26 0 55.28% 41.42% | 2,510,705 1,881,147 Start date November 4, 1980 | |
 | ||
The 1980 United States presidential election in Texas took place on November 4, 1980. All 50 states and the District of Columbia, were part of the 1980 United States presidential election. Texas voters chose 26 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the President and Vice President of the United States.
Texas was won by Ronald Reagan of California, who was running against incumbent President Jimmy Carter of Georgia. Reagan ran with former C.I.A. Director George H. W. Bush of Texas, and Carter ran with Vice President Walter Mondale of Minnesota. Despite Carter's victory in Texas in 1976, Reagan still won the state comfortably. The rest of the American South swung against Carter this election too, which can explain the switch. Also, unlike most of the Southern states that Reagan won by very narrow margins (except for Virginia and Florida), he carried Texas by a wide margin. Reagan also won the election nationally in a landslide, with Reagan carrying 489 electoral votes and 50.8% of the popular vote, Carter carrying 49 electoral votes and 41.0% of the popular vote, and independent John B. Anderson carrying 0 electoral votes and 6.6% of the popular vote. Carter's defeat is most likely because of the Stagflation of the 1970s and the Iran hostage crisis.