Pretend to be a candidate for one of the 150 seats in the Texas House of
Representatives. The assignment consists of 3 parts:
Part I: Paper (85% of your grade) – 4 complete pages (maximum 5)
Part II: Speech (10% of your grade) – 1 complete page
Part III: Yard sign (5% of your grade) -1 full page
The first part of the assignment will consist of a paper answering the following questions:
- Go to the Texas Democratic Party’s and the Texas Republican Party’s websites and read about their
platforms. Briefly explain their political platform: what issues each political party supports and opposes. Then,
decide what political party you want to represent in your campaign and explain why.
Run as a member of one of the two major political parties in our country,
the Republican Party or the Democratic Party. If you have a different preference, that will be fine but please email me and let me know which one and why.
Go to http://www.tlc.state.tx.us/redist/redist.html Click on “Current Districts” and then select “State House”. Go
to Maps and click on Statewide Maps. Navigate the map of the 150 congressional districts in Texas. Based on
the political affiliation you chose and taking into consideration the information regarding the different economic
regions in Texas explained in chapter 1 of your textbook, pick the district that you would like to represent. Fully
explain why you decided to pick that particular district.
Tip: It will be easier to build your campaign if you pick a district whose incumbent is of the opposite political
party.
Important: Pay attention and do not confuse the U.S. House of Representatives and the Texas House of
Representatives! They are NOT the same
Sample Solution