Texas will have its say. Looking ahead to the 2016 election calendar, the Dallas Morning News’ Gromer Jeffers Jr. points out that because Texas’ primary is set for March 1, the state will have a hand in choosing the nominees for both parties.

“Usually, by the time Texas voters get to the presidential dance, the music has stopped playing,” Jeffers notes. “With a couple of exceptions, Democrats and Republicans pick their nominees based on the results of elections in early contest states like Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. Texas is the after-party that all the cool folks skip. Next year promises to be different.”

That’s because there’s a strong likelihood that one or both parties’ nominations will still be up for grabs.

“Texas holds its 2016 primary election on March 1, part of a Super Tuesday grab bag that’s also been dubbed the SEC primary, a nod to states with schools that compete athletically in the Southeastern Conference,” he explains. “With the field of Republican candidates at 14 and growing, it’s unlikely that one candidate will emerge from the pack and secure the nomination before March 1. That means the Texas GOP primary could well be a critical contest, with its huge bounty of delegates shaping the race for the White House.”

He doesn’t go into the Democratic primary, but more and more, it’s looking less and less as if Hillary Clinton truly has a lock on the nomination. If Bernie Sanders should surge, or Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley comes from behind, it could still be a race on that ballot, as well.

“The last time Texas had a relevant presidential primary was 2008, when Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton staged a ferocious fight that captivated Texans and the rest of the nation,” Jeffers writes. But “the last Texas GOP presidential contest to matter was in 1976, when Ronald Reagan stunned Gerald Ford to win all 96 delegates in the state Republican Party’s first binding primary.”

And this is all good news for Texans. We won’t be taken for granted.

In recent presidential election cycles, Texas has been a destination for candidates looking for cash, rather than votes. Presidential contenders might have made some perfunctory campaign stops in the big cities, but they weren’t on the ground long and they weren’t here fighting for votes. We can expect to spend some face-time with our next commander-in-chief.

Next year, however, they’ll need us for more than money. And particularly on the GOP side, they’ll be playing up their Texas ties — whether it’s Jeb Bush, whose son is Land Commissioner George P. Bush; or Sen. Rand Paul, who was raised in Texas, or even former Texas Gov. Rick Perry — they’ll all be looking for that Lone Star connection.

The first 2016 votes will be cast in the Iowa caucuses on Feb. 1. Those are followed by the New Hampshire primaries on Feb 9, and South Carolina on Feb. 20. That leaves only Feb. 23’s Nevada caucuses until Super Tuesday on March 1.

And that’s when Texas will weigh in.