The Republican Party continued to make gains in the early 1990s. Texas House Agriculture Committee Chairman Rick Perry won an unexpected victory in the race for Agriculture Commissioner in 1990. That same year, John Cornyn was elected to the Texas Supreme Court, and former state legislator Kay Bailey Hutchison took office as state treasurer. In 1993, Hutchison became the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from Texas.
In 1994, George H.W. Bush would become only the second Republican governor since Reconstruction to defeat the popular Democrat Ann Richards. Rick Perry and Kay Hutchison would hold on to their positions in the state, and Austin’s first female mayor, Carol Keeton Strayhorn, would become the first woman elected to the Texas Railroad Commission. That year, Republicans also gained three seats in the Texas House and picked up another seat in the Texas Senate.
Two years later, Republicans would gain an additional three seats in the Texas Senate, giving the GOP a majority in that body for the first time since Reconstruction. In 1996, seven new Republican legislators would also be sent to Austin, and voters would return Phil Gramm to the U.S. Senate and John Cornyn to the Texas Supreme Court.
In 1997, Susan Weddington became the first woman to lead a major state party in Texas. She and Vice Chair David Barton were re-elected in 1998, 2000, and 2002, and together they united the grassroots and got everyone in our party moving in the same direction.
In November 1998, the Republicans were able to win statewide elections by breaking into traditional Democratic constituencies. Governor George W. Bush became the first Republican governor to win four consecutive four-year terms, winning 240 of 254 counties and becoming the first GOP gubernatorial candidate ever to win in the predominantly Hispanic counties of El Paso, Cameron, and Hidalgo. Texans elected Rick Perry as the first-ever Republican lieutenant governor, John Cornyn as the first Republican attorney general, Carol Keeton Strayhorn as the first Republican comptroller, David Dewhurst as the first Republican land commissioner, Susan Combs as the first female agriculture commissioner, and Railroad Commissioner Tony Garza as the first Hispanic Republican to win statewide office.
That same year, Republicans defended the GOP majority in the state Senate and picked up four seats in the Texas House-a record number for an off-year election at the time. Republicans would also have great success in the fight for seats at the county level, as the number of county courts controlled by the GOP increased by one-third.
A model for the nation
In two years, our nation will embark on perhaps the most surreal electoral journey in U.S. history. On November 7, 2000, Texans went to bed believing we had sent our own Governor George W. Bush to the White House, only to wake up the next morning to find out that we may not have. One month and countless transfers later, Texans finally breathed a collective sigh of relief and were celebrated as one of the best Texas governors of all time was declared the 43rd President of the United States!
However, in Texas, a recount would not have been needed to declare that the Republicans had once again won all state offices in the 2000 elections. Notably, Michael Williams, Bush’s appointee to the Texas Railroad Commission, won his first full term and became the first African American elected to a non-judicial public office in Texas history.
In 2000, the Republican Party retained its majority in the Texas Senate, giving Republicans three consecutive majorities in that body for the first time since Reconstruction. Perhaps the most memorable was the landslide victory of State Representative Todd Staples in the race for the 3rd Senate District, which some observers called the most important legislative race in the country in the last decade.
After November 2000, the battle lines in the State House would remain virtually unchanged as Republicans and Democrats were deadlocked in Texas. When analyzing the statewide vote, many Republicans were shocked to see that Republicans earned 60% of the vote in all state house races but only won 48% of the seats. Consequently, during the redistricting process in 2001, attention shifted to the importance of drawing fair and compact district lines.
November 2002 proved to be a historic year for Republicans at all levels in Texas. Republicans held all statewide offices for the fourth consecutive election, with Governor Rick Perry leading the way in an overwhelming victory over a wealthy opponent. Texans also sent Attorney General John Cornyn to the U.S. Senate to replace retiring Phil Gramm, and Land Commissioner David Dewhurst became only the second Republican to serve as lieutenant governor.
Thanks to the creation of fair new districts, Republicans gained their first majority in the Texas House of Representatives for the first time in 130 years, with sixteen seats. Congressman Tom Craddick of Midland, who had been one of four Republicans in the House in the 1960s, was later elected the first speaker of the Republican Party since Reconstruction.
Republicans also made record gains in the state Senate, picking up 3 seats out of a total of 19, and in the U.S. Congressional delegation, picking up 2 seats out of a total of 15. Texas Republicans also broke records at the county level, picking up 210 seats statewide. The state picked up 20 county judgeships and 42 county commissioner seats, the largest gain in modern history. This gave Republicans a controlling majority in 73 county courts, representing two-thirds of the state’s population.