Is Texas becoming a battleground state a sign the 6th party system is over

[OSR stands with Israel]

Throughout the 6th party system(1980-Present) Texas has been a solidly Republican state(with the exception of 1992) and in many ways symbolized the dominance of the Republicans in the Mountain West, South West, and South East since Texas in many ways is where all three regions met.

With TX becoming a battleground state it not only marks an end to the era of Solid R status in Texas you see states such as VA , CO , NM be solidly D, and  NV, AZ, GA leaning Democratic it pretty much marks the end of the 6th party system.

[OSR stands with Israel]

The GOP has been a very fragile national party for a while now, hence why they rarely win the popular vote.  They are basically bolstered by the fact that the South is racially polarized so they had been winning a lot of populous states (GA, VA, NC, FL, etc. and now TX) by very small margins.  The problem is that if the demographics change enough then they are on the other side of it (VA, soon TX).  If Texas, Georgia and Arizona flip and start giving Democrats tiny margins, then there aren't enough swing states that make up for that.

I wouldn’t say GA , NC and VA pre 2008 were small margins

[OSR stands with Israel]

I don't think Texas becoming a battleground state is so much a testament to the GOP's demise rather a testament to the changing dynamics of the State in terms of the increasing Latino community. We'll see what happens after Trump, yet I would be very surprised if one election leads to a new party, as we're already seeing GOP leaders start to split with Trump as they're reading the polls (e.g.: Latest stimulus negotiations and now the bizarre election delay call).

New party systems don’t mean replacement of parties but just very different coalitions and policy goals .

[OSR stands with Israel]

I don't think Texas becoming a battleground state is so much a testament to the GOP's demise rather a testament to the changing dynamics of the State in terms of the increasing Latino community. We'll see what happens after Trump, yet I would be very surprised if one election leads to a new party, as we're already seeing GOP leaders start to split with Trump as they're reading the polls (e.g.: Latest stimulus negotiations and now the bizarre election delay call).

New party systems don’t mean replacement of parties but just very different coalitions and policy goals .


If you define it that way, I think there may have been more than 6 systems then...

Not really these party systems are defined like that


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_system


Look At the US part

[OSR stands with Israel]

Honestly, I think there's some pretty sound data which suggests the sixth party system has been over for a while, if you define it as starting in 1968. I like to think of 1968 to 1988 as an "era", and 1992 to present as another era. Others consider 68 to 88 as a "dealignment period" before the sixth era, which started in 1992. The really woke people (and Wikipedia) think the sixth era started in 1968 and still continues today. We might have a better idea in twenty years.

1968-1980 is like 2008-present a dealigning era But still during that era the political norms and consensus created in the new deal were still there .


The Reagan era pretty much inaugurated a new era which you might call the neoliberal era which was dominant until 2008 , but even  since 2008 it still has been more or less the accepted consensus. Trump in a way like Carter mark a break from the consensus in rhetoric and some policy changes(airline deregulation and tarrifs on China) but overall govern like a new deal democrat/neo liberal republican

[OSR stands with Israel]

Honestly, I think there's some pretty sound data which suggests the sixth party system has been over for a while, if you define it as starting in 1968. I like to think of 1968 to 1988 as an "era", and 1992 to present as another era. Others consider 68 to 88 as a "dealignment period" before the sixth era, which started in 1992. The really woke people (and Wikipedia) think the sixth era started in 1968 and still continues today. We might have a better idea in twenty years.

I think the period between 1992-1994 is likely when we entered a seventh party system. One based on urban vs rural. As much as people like to talk about 2016 it was really 1992 when Democrat flipped suburban counties like Ventura, Bucks, and Westchester. 1994 was when Republicans started eating in to Democratic rural areas specifically in Appalachia and white voters in the black belt region.

That really didnt happen till 2000.House races in Appalachia in 94 were Democratic




Even look at the seante race in PA in 1994


or VA