26 0 51.14% 47.97% | 2,082,319 1,953,300 Start date November 2, 1976 | |
 | ||
Carter
40-50%
50-60%
60-70%
70-80%
80-90% Ford
50-60%
60-70%
70-80% | ||
The 1976 United States presidential election in Texas was held on November 2, 1976.
Contents
Texas was won by Jimmy Carter of Georgia with 51.14% of the vote, giving him 26 electoral votes. He also beat the incumbent President Gerald Ford in the general election. This was the last time that a Democrat won Texas.
Carter’s southern roots as a former governor of Georgia struck a cord with many voters in Texas, along with strong anti-Republican sentiment following Watergate. Carter carried 191 of the state’s 254 counties, including seventy-four which have never voted Democrat since. Still, this was a relatively weak performance for a victorious Democratic candidate in Texas, and two factors can be identified. One was Carter’s underwhelming performance in the more rural counties, and the second being President Ford’s strong performances in Dallas and Harris counties, and some of their surrounding suburbs. The rise of the Republican Party in some of these areas would cumulate in Ronald Reagan’s win in the state four years later.