History
"When A.R.T. started, being a Republican in Texas was pretty lonely work."
- John Armstrong
Associated Republicans of Texas traces its roots back to 1974, when Republicans suffered a massive defeat at the polls. When the smoke cleared after that fateful November night, Republicans were left with only three state senators and fourteen state representatives in the Texas Legislature. It got worse down the ballot - only one of Texas' 254 counties had a Republican sheriff, and of the over one thousand county commissioners throughout the state, only nineteen were Republicans. 
That election was clearly a turning point in modern Texas politics. After making strides towards a two-party system in Texas beginning with John Tower in the early 1960s, Republicans in Texas has been dealt what seemed like a fatal blow.
But just four months after the election. One hundred dedicated Republicans gathered in a motel near DFW airport in Dallas to begin picking up the pieces and to lay the groundwork for a remarkable comeback. At that meeting in March of 1975, Associated Republicans of Texas was formed.
Assessing the damage, the founders decided that what was necessary to halt the Democrat offensive was to focus on rebuilding the party from the grass roots up. They committed to putting their time and money behind the two major objectives that had to be achieved for Texas to become a two-party state:
- Launch an immediate offensive to recapture the seats lost in the devastating 1974 defeat and to protect the remaining Republican incumbents; and,
- Elect a team of local officials that in the future could advance into the legislature and statewide positions.
In the fourteen election cycles since that devastating defeat, our strategy has resulted in consistent gains at the ballot box. In 1996, our efforts yielded the first Republican majority in the State Senate since Reconstruction. This was soon followed two years later with the GOP completing their sweep of all statewide elected offices. And, in 2002, the new Republican majority in the Texas House elected the first Republican Speaker.
Associated Republicans of Texas grown from that 1975 meeting in size and achievement. With it's 7,000 members having played an integral role in making Texas a Republican state for the first time since Reconstruction, this new era requires that A.R.T. continue to work not only to get Republicans elected but also serve as a defining voice of leadership in Texas.
With nearly 30 years of experience in electing Republicans, ART is committed to preserving our hard earned majority and providing our elected officials with the tools they need to succeed in governing.
