Recent polls suggest only 30 per cent of voters in Texas support a 'Texit' – or a Texan exit from the United States.
But campaigners, buoyed by the United Kingdom’s recent decision to 'Brexit' the European Union, believe their cause is gaining momentum.
“The Texas Nationalist Movement (TNM) supports the peaceful and legal separation of Texas from the United States” Ryan Thorson told SBS.
“We do not was a civil war... We want a referendum.”
The TNM claims to be the largest independence movement in the United States and is campaigning for the Texas Governor to call a simple 'yes' or 'no' ballot asking voters ‘should Texas leave the United States of America?’
“We’re very optimistic that if we got that referendum we would win," Mr Thorson said.
“We’re very, very positive about that.”
“Over time, this pimple on the backside of the United States – called the federal government – grew and grew and grew until now it’s a raging, infected boil that needs to be lanced.”
Texas was its own independent country from 1836 to 1845 and its $2.1 trillion a year economy is the eighth largest in the world.
Taxation, border security and what Texans describe as 'federal Government overreach' eroding rights under the constitution are key campaign themes for the TNM.
Retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Steve Baysinger says America is headed towards a giant iceberg “and Texas is the only lifeboat left”.
“One dollar goes out of the state of Texas, 83 cents comes back into the state of Texas,” he said.
“That’s not a good deal.
“We don’t want to give money to (Washington) DC so that it goes to California, we want to keep money here in Texas to grow and build Texas.”
“Over time, this pimple on the backside of the United States – called the federal government – grew and grew and grew until now it’s a raging, infected boil that needs to be lanced," he said.
“If Hillary Clinton is elected, I think that Texas will speed up its move towards independence exponentially.”
His daughter Carly was on a school visit to London when the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union.
She brought home a stack of newspapers for her dad, which now take pride of place in his study alongside a red 'make Texas a country again' cap and below a framed replica of the constitution and the second amendment.
“Brexit was amazing because everyone said: 'not gonna happen' – but it did and it gave us a major shot in the arm.
“I can’t say enough good stuff about Brexit, it was really, really encouraging for the people of Texas.”
While there is nothing in the United States constitution, the Texas constitution or federal law to prevent the state from leaving the union, there is some legal uncertainty about what a “Texit” would look like.
“I can’t say enough good stuff about Brexit, it was really, really encouraging for the people of Texas.”
TNM policy documents claim the state is wealthy enough to preserve “every program, every job, current military enlistment, every department, every facility, every military base every function, every pension and every contract without reduction” in the event of a vote to leave.
They’ve also published polling suggesting a majority of the state’s Republicans, half of independent voters and over one-third of Democrats believe that Texas would be better off as an independent nation.
When a Texas independence referendum fell just two votes short of becoming an official Republican Party policy, the Texas Democrat Party ridiculed the party as “a bunch of crackpots and traitors”.
But for Steve, the relationship with the United States is contractual and his loyalties are with Texas.
“Do we want to stay and take it, or do we stand up and say ‘we’re done, we’re out, that’s it’?”
“We were a republic once, we can do it again.”
