There's nothing partisan about picking up trash or fixing streets. Democrats and Republicans alike can do it.

That's part of the reason municipal and school board elections in Texas are nonpartisan.

But as local issues have become more complex and political operatives shrewder in building organizations, partisanship is seeping into a process designed to find the candidate of the people, not of a political party.

Nowhere is that more prevalent than in North Texas, where the 2017 municipal and school board elections were staging grounds for numerous partisan battles. Democrats — from the state party to local branches — backed candidates, seeing city councils and school boards as training grounds for future leaders. Republicans, in some instances caught off guard, hustled to respond.

After the politicking was over, the Texas Republican Party in June approved a historic resolution requiring its staff to develop a plan for endorsing local candidates.

Partisan involvement could change the face of municipal and school elections across Texas, making every elected post a grab bag and potentially splintering the unique coalitions that exist in city government.

Newly elected Texas Republican Party chairman James Dickey said the GOP had no choice, given that Democrats were establishing beachheads in local government and that issues important to Texans emanate from city halls and school boards.

Other Republicans worry that cities are increasing the practice of "legislating through ordinances." They cite the city of Austin effectively pushing out ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft, anti-fracking ordinances in Denton, and "ban the box" policies in Texas that prohibit employers from checking an applicant's criminal background.

The GOP-led Legislature and Gov. Greg Abbott are warring with cities and counties over local control, a theme that could also be pushing Republicans into nonpartisan environs.

Perhaps more critical: Most of the taxes Texans pay are levied by local entities.

"It's important that we have conservative leadership at all levels of government," Dickey said.

Democrats agree that local governments are critical, thus the need for more progressive leaders in cities, towns and other taxing districts where they can stash party leaders of the future.

"You've got to build from the ground up," said Manny Garcia, deputy executive director of the Texas Democratic Party. "Your city councils, school boards are great places to look for those people."

That's the goal of Project LIFT (Local Investment in the Future of Texas), a program sponsored by the Texas Democratic Party that encourages participation in nonpartisan races.

"When you're trying to protect things that are important to hardworking families, city councils and school boards are important lines of defense," Garcia said. "We get involved in a lot of races that the Republicans don't know about."

But some leaders from both parties aren't sold on injecting partisan politics into nonpartisan races. They worry that it taints a form of government that thrives on bipartisan cooperation.

"This is not the place where partisan politics belong," said former Plano mayor and state Sen. Florence Shapiro. "The government closest to the people should remain nonpartisan."

People, not parties

In city elections, alliances aren't made based on political parties, but on common interests, coalition building and neighborhood mobilization.

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings and former Mayor Ron Kirk are Democrats who got elected with help from the city's mostly Republican business elite. Former Mayor Laura Miller, also a Democrat, cruised to victories as an establishment outsider propelled by Republican voters in North Dallas, as well as her north Oak Cliff base.

Tom Leppert campaigned in the Democratic strongholds of southern Dallas for his 2007 mayoral victory, before leaving office to run as a Republican for the U.S. Senate seat won by Sen. Ted Cruz.

While Dallas city elections are still mostly free of partisanship, political parties influenced at least one Dallas ISD race this year.

Incumbent Dustin Marshall's victory over Lori Kirkpatrick was lauded by Dallas County Republican Party Chairman Phillip Huffines in a news release from GOP headquarters. Texas Democrats, including supporters of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, were working against Marshall in favor of Kirkpatrick.

Democrats also backed candidates in Lewisville and Grand Prairie. But it was the bodacious move by Collin County Democrats that forced Republicans to take notice.

Democrats lent their support to city council and school board races in Plano, McKinney, Melissa, Frisco and Allen.

Collin County has long been a solid Republican area, but demographic changes, including West Coast residents moving to the area for jobs, are giving Democrats hope of breaking through.

Republicans say they are confident they can hold off Democrats in partisan races but had no official policy for nonpartisan contests — until now.

"This is a new front in our races with Democrats," said Neal Katz, executive director of the Collin County Republican Party. "We're getting a lot of people in from California, and the demographics are changing."

Katz said he supports the state party's mandate to study how to influence local elections.

"It's going to be the new reality, especially in Texas," he said. "You have to keep being proactive. You have to rally the troops."

Meanwhile, Collin County Democratic Party Chairman Mike Rawlins said local Democrats will study the impact of their foray into municipal elections.

Of the 15 candidates Democrats endorsed or listed in voter's guides, two were elected to the Collin County Community College Board and one to the McKinney City Council.

Rawlins conceded that a lot of people are uneasy about the growing partisan influence in city elections.

"As far as we're concerned, we need more progressives on school boards, city councils and the community college," he said. "So we need to play some kind of active role."

Rawlins added that he didn't know if the effort would lead to more public endorsements of candidates from the local party.

"We're evaluating whether or not that was the right thing to do," he said.

Bad precedent

Some former elected municipal and school board leaders are decrying the onslaught of partisanship in so-called nonpartisan contests.

"Once one party gets engaged, the other will follow," said Shapiro, the former Plano mayor. "Each party is politicizing local issues much more than ever before. Once the process begins, there's very little you can do to stop it. It's happening all across the country."

Even before Project LIFT, many municipal and school board leaders graduated to partisan politics. Many Texas legislators were once nonpartisan officials.

State Rep. Rafael Anchia, D-Dallas, once a DISD trustee, agrees with Shapiro.

In this year's board elections, he backed Marshall over Kirkpatrick, essentially bucking his party.

"There's always been a little partisanship in these elections, but my view is that in nonpartisan races, you go with the best candidate," he said.

Anchia said he hopes Dallas continues to take a nonpartisan approach to its elections.

"People want to wear their Dallas jerseys for these elections and not their R or D jerseys," he said. "That's a good thing."