Raza Unida Party Records

The Raza Unida Party (RUP) was first established as a third political party in Crystal City, Texas, in January, 1970. As an alternative to the two-party system in Texas, Raza Unida sought social, economic, and political self-determination for Chicanos, other minorities, and the disenfranchised through local and, later, state politics. At its start, the party organized around county, local, and school district elections in south Texas; winning city council elections in Cotulla, Carrizo Springs, and Crystal City in April 1970. Also victorious in Crystal City were party founder José Angel Gutiérrez and two other candidates running on the RUP ticket for school board positions.

Meetings were held in 1971 to discuss the party's possibilities of entering state electoral politics. The decision to place the independent party on the 1972 general election ballot was made at its first state convention on October 30, 1971, in San Antonio, Texas. Delegates from nine Texas counties representing such urban areas as San Antonio (Bexar County) and Fort Worth (Tarrant County) were in attendance. During 1972 party members conducted petition and voter registration drives, and campaigned for six state-wide candidates including Ramsey Muñiz for governor.

By November 1972, the party had not only been certified for a place on the general election ballot, but had been organized in more than forty counties, and had candidates running for district, senatorial, state representative, and school board positions on the RUP ticket. Although all of the Raza Unida candidates lost in the election, Ramsey Muñiz received 214,118 votes, winning 6 percent of the vote in the governor?s race

Raza Unida continued to organize and ran gubernatorial candidates Ramsey Muñiz in 1974 and Mario Compean in 1978 as well as other candidates for offices at all levels of government. The party also challenged an election law requiring a party to obtain 20 percent of the overall vote, instead of 2 percent of the vote needed to remain on the ballot. The law was overruled by the U.S. Department of Justice in 1976, and in the same ruling, RUP was allowed to hold primary elections without having to pay filing fees.

Despite losses in the gubernatorial elections, Raza Unida established itself as a minority third party with a liberal party platform in statewide and local politics, and became a dominant political force in some Texas communities.