Editing John Nance Garner (section)

==Texas politics==
[[File:Garner, Hon. J.W. (TX) Trim.jpg|thumb|left|Portrait by [[C. M. Bell]], 1903]]
Garner was elected to the [[Texas House of Representatives]] in 1898 and reelected in 1900. During his service, the legislature selected a [[state flower]] for Texas. Garner fervently supported the [[Opuntia|prickly pear cactus]], and thus earned the nickname "Cactus Jack". The [[bluebonnet (plant)|bluebonnet]] was ultimately chosen.

Garner also drafted a resolution that would have divided [[Texas divisionism|Texas into five states]]. It passed the Texas House but was vetoed by the governor.<ref name=Neal />

{{main|Disfranchisement after Reconstruction era}}

In 1901, Garner voted for the [[Poll tax (United States)|poll tax]], a measure passed by the Democratic-dominated legislature to make voter registration more difficult and reduce the number of minority and poor voters on the voting rolls.<ref name="yale">"Nixon v. Condon. Disfranchisement of the Negro in Texas", ''The Yale Law Journal'', Vol. 41, No. 8, June 1932, p. 1212, {{JSTOR|791091}} accessed 21 March 2008</ref> This disfranchised most minority voters until the 1960s, and ended challenges to Democratic power; Texas became in effect a one-party state.<ref>[http://texaspolitics.laits.utexas.edu/6_5_3.html ''Texas Politics: Historical Barriers to Voting''], accessed 11 Apr 2008 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080402060131/http://texaspolitics.laits.utexas.edu/html/vce/0503.html |date=April 2, 2008 }}</ref>

Garner traveled parts of southern Texas controlled by the [[Political patronage|''patrón'' system]], currying political favor with the [[Political boss|land bosses]] who exercised near-complete control of the local people and local elections. His ''patrón'' allies created a gerrymandered district for him, the {{ushr|TX|15|d}}, shaped in a narrow strip reaching south to include tens of thousands of square miles of rural areas.<ref name="Minutaglio">{{cite book |last=Minutaglio |first=Bill |date=2021 |title=A Single Star and Bloody Knuckles: A History of Politics and Race in Texas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lYcHEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA68 |location= |publisher=University of Texas Press |pages=68–69 |isbn=9781477310366}}</ref>