The Jaybird–Woodpecker War (1888–89) was a feud between two United States Democratic Party factions fighting for political control of Fort Bend County, Texas, in the southeast part of the state. The Jay Bird Democratic Association was an all-White political organization formed in 1887 by young men to challenge and regain control of the county government from the biracial coalition of former White and Black Republicans (the Woodpeckers) who had dominated the county Democratic party and county government since 1869. Murders and political assassinations were committed against persons in each faction in 1888 and 1889.

The Jaybird-Woodpecker War ended when the Jaybirds defeated the Black-supported Woodpeckers in a battle in Richmond, Texas, the county seat of Fort Bend County, in August 1889. With support from Texas Governor Lawrence Ross and the Houston Light Guards (the first uniformed state militia company formed after the Civil War), a complete reorganization of county government resulted in the removal or resignation of all Woodpecker officials and the selection of Jaybirds or persons acceptable to the Jaybirds to fill those offices.

After a turbulent era of more than 20 years, the White citizenry once more controlled the government. The effects of the post-Reconstruction feud echoed in local politics for decades. The Jaybird victory basically restored White supremacy in the county. They disfranchised the Black voters in the county by using a "Whites-only" ballot in preliminary party voting from 1889 until 1953. The Jaybird organization and the disfranchisement spread to other counties in the state and remained active politically until the civil rights movement. This device lasted until 1950, when Willie Melton and Arizona Fleming won a lawsuit against the practice in United States District Court, though it was overturned on appeal. In 1953, they ultimately won their suit when the Supreme Court of the United States declared the Jaybird primary unconstitutional in Terry v. Adams, the last of the white primary cases.