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What is TEXIT?
The campaign to restore Texas independence, decided by a lawful vote of the people of Texas.
TEXIT, defined
Texas, deciding its own future.
TEXIT is the campaign to restore Texas independence. It's the effort to win Texans a direct vote on whether Texas should govern itself again as a free and independent nation, instead of being governed from Washington. The word is short for “Texas Exit,” built the same way as Brexit, the name the world used when Britain voted to leave the European Union. Britain left a political union it had outgrown. Texas can do the same.
Independence is a status Texas held before, and it's reached through a process rather than a single dramatic moment. A statewide referendum puts the question to the people of Texas. After the vote comes negotiation and transition, handled the way every modern nation handles its own affairs. The vote is the starting gun.
Independence, not secession
The right word for an ordinary act of self-government.
Most people searching for this type “Texas secession” or “can Texas secede.” It's a fair question and it deserves a straight answer, so we'll meet it in those words before we set them aside. Secession is a term weighed down by 1861 and the Confederacy. Independence is the word the world uses when a people choose to govern themselves. Scotland held an independence referendum. Britain pursued independence from the European Union. More than 140 nations have become self-governing since 1945, and not one of them called it secession.
Texas held this status before. From 1836 to 1845 it was a free and independent nation, recognized by the United States, France, Britain, and the Netherlands, until its people voted to join the union. The Texas Constitution still calls Texas “a free and independent State.” Independence means reclaiming a sovereignty Texas once exercised, not inventing a new one. More on why we say independence, not secession.
The law
Can Texas legally do this?
Yes. There's no clause in the U.S. Constitution that forbids a state from leaving. Article I, Section 10 is where the Framers listed what states cannot do, and they were thorough. Leaving isn't on the list. The Tenth Amendment reserves to the states and the people every power the states never handed to Washington, and the power to hold a state by force was never handed over.
The one case opponents fall back on is Texas v. White, decided in 1869. It was a lawsuit about bonds. Its “indestructible Union” line was a comment, not the binding holding, and the opinion's own author wrote that the union could be dissolved through the consent of the states. The block on Texas independence has never been the law. The right to decide was never Washington's to give. Texans hold it already, the way they always have.
The path
How TEXIT happens.
There are no secret clauses and no shortcuts. Where there's a legal path, it has to be followed, and that path runs through the Texas Legislature, which can put the question on the ballot, and then through the people, who answer it. Under Article 1, Section 2 of the Texas Constitution, all political power is inherent in the people, who hold the inalienable right to reform their government as they see fit. TEXIT asks the Legislature to let Texans exercise that right in a referendum.
On its own
Would Texas make it on its own?
Texas is already the eighth-largest economy on Earth, ahead of Canada, Russia, Italy, and South Korea. It produces more oil and gas than most countries, and more wind power than any other state. Its ports move the freight and its companies anchor a market that runs on its own strength. The harder question was never whether Texas could survive as an independent nation. It's how much faster it grows once it keeps what it now sends to Washington and answers to no capital but its own.
Every one of those objections has a full answer in the case for independence, including whether the economy holds up and what happens to Social Security and Medicare for the Texans who paid in for decades.
largest economy on Earth, bigger than Canada or Russia.
U.S. producer of oil, gas, and wind power.
Texans serving in the U.S. armed forces.
Who's behind TEXIT
A movement, in every county in Texas.
The Texas Nationalist Movement leads it. TNM has organized for Texas independence since 2005, in all 254 counties, and more than 670,200 Texans have registered their support. This is not a fringe position. In July 2022, SurveyUSA found that 66% of likely Texas voters would vote for Texas to leave the union. The dominant party in Texas has written an independence referendum into its platform three times.
Go deeper
Follow the argument all the way down.
Common questions
The questions people ask first.
- What is TEXIT?
- TEXIT is the campaign to restore Texas independence: winning Texans a direct vote on whether Texas should govern itself again as a free and independent nation. The word is short for "Texas Exit," built the same way as Brexit. Read more
- Can Texas legally secede from the United States?
- Yes. Nothing in the U.S. Constitution forbids a state from leaving, and the Tenth Amendment reserves that decision to the states and the people. We use the word "independence," but the legal answer to the question people ask is yes. Read more
- Is it legal for Texas to secede?
- There is no federal law and no Supreme Court ruling that closes the door. Texas v. White was a bond case, and its own author wrote that the union could be dissolved through the consent of the states. Read more
- Why say "independence" instead of "secession"?
- Independence is the accurate word and the one the world uses. Secession carries the weight of 1861. Texas was a free and independent nation before 1845, so this is a restoration of sovereignty Texas already held. Read more
- How would TEXIT actually happen?
- A bill in the Texas Legislature puts the question on the ballot, and a statewide referendum decides it. Under Article 1, Section 2 of the Texas Constitution, that decision belongs to the people of Texas. Read more
The decision belongs to Texans.
Independence is the people of Texas deciding their own future, the same right Scotland exercised at the ballot box and the same one Britain used to leave the European Union. Add your name, and help put the question to a vote.