1968 United States presidential election in Texas

1968 United States presidential election in Texas

← 1964 November 5, 1968 1972 →
Turnout	75.62% (of registered voters) 48.70% (of voting age population)[1]
Nominee Hubert Humphrey Richard Nixon George Wallace Party Democratic Republican American Independent Home state Minnesota New York[a] Alabama Running mate Edmund Muskie Spiro Agnew Curtis LeMay Electoral vote 25 0 0 Popular vote 1,266,804 1,227,844 584,269 Percentage 41.14% 39.87% 18.97%
County results Congressional district results Precinct results Humphrey   30–40%   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90%   90-100% Nixon   30–40%   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90% Wallace   30–40%   40–50%   50–60%   60–70% Humphrey/Nixon Tie   30–40%   40–50% Humphrey/Wallace Tie   30–40%   40–50% No Vote
President before election Lyndon B. Johnson Democratic Elected President Richard Nixon Republican

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Government
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The 1968 United States presidential election in Texas was held on November 5, 1968. All 50 states and the District of Columbia, were part of the 1968 United States presidential election. The state chose 25 electors to represent them in the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

The Democratic Party candidate, incumbent Vice President Hubert Humphrey, very narrowly carried Texas with 41.14% of the vote, giving him the state's 25 electoral votes.^[2] However, he narrowly lost the general election to Republican candidate, former Vice President Richard Nixon. This was the first occasion when Texas had not backed the winning presidential candidate since voting for John W. Davis in 1924, and the last such occasion until 1992. This is also the most recent presidential election in which Texas would back a losing Democratic candidate, and the penultimate time it voted Democratic.

When Texas "favorite son" Lyndon B. Johnson withdrew from the 1968 election in March, it was generally thought that the Republican Party would have a good chance of winning Texas despite losing by 27 points in 1964 and the presence of former Alabama Governor George Wallace running as a candidate for the American Independent Party, a far-right political party. Wallace was known for his pro-segregationist politics, which would win him five southern states in the general election.^[3] However, in Humphrey's favor was the abolition of the poll tax via the Twenty-Fourth Amendment that permitted previously disfranchised Mexican-Americans^[3] to register and vote for the first time. The Mexican-American South Texas counties of Duval, Webb and Jim Hogg had been among the four most Democratic in the nation in 1964,^[4] and despite polling fewer than eighteen thousand out of a state total exceeding three million votes, those three counties would provide over thirty percent of Humphrey's margin and Duval was again the most Democratic county in the nation.

On September 21, a poll by Joe Belden gave Nixon and Humphrey each thirty percent of the vote and Wallace twenty-five percent.^[5] In the period between Belden's poll and the election, Wallace lost considerable support largely to Humphrey, owing chiefly to Democrat Preston Smith's "resolutely law-and-order" campaign for the governorship.^[6] This, along with strong loyalty of Texas Democrats much more conservative than the liberal Humphrey,^[7] was sufficient to allow the Democrats to carry the state. Exit polls suggest Humphrey gained a third of the non-Hispanic white vote in Texas,^[7] vis-à-vis around 25 percent in Virginia and less than 20% in all other southern states.^[8]

Wallace, who had been rivaling the two major party nominees in early polls, came in a distant third, with 18.97 percent of the vote, his lowest in any former Confederate state. Wallace did win 21 of Texas' 254 counties, which was enough for him to also carry one congressional district. Wallace's base of support was primarily in rural East Texas, which is more culturally tied to the Deep South than the rest of the state, although he did carry four counties in the West Texas region, with sparsely populated Loving County being the westernmost county in the country to vote for Wallace.

45% of white voters supported Nixon, 34% supported Humphrey, and 22% supported Wallace.^[9][10][11]

• Glasscock
• Panola

Humphrey won 13 out of the 23 congressional districts in Texas, Nixon won 9, including six held by Democrats, and Wallace won 1, which was held by a Democrat.^[12]

Humphrey performed best in the state's cities and rural areas, whereas Nixon performed best in the state's suburban areas. In cities, Humphrey won 43.5% of the vote to Nixon's 42.3% and Wallace's 14.2%. In the suburbs, Nixon won 41.9% of the vote to Humphrey's 35.3% and Wallace's 22.8%. In rural areas, Humphrey won 41.4% of the vote to Nixon's 34.5% and Wallace's 23.6%.^[13] In the state's metropolitan areas, Humphrey overwhelmingly won the African American vote in inner urban precincts, while Nixon won the inner suburbs by wide margins.^[14]

With his win in Texas, the state was the only former Confederate State in 1968 to vote Democratic. As of the 2024 presidential election^[update], this is the last occasion the following counties have supported the Democratic candidate: Blanco, Nacogdoches, Rockwall and Scurry.^[15] The 1968 election is also the last when the following Wallace counties have not voted Republican: Crane, Glasscock, Montgomery and Rusk.^[15] It was the only election between 1924 and 2012 when Val Verde County backed a losing presidential candidate.^[16]

This was the last time a Republican won the presidency while losing Texas. This was also the last time until 2008 that a Northern Democrat won any state in the former Confederacy.

• United States presidential elections in Texas

• Black, Earl; Black, Merle (1992). The Vital South: How Presidents Are Elected. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0674941306.
• Tarrance Jr., V. Lance (1970). Texas Precinct Votes '68. Dallas, Texas: Southern Methodist University Press. LCCN 75-125978.