I attended the Texas Republican Convention held in Ft. Worth, Texas from June 5-7 2014 as a delegate and the big takeaway was that the Tea Party has effectively taken over the Republican Party in Texas.

But before I describe why I believe that the Tea Party has taken over, let me give you some background information and a little history of the Republican Party in Texas. After the Democrats won control of the Texas legislature in 1872 from the post-Civil War Reconstruction Republicans, Democrats dominated Texas politics for more than a century, while Republicans remained largely marginalized. It was commonly said during this period in Texas that “I would vote for a yellow dog before I would vote for a Republican.”  These died-in-the-wool Democrats are known as “yellow dog” Democrats even today.  In fact Republicans would not win back any part of the Texas Legislature until 1996 when Republicans won a slender majority in the Texas Senate.  But it was not until 2002 that Republicans won control of the Texas House, ending a drought spanning 130 years.