His governorship is notable for reestablishing local white supremacist rule in Texas, and the disfranchisement of African American voters, following Reconstruction.

[6] The removal of the five judges became a cause célèbre and made their names famous, synonymous in the public eye with resistance to Union occupation.

Richard Coke leveraged resentment at Union occupation to construct a Democratic electoral coalition that ruled Texas for more than 100 years.

[9] As recounted by the Texas State Historical Association, in response, Disregarding the court ruling, the Democrats secured the keys to the second floor of the Capitol and took possession.

A telegram from President Ulysses S. Grant said that he did not feel warranted in sending federal troops to keep Davis in office.

[10] Coke's administration was marked by vigorous action to balance the budget and by a revised state constitution adopted in 1876.

Having once been removed from the Texas Supreme Court, as governor, he appointed all its members, naming as Chief Justice Oran Roberts (after the US Senate had refused to seat him).

Once the new Constitution had been negotiated, Coke resigned his office in December 1876, following his election by the legislature to the United States Senate.

By the time of his resignation, Texas Democrats had united with white supremacist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan to maintain political control of the state.

Historians in the state praised Coke for this, and consolidated a version of Texas history that downplayed or omitted the liberal government that had preceded him.

He was a constructive statesman; he served his people with true fidelity and left Texas to rich heritage of a fruitful and useful like.