The Importance Of Attaining Office In Texas

Attaining office is quite a remarkable task; it involves a plethora amount of labor and resources. Previous election trends show that candidates, who are far more favorable, have increased odds of winning elections and snagging the office. However, that does not guarantee winning office. There are multiple circumstances in which a candidate can attain office in Texas.

First and foremost, the election process starts with primary elections. The primary elections are means to get nominate a candidate that will represent a party in the general elections. Due to the Terrell Law, Texas uses a direct primary and “Texas is [also] one of fifteen states to have an open primary” thereby allowing voters can decide which primary they will vote for on Election Day. For most of the southern states, the primary elections are the most crucial in snagging the office. That is simply because winning the primary in a single

Once candidates are elected from both parties, they face off against each other in the general election. “General elections are the official public elections to determine who will take office”(93). They are decided by a plurality vote, giving third party candidates a fighting chance. After a candidate wins the general election in this particular scenario, the candidate would have won two elections, the primary and the general election. That is the most common way in which a candidate attains office.

However, if a candidate fails to win the majority vote in the primary, “a runoff primary is required in which two candidates [from the same party] receiving the greatest number of votes are pitted against each other” (92). The wining candidate will then move on to represent the party in the general election. If the candidate wins the general election, then they would have won a total of three elections. That way of attaining office is still not as uncommon as winning a single