LBJ rule
n.—Gloss: a law that says a politician currently holding an elected office can run simultaneously for re-election to that office and for election to a new office. Note: LBJ refers to President Lyndon Baines Johnson. «Using what is known in Texas as the LBJ rule, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Clute, is seeking re-election in his 14th Congressional District as well as running for president.» —“Ron Paul presidential/congressional podcast” by R.G. Ratcliffe Chron.com: Texas Politics Feb. 9, 2008. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Ray, a teacher at a bilingual elementary school near Dallas, Texas, shares the Spanish term his family uses for gossiping after a party: saca garra. Spanish garra means “claw” or “talon,” and sacar la garra is used on either...
Old. Elderly. Senior. Why are we so uncomfortable when we talk about reaching a certain point in life? An 82-year-old seeks a more positive term to describe how she feels about her age. And: a linguist helps solve a famous kidnapping case, using the...
This doesn’t actually explain what it means…. I assume that LBJ is a reference to something that president Johnson did, but what exactly IS the LBJ rule?
It’s just a citation, Isabelle. I’ve added more detail for you, however.
I recently read volumes 2 & 3 of Robert Caro’s biography of LBJ , which covered his time in the Senate and went into great depth about Texas politics .
Without being able to find a specific reference (the 2 books come to about 2k pages in total), but mindful of the way he could arrange matters in Texas for his own advantage , I would hazard a guess that the rule was devised for LBJ’s benefit , one side or the other of WW2.