establishes general policy, conducts fund-raising activities, fills Precinct Chair vacancies, promotes the party’s nominees in the general election, coordinates precinct activities and mobilizes voter turnout on behalf of the party’s candidates.

Persons seeking to be a party's nominee for the November general election ballot for local office must submit an application to the county chair requesting to have their name placed on the party's primary election ballot, which the county executive committee vote to approve. 

Level Three

The third level in the framework of the party organization is the District Executive Committee, established for each district from which an official of the federal or state government (U. S. Congress, State Judicial, State Senate, State House of Representatives, etc.) is elected.

The District Committee for a District wholly situated within a county consists of the County Executive Committee; for a District comprising only part of a county, the Committee consists of the Precinct Chairs of the county’s election precincts in the District; and for a District situated in more than one county, the Committee consists of the County Chair of each county wholly situated in the District and a Precinct Chair from each county that is only partly situated in the District, elected by and from among the Precinct Chairs of the election precincts in that part of the county.

The Chair of the State Senatorial District Committee also serves as the Chair for the biennial Senatorial District Convention. The District Committee’s primary responsibilities are filling vacancies in a nomination or making nominations for an unexpired term in a district office, usually created by withdrawal of a candidate or death of a nominee. (see Texas Democratic Party Convention System)

Level Four

The fourth and highest level in the framework of the party organization is the State Executive Committee, composed of sixty-four members - one man and one woman from each of the state’s thirty-one (31) Senatorial Districts, a Chair and a Vice-Chair. The members representing the State Senatorial Districts are elected by the biennial state convention delegates from their respective Districts and the Chair and Vice-Chair are elected by a majority of all the convention delegates.  If the Chair is a woman, the Vice-Chair must be a man, and visa versa.

The State Executive Committee conducts the business of the state party organization. It is responsible for establishing party rules, conduct of the statewide primary elections and the state convention, fund-raising, candidate recruitment, promoting party nominees, voter turnout activities, political organization and maintenance of cooperative relations with the national party committee.

Persons seeking to be a party's nominee for the November general election ballot for state-wide office must submit an application to the state chair requesting to have their name placed on the party's primary election ballot in every county.