Texas caucuses

The Texas caucuses are a political event associated with primaries, the process by which voters in the U.S. state of Texas ultimately select their parties' nominees for various offices. The process as a whole is referred to as the Texas Two-step, after the partner dance of the same name, because Texans must first vote in the primary election in order to be eligible for caucusing.

The process differs for Democrats and Republicans. The Republican caucuses select participants for the state convention, while the presidential nominee is selected winner-takes-all according to the outcome of the primaries. The Democratic caucuses play a larger role in national politics; the primary itself selects sixty-five percent of delegates to the county convention, since turn-out at this event apportions the other thirty-five percent according to the number of supporters each presidential candidate has.

Controversies

The County (Senate District) Conventions in late March 2008 produced a great deal of confusion among Texas Democrats. Both Clinton and Obama supporters had complaints about how these conventions were conducted. The most common complaint had to do with the fact that delegates were not being apportioned based on Precinct Convention results. For instance, in Kleberg County, 9 delegates were elected to attend the State Convention, with only one Obama supporter among them. Obama won about one third of the votes in the Precinct Caucuses/Conventions in Kleberg County.

References

Nassar, George. "Texas Democratic Caucus FAQ." The Texas Blue. 03/04/2008. http://www.thetexasblue.com/texas-democratic-caucus-faq