The results out of Texas last week told us something most of us already knew but didn’t want to say out loud: the two-party system is broken. The primary process that’s supposed to give voters a choice has instead handed us a slate of candidates that even the most loyal voters I know can’t stomach.
I am a Republican. I have worked for Republicans, volunteered for Republicans and voted for Republicans my entire adult life. I did that because the Republicans I knew shared my values — on the issues and on the basic question of integrity. I cannot say that about some of the people whose names will appear next to the R on my ballot this November. And if you’re a Democrat reading this, you’ve had your own version of this morning before. We’ve all been here.
So what’s a girl to do?
The system, not the movement
Texas has 18.7 million registered voters — a record high.
About 2.17 million Texans voted in the March 3 Republican primary for U.S. Senate. Twelve weeks later, in the runoff that actually decided the nominee, that number collapsed to 1.39 million — a 36% drop-off. Paxton won 64% of those 1.39 million. Do the math: roughly 886,000 Texans — fewer than 5% of registered voters — just picked the Republican nominee.
The numbers on the other side of the ballot were not impressive either. About 2.3 million Texans voted in the Democratic primary. James Talarico won outright with 52% — roughly 1.2 million votes, or 6.4% of registered Texans.
Add it up. The next United States Senator from Texas will be one of two people chosen by only 11% of registered Texans. Eighty-nine percent of registered voters in Texas had no say in narrowing the field.
Here is the part I want to be very clear about, because it is easy to get wrong. The problem is not MAGA. The problem is not Ken Paxton. The problem is not the PACs funded by donors like West Texas billionaire Tim Dunn. The problem is the system.
It is convenient to blame a movement or a candidate or a donor. It is also lazy. They did not break the primary system. They found a broken one and did exactly what any well-funded, organized faction would do — they strategized, they showed up, they turned out, and they won. With fewer than 5% of registered Texans behind them.
A system that hands the steering wheel to whichever faction can mobilize the smallest, most committed slice of the electorate is going to keep producing factional candidates. The faces change. The math does not.
What the system rewards
Primaries with single-digit turnout reward whoever can mobilize the angriest, most ideologically committed voters. That isn’t democracy. That’s a caucus dressed up as an election.
Organized money beats unorganized money. Cornyn’s allies outspent Paxton’s roughly three-to-one. He still got crushed, because Paxton’s people were tied into a grassroots network that has been building for a decade. A billionaire donor has a louder voice than a working voter in Hansford or Cass County — not just because of the check he writes, but because of the
operation that check has built.
And there is no credible source of information for the regular voter anymore. Local newspapers have shrunk or closed. Voters are left with pay-to-play scorecards, campaign ads, social media, and whatever their cousin shared on Facebook. The result is a “vote them all out” mentality that delivers exactly what we just got.
That’s where I get off the bus.
Permission
This is Texas. Independence is supposed to be our defining value. Somewhere along the way, party labels got so tangled up in people’s identities that voting your conscience started to feel like a betrayal.
It isn’t.
You can be a Republican and vote independent in a single race. You can be a Democrat and split your ticket. You can skip a race that turns your stomach. You can vote for the candidate whose priorities match yours — public education, water, property taxes, whatever matters most to you — regardless of the letter after their name. When you walk into that booth, no one knows your vote except you. You are still who you were when you walked in.
There are good candidates on the November ballot — qualified, principled people running up and down the ticket. There are also a couple who are not fit for the offices they’re seeking, and you know which ones I mean. You don’t owe them your vote. You owe your vote to the person who actually deserves it.
The system gave us this mess. We don’t have to ratify it.
The day after the primary run-off election I woke up early like I always do, and after a cup of strong black coffee, I made my decision. I’d encourage you to make yours.
Suzanne Bellsnyder is editor and publisher of the Hansford County Reporter-Statesman and Sherman County Gazette. Subscribe at www.TexasRuralReporter.Substack.com