WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.879 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today we are looking 00:00:02.879 --> 00:00:05.519 at something that honestly at first glance might 00:00:05.519 --> 00:00:08.259 just seem like a well like a pretty standard 00:00:08.259 --> 00:00:10.640 piece of administrative record keeping. Right. 00:00:10.720 --> 00:00:13.960 A dry historical document. Exactly. Our focus 00:00:13.960 --> 00:00:17.320 today is a comprehensive Wikipedia article and 00:00:17.320 --> 00:00:20.519 it is simply titled List of United States Senators 00:00:20.519 --> 00:00:22.620 from Texas. And I know what you're thinking. 00:00:23.039 --> 00:00:24.800 You're thinking, why are we reading a spreadsheet? 00:00:24.980 --> 00:00:28.339 Yeah. If you are just looking at this plain list 00:00:28.339 --> 00:00:31.859 of names, dates, party affiliations, it is so 00:00:31.859 --> 00:00:34.219 easy to let your eyes just sort of glaze over. 00:00:34.259 --> 00:00:36.460 Absolutely. But if you read between the lines 00:00:36.460 --> 00:00:38.299 here, looking at these specific terms, these 00:00:38.299 --> 00:00:40.659 really sudden vacancies and the massive shifts 00:00:40.659 --> 00:00:43.179 in power, what you are actually looking at is, 00:00:43.280 --> 00:00:45.700 well, it's a perfect seismograph for American 00:00:45.700 --> 00:00:47.899 political upheaval. That is a great way to put 00:00:47.899 --> 00:00:51.159 it. It functions as this. Timeline of institutional 00:00:51.159 --> 00:00:53.740 stress tests. Right. Because a legislative roster 00:00:53.740 --> 00:00:56.640 doesn't exist in a vacuum. You know, every single 00:00:56.640 --> 00:00:59.159 time a seat changes hands unexpectedly or sits 00:00:59.159 --> 00:01:01.759 empty for a prolonged period or flips from a 00:01:01.759 --> 00:01:04.060 century of one party rule to another. Which we 00:01:04.060 --> 00:01:06.780 see happen here. Right. Which we absolutely see. 00:01:06.900 --> 00:01:10.359 It reflects these massive tectonic shifts in 00:01:10.359 --> 00:01:13.459 the broader culture and the economy. The whole 00:01:13.459 --> 00:01:16.140 drama of American history is basically written 00:01:16.140 --> 00:01:18.459 right there in the margins of these dry tables. 00:01:18.620 --> 00:01:20.959 And that is the mission for today's deep dive. 00:01:21.239 --> 00:01:24.359 We are going to look past the dates and extract 00:01:24.359 --> 00:01:27.019 the actual stories of how Texas's representation 00:01:27.019 --> 00:01:29.739 in Washington has evolved since the state was 00:01:29.739 --> 00:01:32.459 admitted to the union in 1845. It is quite the 00:01:32.459 --> 00:01:36.200 ride. It really is. Now. Before we get into the 00:01:36.200 --> 00:01:38.659 actual mechanics of these seats, we do need to 00:01:38.659 --> 00:01:40.819 make one thing absolutely clear to you, our listeners. 00:01:41.000 --> 00:01:42.780 Yes, very important point here. We are going 00:01:42.780 --> 00:01:44.939 to be discussing political tardies heavily today. 00:01:45.359 --> 00:01:47.420 specifically the Democrats and the Republicans, 00:01:47.719 --> 00:01:50.379 along with major ideological shifts that have 00:01:50.379 --> 00:01:52.780 redefined the country over the last century and 00:01:52.780 --> 00:01:54.640 a half. Right. It's unavoidable with this topic. 00:01:54.739 --> 00:01:56.780 Completely unavoidable. But we want to assure 00:01:56.780 --> 00:01:59.099 you that we are strictly reporting the factual 00:01:59.099 --> 00:02:01.719 history exactly as it is laid out in the historical 00:02:01.719 --> 00:02:04.200 record from our source. We aren't taking any 00:02:04.200 --> 00:02:07.750 sides. Not at all. And we are not endorsing any 00:02:07.750 --> 00:02:09.870 political viewpoints from the left or the right. 00:02:09.990 --> 00:02:12.830 Our objective is simply to impartially convey 00:02:12.830 --> 00:02:15.270 the historical realities that are contained in 00:02:15.270 --> 00:02:18.289 this data. Exactly. We are just tracing the historical 00:02:18.289 --> 00:02:21.169 timeline and the strategic maneuvers of the people 00:02:21.169 --> 00:02:24.229 who held these offices. The data itself provides 00:02:24.229 --> 00:02:26.650 the narrative, and we are just mapping it out 00:02:26.650 --> 00:02:29.050 to understand how representation functions in 00:02:29.050 --> 00:02:32.009 practice. Okay, let's unpack this, starting right 00:02:32.009 --> 00:02:35.139 at the very beginning of Texas's statehood. Because 00:02:35.139 --> 00:02:37.840 even the initial entry into the United States 00:02:37.840 --> 00:02:41.039 Senate comes with this built in logistical delay. 00:02:41.259 --> 00:02:42.759 It's actually kind of funny when you look at 00:02:42.759 --> 00:02:45.479 the dates. It is. Texas officially became a state 00:02:45.479 --> 00:02:48.819 on December 29th, 1845. But if you look at the 00:02:48.819 --> 00:02:51.039 congressional record, they didn't actually elect 00:02:51.039 --> 00:02:53.199 their first two senators until nearly two months 00:02:53.199 --> 00:02:55.780 later. Right. Thomas Jefferson Ruskin, Sam Houston. 00:02:55.879 --> 00:02:58.120 Exactly. They weren't elected until February 00:02:58.120 --> 00:03:02.139 21st, 1846. So for almost two entire months, 00:03:02.340 --> 00:03:05.039 those two Senate seats. Class one and class two, 00:03:05.099 --> 00:03:07.539 they just sat completely empty. And that class 00:03:07.539 --> 00:03:10.180 one and class two designation is a really crucial 00:03:10.180 --> 00:03:12.280 piece of legislative machinery to understand 00:03:12.280 --> 00:03:14.340 right off the bat. Let's break that down for 00:03:14.340 --> 00:03:16.719 a second. Sure. So the framers of the Constitution 00:03:16.719 --> 00:03:19.939 didn't want the entire Senate turning over all 00:03:19.939 --> 00:03:22.400 at once. You know, they didn't want a situation 00:03:22.400 --> 00:03:25.699 where every single senator could be replaced 00:03:25.699 --> 00:03:28.620 in one single election cycle. That would be chaotic. 00:03:28.620 --> 00:03:31.860 Total chaos. So they divided the seats into three 00:03:31.860 --> 00:03:34.599 staggered classes. When a new state joins the 00:03:34.599 --> 00:03:36.860 union, their two senators are randomly assigned 00:03:36.860 --> 00:03:39.680 to two different classes so their elections won't 00:03:39.680 --> 00:03:42.120 overlap in the future. Oh, that makes total sense. 00:03:42.340 --> 00:03:44.479 Yeah. So in this case, Thomas Jefferson Rusk 00:03:44.479 --> 00:03:47.039 drew the class one seat and Sam Houston drew 00:03:47.039 --> 00:03:49.240 the class two seat. But there was still that 00:03:49.240 --> 00:03:51.620 two -month gap. Right, because the logistical 00:03:51.620 --> 00:03:54.659 reality of the 1840s meant that even after the 00:03:54.659 --> 00:03:57.300 momentous occasion of statehood, just organizing 00:03:57.300 --> 00:04:00.500 a new state legislature and physically dispatching 00:04:00.500 --> 00:04:03.819 two men to Washington, it took significant time. 00:04:03.960 --> 00:04:06.340 You couldn't just hop on a flight. Exactly. The 00:04:06.340 --> 00:04:08.280 transition of power is rarely instantaneous. 00:04:08.719 --> 00:04:10.979 It sets this precedent that the machinery of 00:04:10.979 --> 00:04:13.659 government can be slow to start. But honestly, 00:04:13.879 --> 00:04:16.759 that initial two month delay looks like an absolute 00:04:16.759 --> 00:04:19.019 blink of an eye compared to what happens next 00:04:19.019 --> 00:04:22.879 on this list. Oh, yeah. The next big gap is, 00:04:23.019 --> 00:04:26.019 well, it's staggering. It really is. If you follow 00:04:26.019 --> 00:04:28.759 this timeline down into the 1860s, the normal 00:04:28.759 --> 00:04:31.560 rhythm of terms and elections hits a massive 00:04:31.560 --> 00:04:34.100 catastrophic wall. Here's where it gets really 00:04:34.100 --> 00:04:37.620 interesting. The Civil War era. Yes. In 1861, 00:04:37.699 --> 00:04:40.540 Senators Louis Wigfall and John Hemphill didn't 00:04:40.540 --> 00:04:42.699 lose an election. And they didn't resign. No, 00:04:42.699 --> 00:04:44.899 they did not. The historical record explicitly 00:04:44.899 --> 00:04:47.540 shows they were expelled. They were outright 00:04:47.540 --> 00:04:49.660 removed from the United States Senate following 00:04:49.660 --> 00:04:52.560 Texas's secession from the union. What's fascinating 00:04:52.560 --> 00:04:55.060 here is the sheer scale of the institutional 00:04:55.060 --> 00:04:58.379 void that followed those expulsions. I mean, 00:04:58.399 --> 00:05:00.639 when a state secedes and goes to war against 00:05:00.639 --> 00:05:02.720 the federal government, the legislative ties 00:05:02.720 --> 00:05:04.439 are obviously severed. Right. You're not sending 00:05:04.439 --> 00:05:06.120 delegates to a government you're actively fighting. 00:05:06.240 --> 00:05:08.819 Exactly. But looking at the timeline from the 00:05:08.819 --> 00:05:11.500 source, the class one seat was entirely vacant. 00:05:11.850 --> 00:05:14.750 from March 1861 all the way until March 1870. 00:05:14.769 --> 00:05:17.509 Wow. And the Class II seat was vacant from July 00:05:17.509 --> 00:05:21.769 1861 to March 1870. That is an astonishing nine 00:05:21.769 --> 00:05:24.250 -year gap. For almost an entire decade, Texas 00:05:24.250 --> 00:05:26.430 had absolutely no representation in the United 00:05:26.430 --> 00:05:29.810 States Senate. Nine years is an eternity in politics. 00:05:30.750 --> 00:05:32.529 I mean, think about the legislation being passed 00:05:32.529 --> 00:05:35.689 during the 1860s. Monumental legislation. You 00:05:35.689 --> 00:05:38.149 have the funding of the Civil War itself. You 00:05:38.149 --> 00:05:40.589 have the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th 00:05:40.589 --> 00:05:43.329 Amendments. The entire framework of Reconstruction. 00:05:43.569 --> 00:05:45.949 And all of that was happening in a chamber where 00:05:45.949 --> 00:05:48.569 Texas and millions of people living there had 00:05:48.569 --> 00:05:51.329 zero voice. And that gap wasn't just a matter 00:05:51.329 --> 00:05:53.550 of the Civil War itself. At all. Because the 00:05:53.550 --> 00:05:56.889 war ended in 1865. Oh, right. So why does the 00:05:56.889 --> 00:05:59.490 vacancy stretch all the way to 1870? Because 00:05:59.490 --> 00:06:02.550 of the Reconstruction. After the war, the former 00:06:02.550 --> 00:06:04.329 Confederate states weren't just automatically 00:06:04.329 --> 00:06:06.449 welcomed back into the halls of Congress with 00:06:06.449 --> 00:06:08.470 open arms. They had to earn their way back in. 00:06:08.529 --> 00:06:10.990 Essentially, yes. They were placed under military 00:06:10.990 --> 00:06:13.670 districts and they had to meet very strict conditions 00:06:13.670 --> 00:06:16.709 for readmission. That included drafting new state 00:06:16.709 --> 00:06:19.550 constitutions that recognize those sweeping new 00:06:19.550 --> 00:06:21.129 federal amendments you just mentioned. Right. 00:06:21.250 --> 00:06:23.610 So the congressional table simply read vacant. 00:06:24.300 --> 00:06:28.079 for those nine years. But that single word encapsulates 00:06:28.079 --> 00:06:30.120 a period where the state was effectively suspended 00:06:30.120 --> 00:06:32.920 from the federal legislative process. It wasn't 00:06:32.920 --> 00:06:35.360 until Texas was formally readmitted to representation 00:06:35.360 --> 00:06:39.759 in 1870 that J .W. Flanagan and Morgan C. Hamilton 00:06:39.759 --> 00:06:42.660 were elected to finally close that gap. Yes, 00:06:42.800 --> 00:06:45.079 exactly. It just paints such a vivid picture 00:06:45.079 --> 00:06:47.560 of a broken country trying to stitch itself back 00:06:47.560 --> 00:06:50.000 together. One day you have two senators, the 00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:52.540 next day they are expelled in absentia, and then 00:06:52.540 --> 00:06:54.500 there is just a blank space on the record for 00:06:54.500 --> 00:06:57.000 nearly a decade. It's chilling when you really 00:06:57.000 --> 00:06:59.519 think about it. It is. Now, once representation 00:06:59.519 --> 00:07:02.720 did resume in 1870, the history of these seats 00:07:02.720 --> 00:07:04.879 turns into something of a high stakes game of 00:07:04.879 --> 00:07:07.920 political musical chairs. Let's look at the overarching 00:07:07.920 --> 00:07:10.500 numbers for a moment from our source. Out of 00:07:10.500 --> 00:07:12.639 all the senators who have ever represented Texas, 00:07:12.779 --> 00:07:15.720 there have been 27 Democrats, seven Republicans 00:07:15.720 --> 00:07:19.180 and precisely one liberal Republican. We have 00:07:19.180 --> 00:07:21.100 to pause on that one anomaly. Yeah. Morgan C. 00:07:21.100 --> 00:07:23.230 Hamilton. Yeah, that stood out to me immediately. 00:07:23.529 --> 00:07:26.170 He is the only person in the entire history of 00:07:26.170 --> 00:07:29.110 Texas Senate representation to serve under that 00:07:29.110 --> 00:07:32.089 specific liberal Republican Party label, which 00:07:32.089 --> 00:07:34.870 he did during the 43rd Congress in the 1870s. 00:07:34.910 --> 00:07:38.290 It's such a unique outlier. It really is. In 00:07:38.290 --> 00:07:40.810 a historical data set that is overwhelmingly 00:07:40.810 --> 00:07:43.589 dominated by just two main columns, Democrat 00:07:43.589 --> 00:07:47.250 and Republican, that single entry is a perfect 00:07:47.250 --> 00:07:51.110 snapshot of a highly fragmented era. So who are 00:07:51.110 --> 00:07:54.769 the liberal Republicans? They were a very specific 00:07:54.769 --> 00:07:57.389 short -lived faction that emerged right after 00:07:57.389 --> 00:07:59.930 the Civil War. They were primarily organized 00:07:59.930 --> 00:08:03.149 to oppose the re -election of President Ulysses 00:08:03.149 --> 00:08:05.550 S. Grant and his administration's approach to 00:08:05.550 --> 00:08:07.290 Reconstruction. Oh, interesting. Yeah, it was 00:08:07.290 --> 00:08:09.829 a brief rebellion within the ranks that managed 00:08:09.829 --> 00:08:11.750 to permanently carve its name into the Texas 00:08:11.750 --> 00:08:14.029 congressional record. It is a great reminder 00:08:14.029 --> 00:08:16.329 that the two -party system we know today has 00:08:16.329 --> 00:08:19.230 had these fascinating, chaotic offshoots throughout 00:08:19.230 --> 00:08:21.509 history. Absolutely. And speaking of fascinating 00:08:21.509 --> 00:08:23.550 deviations, as you read through the electoral 00:08:23.550 --> 00:08:26.370 history column of these Senate seats, you start 00:08:26.370 --> 00:08:28.750 to notice some really unexpected reasons for 00:08:28.750 --> 00:08:30.990 people leaving office. The resignations. The 00:08:30.990 --> 00:08:34.309 resignations are wild. Today, we generally view 00:08:34.309 --> 00:08:36.690 the United States Senate as the ultimate destination, 00:08:36.970 --> 00:08:39.149 like it's the absolute peak of a political career. 00:08:39.389 --> 00:08:40.950 Right. You fight your whole life to get there 00:08:40.950 --> 00:08:43.629 and you stay as long as you can. Exactly. But 00:08:43.629 --> 00:08:46.029 in the late 19th century, that wasn't always 00:08:46.029 --> 00:08:50.049 the case. Take John H. Reagan. In 1891, he voluntarily 00:08:50.049 --> 00:08:52.509 resigned from the United States Senate. And not 00:08:52.509 --> 00:08:55.009 for a promotion, by today's standards. Oh, right. 00:08:55.210 --> 00:08:56.929 He didn't leave for the president's cabinet. 00:08:57.009 --> 00:08:59.480 He didn't leave for the Supreme Court. He resigned 00:08:59.480 --> 00:09:01.240 to become the chairman of the Railroad Commission 00:09:01.240 --> 00:09:03.519 of Texas. Which tells you everything you need 00:09:03.519 --> 00:09:06.240 to know about the economic realities of the 1890s. 00:09:06.320 --> 00:09:09.720 Explain that because it sounds crazy today. To 00:09:09.720 --> 00:09:12.259 modern ears, leaving the federal Senate to join 00:09:12.259 --> 00:09:14.740 a state regulatory commission sounds like a massive 00:09:14.740 --> 00:09:17.159 demotion. But if we look at the context of the 00:09:17.159 --> 00:09:21.100 Gilded Age, railroads were the absolute lifeblood 00:09:21.100 --> 00:09:24.480 of the American economy. And they wielded monopolistic 00:09:24.480 --> 00:09:26.899 power. They were the tech giants of their day. 00:09:27.080 --> 00:09:29.720 Even bigger. Arguably. In Texas, the farmers 00:09:29.720 --> 00:09:31.700 and the agrarian populist movements were fighting 00:09:31.700 --> 00:09:34.100 a bitter battle against price gouging and unfair 00:09:34.100 --> 00:09:35.879 freight rates. Because if you couldn't afford 00:09:35.879 --> 00:09:38.279 to ship your crops, you were ruined. Exactly. 00:09:38.720 --> 00:09:40.779 So the creation of the Railroad Commission of 00:09:40.779 --> 00:09:44.220 Texas by Governor James Stephen Hogg was a monumental 00:09:44.220 --> 00:09:46.320 attempt to rein in the most powerful corporations 00:09:46.320 --> 00:09:49.139 on Earth. OK, I'm starting to see it. Yeah. So 00:09:49.139 --> 00:09:51.320 when John H. Reagan stepped down from the Senate 00:09:51.320 --> 00:09:54.200 to lead that commission, it wasn't a step backward 00:09:54.200 --> 00:09:56.789 at all. He was stepping into a role that controlled 00:09:56.789 --> 00:09:59.210 the economic levers of the entire region. It 00:09:59.210 --> 00:10:01.990 was a massive power move. That reframes it completely. 00:10:02.269 --> 00:10:06.210 He traded legislative prestige for raw, immediate 00:10:06.210 --> 00:10:09.129 economic authority. Precisely. Now, alongside 00:10:09.129 --> 00:10:11.409 the power players like Reagan, you also have 00:10:11.409 --> 00:10:14.649 the placeholders. The caretakers. Yes, the individuals 00:10:14.649 --> 00:10:17.330 whose terms really highlight the unpredictable 00:10:17.330 --> 00:10:20.470 human element of government. The record surrounding 00:10:20.470 --> 00:10:23.549 Bill Blakely is just incredible trivia. Such 00:10:23.549 --> 00:10:25.509 a unique political career. He was a Democrat 00:10:25.509 --> 00:10:28.330 who was appointed to the Senate twice, both times 00:10:28.330 --> 00:10:31.139 specifically to fill vacancies. and both times 00:10:31.139 --> 00:10:34.059 his tenure was incredibly brief. Right. First, 00:10:34.240 --> 00:10:36.980 in 1957, he stepped in when Price Daniel resigned, 00:10:37.259 --> 00:10:39.340 likely served for a few months, and then just 00:10:39.340 --> 00:10:41.960 opted not to run in the special election, completely 00:10:41.960 --> 00:10:44.259 allowing his successor to take over. He just 00:10:44.259 --> 00:10:48.320 walked away. Yeah. Then, in 1961, he is appointed 00:10:48.320 --> 00:10:51.120 again, this time to sit in Lyndon B. Johnson's 00:10:51.120 --> 00:10:54.059 seat. He actually runs in that special election, 00:10:54.259 --> 00:10:57.980 but he loses to finish out the term. He basically 00:10:57.980 --> 00:11:01.019 operates as the ultimate political understudy. 00:11:01.059 --> 00:11:03.419 It's fascinating. He was a very wealthy businessman, 00:11:03.639 --> 00:11:06.840 often referred to as a cowboy billionaire. And 00:11:06.840 --> 00:11:09.559 his appointments really highlight how gubernatorial 00:11:09.559 --> 00:11:13.440 machinery handles sudden vacancies. How so? Well, 00:11:13.480 --> 00:11:15.980 when a senator leaves unexpectedly, the state's 00:11:15.980 --> 00:11:17.899 governor has to appoint someone to keep the seat 00:11:17.899 --> 00:11:20.659 warm until a special election can be held. Sometimes 00:11:20.659 --> 00:11:22.779 governors specifically look for someone who has 00:11:22.779 --> 00:11:25.399 no ambition to hold the seat long term. Why would 00:11:25.399 --> 00:11:27.539 they want that? So as not to disrupt the upcoming 00:11:27.539 --> 00:11:29.620 electoral primary, they don't want to give someone 00:11:29.620 --> 00:11:31.799 an unfair incumbent advantage if the party already 00:11:31.799 --> 00:11:34.399 has chosen a successor in mind. Blackley fit 00:11:34.399 --> 00:11:37.620 that caretaker role perfectly in 1957. That makes 00:11:37.620 --> 00:11:39.279 a lot of sense. You just need someone to cast 00:11:39.279 --> 00:11:41.059 votes for a few months without shaking up the 00:11:41.059 --> 00:11:43.779 political landscape. Exactly. And we see an even 00:11:43.779 --> 00:11:46.379 more extreme and tragic example of the unpredictable 00:11:46.379 --> 00:11:48.720 nature of these terms with Andrew J. Houston. 00:11:48.919 --> 00:11:51.259 Oh, right. He is appointed to a vacant seat in 00:11:51.259 --> 00:11:55.340 April 1941, but the record shows he died just 00:11:55.340 --> 00:11:58.259 two months later in June of that same year. Oh, 00:11:58.360 --> 00:12:01.340 wow. Yeah. The Senate isn't just a theoretical 00:12:01.340 --> 00:12:04.240 body. It's made up of mortal people, and the 00:12:04.240 --> 00:12:06.840 logistical framework is constantly having to 00:12:06.840 --> 00:12:10.539 adapt to sudden illness, death, or career changes. 00:12:11.070 --> 00:12:12.870 Looking at some of these other career changes 00:12:12.870 --> 00:12:15.169 in the data, there seems to be a real pattern 00:12:15.169 --> 00:12:18.450 of using the Texas Senate seats as a launchpad 00:12:18.450 --> 00:12:21.190 for executive power. Like we said earlier, it 00:12:21.190 --> 00:12:23.929 wasn't always the final stop. If we connect this 00:12:23.929 --> 00:12:25.950 to the bigger picture, the Senate has frequently 00:12:25.950 --> 00:12:28.529 served as a strategic talent pool for the highest 00:12:28.529 --> 00:12:30.870 levels of both state and federal executive government. 00:12:31.129 --> 00:12:33.490 We weren't surprised Daniel resigning in 1957. 00:12:34.029 --> 00:12:36.389 He left the Senate specifically to become the 00:12:36.389 --> 00:12:39.129 governor of Texas. A huge step up in direct state 00:12:39.129 --> 00:12:41.820 authority. Exactly. And Lyndon B. Johnson is 00:12:41.820 --> 00:12:43.740 perhaps the most famous example on this list. 00:12:43.779 --> 00:12:46.080 The record shows he actually won reelection to 00:12:46.080 --> 00:12:48.940 his Senate seat in 1960. But he was simultaneously 00:12:48.940 --> 00:12:51.440 on the presidential ticket with JFK. Wait, you 00:12:51.440 --> 00:12:53.980 can do that? Run for both at the same time? Usually 00:12:53.980 --> 00:12:57.220 no. But a special law was passed, sometimes literally 00:12:57.220 --> 00:13:00.039 called the LBJ law, that allowed him to run for 00:13:00.039 --> 00:13:02.960 both offices at once in Texas. Talk about covering 00:13:02.960 --> 00:13:05.860 your bases. Right. When the Kennedy -Johnson 00:13:05.860 --> 00:13:08.980 ticket won, Johnson resigned his newly won Senate 00:13:08.980 --> 00:13:12.279 seat in January 1961 to become the U .S. Vice 00:13:12.279 --> 00:13:14.779 President. Leaving the seat for Bill Blakely 00:13:14.779 --> 00:13:18.419 to keep warm again. Exactly. And decades later, 00:13:18.519 --> 00:13:21.519 you see Lloyd Benson, who had a formidable tenure 00:13:21.519 --> 00:13:25.840 spanning from 1971 to 1993. He resigned his seat 00:13:25.840 --> 00:13:27.519 to become the U .S. Secretary of the Treasury 00:13:27.519 --> 00:13:30.120 under Bill Clinton. Another massive executive 00:13:30.120 --> 00:13:32.980 role. Yes. These politicians viewed the Senate 00:13:32.980 --> 00:13:35.799 as a formidable base of power, sure, but they 00:13:35.799 --> 00:13:38.240 absolutely leveraged it as a stepping stone to 00:13:38.240 --> 00:13:40.399 executive authority. It really is a who's who 00:13:40.399 --> 00:13:42.399 of political titans passing through these two. 00:13:42.409 --> 00:13:44.490 two specific desks on the Senate floor. Yes. 00:13:44.769 --> 00:13:46.929 But as we move closer to the present day in our 00:13:46.929 --> 00:13:49.230 historical timeline, we hit what might be the 00:13:49.230 --> 00:13:51.570 most dramatic shift of all. The grand realignment. 00:13:51.629 --> 00:13:53.990 Yes. Earlier, we established that historically, 00:13:54.230 --> 00:13:57.269 Texas has been represented by 27 Democrats. And 00:13:57.269 --> 00:13:59.210 for a very long time, that Democratic hold was 00:13:59.210 --> 00:14:01.860 absolute. Rock solid. The record highlights Morris 00:14:01.860 --> 00:14:04.379 Shepard as the longest serving senator in Texas 00:14:04.379 --> 00:14:07.240 history. He was a Democrat who served continuously 00:14:07.240 --> 00:14:11.679 from 1913 until his death in 1941. That is almost 00:14:11.679 --> 00:14:14.580 three decades of unbroken representation by one 00:14:14.580 --> 00:14:17.200 man. Which perfectly reflects the solid South 00:14:17.200 --> 00:14:19.940 era. That was a time when the Democratic primary 00:14:19.940 --> 00:14:22.399 was the only election that truly mattered in 00:14:22.399 --> 00:14:24.879 the state. If you won the primary, you won the 00:14:24.879 --> 00:14:27.360 seat. But when you look at the modern era on 00:14:27.360 --> 00:14:30.519 this Wikipedia list, the data completely flips. 00:14:30.759 --> 00:14:33.539 It is a profound transition. You have this long, 00:14:33.539 --> 00:14:35.639 solid block of Democratic representation that 00:14:35.639 --> 00:14:37.580 defines the first century of Texas statehood. 00:14:37.759 --> 00:14:40.059 But the pivotal moment of transition recorded 00:14:40.059 --> 00:14:43.120 here is the election of John Tower. Right. In 00:14:43.120 --> 00:14:46.399 1961. Yes. After LBJ vacated his seat for the 00:14:46.399 --> 00:14:48.820 vice presidency and after Bill Blakely's brief 00:14:48.820 --> 00:14:51.659 caretaker appointment, John Tower, a Republican, 00:14:51.860 --> 00:14:54.419 won the special election in 1961 to finish out 00:14:54.419 --> 00:14:56.399 the term. And that broke the monopoly. That broke 00:14:56.399 --> 00:14:58.320 the Democratic monopoly. Tower held onto that 00:14:58.320 --> 00:15:01.340 seat for over two decades. And his election signaled 00:15:01.340 --> 00:15:03.220 the beginning of a massive realignment in Southern 00:15:03.220 --> 00:15:05.539 politics. That realignment eventually became 00:15:05.539 --> 00:15:08.440 total. When we look at the current state of affairs 00:15:08.440 --> 00:15:11.039 on this list today, the Texas Senate delegation 00:15:11.039 --> 00:15:14.759 is entirely Republican. Entirely. You have John 00:15:14.759 --> 00:15:17.080 Cornyn holding the class two seat, serving since 00:15:17.080 --> 00:15:19.919 2002. And you have Ted Cruz holding the class 00:15:19.919 --> 00:15:23.419 one seat, serving since 2013. The party flip 00:15:23.419 --> 00:15:26.360 in statewide Senate elections over the last few 00:15:26.360 --> 00:15:29.159 decades is complete. It's a night and day difference 00:15:29.159 --> 00:15:31.559 from the Morris Shepard era. But the transition 00:15:31.559 --> 00:15:33.460 of power isn't just about winning the election. 00:15:33.480 --> 00:15:35.500 election is it it's also about how you leverage 00:15:35.500 --> 00:15:38.500 your exit there is a brilliant strategic move 00:15:38.500 --> 00:15:41.559 detailed here in the exit of Phil Graham a Republican 00:15:41.559 --> 00:15:44.460 who served from 1985 to 2002. oh this is one 00:15:44.460 --> 00:15:46.759 of my favorite details the mechanics of Phil 00:15:46.759 --> 00:15:49.539 Graham's exit are an absolute master class in 00:15:49.539 --> 00:15:51.960 institutional leverage break it down for us so 00:15:51.960 --> 00:15:54.740 in 2002 Graham didn't just retire at the end 00:15:54.740 --> 00:15:56.919 of his term in January like most senators do. 00:15:57.320 --> 00:16:00.279 He officially resigned a few weeks early. Just 00:16:00.279 --> 00:16:02.620 a few weeks. Just a few weeks. Specifically to 00:16:02.620 --> 00:16:05.259 give his successor, John Cornyn, preferential 00:16:05.259 --> 00:16:07.759 seniority. Why does a few weeks matter so much? 00:16:07.980 --> 00:16:10.620 Because in the United States Senate, power isn't 00:16:10.620 --> 00:16:13.820 just about the party majority. It is heavily 00:16:13.820 --> 00:16:17.500 dictated by seniority. Your rank. determines 00:16:17.500 --> 00:16:20.200 your committee assignments, your ability to chair 00:16:20.200 --> 00:16:22.419 those committees, and even your physical desk 00:16:22.419 --> 00:16:25.000 placement on the Senate floor. It is literally 00:16:25.000 --> 00:16:28.000 a game of inches played with the calendar. A 00:16:28.000 --> 00:16:30.039 few weeks head start sounds trivial, but it has 00:16:30.039 --> 00:16:32.159 massive implications, right? Absolutely massive. 00:16:32.440 --> 00:16:35.080 When a new class of freshman senators is sworn 00:16:35.080 --> 00:16:37.720 in on January 3rd, they're all essentially tied 00:16:37.720 --> 00:16:40.620 for seniority. Okay. But by resigning early during 00:16:40.620 --> 00:16:43.240 the lame duck session, Graham allowed the governor 00:16:43.240 --> 00:16:45.659 of Texas to formally appoint John Cornyn to the 00:16:45.659 --> 00:16:48.919 equity immediately. Oh. This meant Cornyn entered 00:16:48.919 --> 00:16:51.139 the Senate slightly ahead of the entire incoming 00:16:51.139 --> 00:16:54.580 freshman class of 2003 nationwide. That is incredibly 00:16:54.580 --> 00:16:57.580 clever. It is. That tiny bump in the hierarchy 00:16:57.580 --> 00:17:00.679 translates directly into better committee placements, 00:17:00.759 --> 00:17:03.179 which in turn translates into more influence 00:17:03.179 --> 00:17:05.740 over federal legislation and more federal dollars 00:17:05.740 --> 00:17:08.579 directed back to Texas. Wow. It was a highly 00:17:08.579 --> 00:17:11.000 calculated maneuver to ensure the incoming Republican 00:17:11.000 --> 00:17:13.240 didn't start at the very bottom of the ladder. 00:17:13.609 --> 00:17:16.150 It just goes to show that the exact dates listed 00:17:16.150 --> 00:17:18.369 next to these names aren't just arbitrary markers 00:17:18.369 --> 00:17:20.869 of time. They are fiercely negotiated political 00:17:20.869 --> 00:17:23.930 weapons. Without a doubt. Now, while the statewide 00:17:23.930 --> 00:17:26.589 Senate delegation for Texas is currently all 00:17:26.589 --> 00:17:29.170 Republican, it is important to balance this with 00:17:29.170 --> 00:17:31.750 the other half of Congress. The historical data 00:17:31.750 --> 00:17:34.230 we are reviewing also includes a breakdown of 00:17:34.230 --> 00:17:36.650 Texas's current delegation to the United States 00:17:36.650 --> 00:17:39.150 House of Representatives. Right. Which provides 00:17:39.150 --> 00:17:42.089 crucial context. It does, because that list paints 00:17:42.089 --> 00:17:44.980 a much more complex picture of the state's modern 00:17:44.980 --> 00:17:47.460 political geography. It really highlights the 00:17:47.460 --> 00:17:50.140 difference between a statewide winner -take -all 00:17:50.140 --> 00:17:52.220 election and district -level representation. 00:17:52.779 --> 00:17:55.599 The Senate gives you the macro consensus of the 00:17:55.599 --> 00:17:57.990 state. Because senators are elected by the entire 00:17:57.990 --> 00:18:00.609 voting population of Texas. Exactly. And the 00:18:00.609 --> 00:18:02.849 sheer numerical advantage of Republican voters 00:18:02.849 --> 00:18:06.069 statewide has kept those two seats red for decades. 00:18:06.509 --> 00:18:08.869 But the House of Representatives reflects the 00:18:08.869 --> 00:18:12.450 micro regional variations across a massive geographic 00:18:12.450 --> 00:18:16.470 area. And Texas is massive. Huge. Texas has 38 00:18:16.470 --> 00:18:19.329 congressional districts. And while Republicans 00:18:19.329 --> 00:18:22.029 certainly hold a majority of those seats with 00:18:22.029 --> 00:18:24.450 representatives like Nathaniel Moran, Dan Crenshaw 00:18:24.450 --> 00:18:27.750 and Michael McCaul. There is a very... prominent 00:18:27.750 --> 00:18:30.390 and entrenched Democratic presence as well. Right. 00:18:30.490 --> 00:18:32.769 Looking at the list, you see districts represented 00:18:32.769 --> 00:18:35.049 by Democrats like Lizzie Fletcher, Al Green, 00:18:35.329 --> 00:18:38.190 Veronica Escobar, Joaquin Castro and Lloyd Doggett. 00:18:38.250 --> 00:18:41.369 Yes. And these districts often correspond to 00:18:41.369 --> 00:18:44.750 the massive, rapidly growing urban centers like 00:18:44.750 --> 00:18:48.349 Houston, Austin, Dallas and El Paso, as well 00:18:48.349 --> 00:18:50.329 as regions along the southern border. Exactly. 00:18:50.549 --> 00:18:52.430 The House delegation reflects the demographic 00:18:52.430 --> 00:18:54.890 or geographic polarization of modern American 00:18:54.890 --> 00:18:57.680 politics. You have massive expanses of rural 00:18:57.680 --> 00:19:00.079 and suburban areas that vote overwhelmingly conservative, 00:19:00.480 --> 00:19:03.480 contrasted with densely populated urban centers 00:19:03.480 --> 00:19:05.660 that vote reliably progressive. It's two different 00:19:05.660 --> 00:19:09.359 worlds in one state. It is. District lines and 00:19:09.359 --> 00:19:12.720 the complex, often controversial process of gerrymandering 00:19:12.720 --> 00:19:15.619 dictate exactly how those populations are grouped. 00:19:16.190 --> 00:19:19.569 So while the Senate data might suggest a monolithic 00:19:19.569 --> 00:19:22.250 political culture, the House delegation proves 00:19:22.250 --> 00:19:26.130 that modern Texas is incredibly diverse politically 00:19:26.130 --> 00:19:29.069 and demographically at the local level. It is 00:19:29.069 --> 00:19:31.289 a necessary counterbalance to keep in mind so 00:19:31.289 --> 00:19:33.450 we don't oversimplify the electorate. Definitely. 00:19:33.470 --> 00:19:36.960 So what does this all mean? We started with a 00:19:36.960 --> 00:19:39.980 simple list of names and dates. We traced the 00:19:39.980 --> 00:19:43.599 delayed start of a new state in 1845. We looked 00:19:43.599 --> 00:19:46.039 at the profound void of the Civil War expulsions. 00:19:46.039 --> 00:19:48.759 We saw politicians trade federal seats for railroad 00:19:48.759 --> 00:19:51.420 monopolies. Yes. We watched vice presidents use 00:19:51.420 --> 00:19:53.740 the chamber as a stepping stone. And we analyzed 00:19:53.740 --> 00:19:55.920 the strategic calendar math of modern Senate 00:19:55.920 --> 00:19:58.779 seniority. Why should you, our listener, care 00:19:58.779 --> 00:20:01.099 about the intricacies of this congressional history? 00:20:01.380 --> 00:20:03.559 You should care because analyzing a state's congressional 00:20:03.559 --> 00:20:06.440 record is one of the most effective ways to realize 00:20:06.440 --> 00:20:09.079 that political landscapes are never static. That's 00:20:09.079 --> 00:20:11.299 a great point. It is a natural human instinct 00:20:11.299 --> 00:20:14.079 to assume that the reality we live in today is 00:20:14.079 --> 00:20:17.500 the permanent state of affairs. But the data 00:20:17.500 --> 00:20:21.069 unequivocally proves otherwise. We're looking 00:20:21.069 --> 00:20:23.210 at a state that was so thoroughly dominated by 00:20:23.210 --> 00:20:26.329 the Democratic Party that a single senator could 00:20:26.329 --> 00:20:28.930 serve for almost 30 continuous years without 00:20:28.930 --> 00:20:32.349 a serious challenge. More Shepard. Yes. And yet, 00:20:32.369 --> 00:20:34.890 over the span of just a few decades, the political 00:20:34.890 --> 00:20:37.670 culture shifted so dramatically that the opposing 00:20:37.670 --> 00:20:40.190 party now holds that same absolute advantage 00:20:40.190 --> 00:20:44.000 state -wide. Change is the only constant. These 00:20:44.000 --> 00:20:46.920 seemingly dry tables of terms and vacancies are 00:20:46.920 --> 00:20:49.019 actually a testament to the evolving, restless 00:20:49.019 --> 00:20:51.839 will of the voters over generations. That is 00:20:51.839 --> 00:20:54.680 the core takeaway. Democracy is not a fixed object. 00:20:54.819 --> 00:20:57.380 It is an ongoing, turbulent process that we are 00:20:57.380 --> 00:20:59.619 all currently participating in. The current names 00:20:59.619 --> 00:21:01.440 on that list are just the latest chapter in a 00:21:01.440 --> 00:21:04.220 very long, very unpredictable book. And as we 00:21:04.220 --> 00:21:06.460 reflect on all of this history, this raises an 00:21:06.460 --> 00:21:08.240 important question. What's that? We spent time 00:21:08.240 --> 00:21:11.799 discussing the 1861 expulsions, which left Texas 00:21:11.799 --> 00:21:13.940 completely unrepresented in the Senate for nine 00:21:13.940 --> 00:21:16.200 whole years. We talked about the Reconstruction 00:21:16.200 --> 00:21:19.279 Acts and the legislative void. But it makes you 00:21:19.279 --> 00:21:22.299 wonder. How did everyday citizens navigate nearly 00:21:22.299 --> 00:21:25.119 a decade without a voice in the Senate during 00:21:25.119 --> 00:21:27.539 the most tumultuous, violent, and transformative 00:21:27.539 --> 00:21:30.579 period in American history? That is intense to 00:21:30.579 --> 00:21:32.400 think about. When the federal government was 00:21:32.400 --> 00:21:34.819 fundamentally rewriting the social contract and 00:21:34.819 --> 00:21:37.920 the Constitution itself, the millions of people 00:21:37.920 --> 00:21:40.059 living in that region had no one in the room 00:21:40.059 --> 00:21:43.200 to advocate for them, to negotiate, or to push 00:21:43.200 --> 00:21:46.670 back. Beyond the politics of secession, What 00:21:46.670 --> 00:21:48.710 does it truly mean to be a citizen of a state 00:21:48.710 --> 00:21:50.930 that has entirely lost its say in the federal 00:21:50.930 --> 00:21:53.569 machinery? That is a staggering thought to leave 00:21:53.569 --> 00:21:56.230 on. Imagine watching the news today knowing that 00:21:56.230 --> 00:21:58.410 monumental legislation was being drafted that 00:21:58.410 --> 00:22:00.410 would alter the trajectory of your life, your 00:22:00.410 --> 00:22:03.069 economy, and your rights, and knowing your state 00:22:03.069 --> 00:22:05.789 had zero representation in the chamber where 00:22:05.789 --> 00:22:07.809 the votes were being cast. It changes your perspective 00:22:07.809 --> 00:22:10.269 completely. It really strips away the political 00:22:10.269 --> 00:22:12.950 theater and reminds us of the raw, fundamental 00:22:12.950 --> 00:22:16.480 privilege of having a seat at the table. Well, 00:22:16.539 --> 00:22:18.420 that is all the time we have for today. We want 00:22:18.420 --> 00:22:20.480 to thank you for joining us on this deep dive 00:22:20.480 --> 00:22:22.900 into the hidden narratives of the Texas Senate 00:22:22.900 --> 00:22:25.660 delegation. Thanks for listening. We hope we've 00:22:25.660 --> 00:22:27.940 demonstrated that even the most clinical administrative 00:22:27.940 --> 00:22:30.680 records hold some of the most compelling stories 00:22:30.680 --> 00:22:33.480 of American history, provided you take the time 00:22:33.480 --> 00:22:36.119 to read between the lines, keep exploring the 00:22:36.119 --> 00:22:38.539 context behind the data, and most importantly, 00:22:38.660 --> 00:22:40.660 keep questioning the history behind the facts. 00:22:40.839 --> 00:22:42.299 We will see you next time.