1972 United States presidential election in Texas

1972 United States presidential election in Texas

← 1968 November 7, 1972 1976 →
Turnout	66.59% (of registered voters) 44.90% (of voting age population)[1]
Nominee Richard Nixon George McGovern Party Republican Democratic Home state California South Dakota Running mate Spiro Agnew Sargent Shriver Electoral vote 26 0 Popular vote 2,298,896 1,154,291 Percentage 66.20% 33.24%
County Results Congressional District Results Nixon   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90% McGovern   50–60%   60–70%   80–90%
President before election Richard Nixon Republican Elected President Richard Nixon Republican

Elections in Texas
General elections 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Federal government Presidential elections 1848 1852 1856 1860 1872 1876 1880 1884 1888 1892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024 Presidential primaries Democratic 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024 Republican 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024 U.S. Senate 1846 1847 1851 1853 1857 1859 1859 sp 1870 1871 1875 1876 1881 1882 1887 1888 1892 sp 1893 1894 1899 1901 1905 1907 1911 1913 1913 sp 1916 1918 1922 1924 1928 1930 1934 1936 1940 1941 sp 1942 1946 1948 1952 1954 1957 sp 1958 1960 1961 sp 1964 1966 1970 1972 1976 1978 1982 1984 1988 1990 1993 sp 1994 1996 2000 2002 2006 2008 2012 2014 2018 2020 2024 2026 U.S. House of Representatives 1846 1849 1851 1853 1855 1857 1859 1866 1869 1870 1871 1872 1874 1876 1878 1879 6th sp 1880 1882 1884 1886 1887 2nd sp 1888 1890 1892 9th sp 1894 1896 11th sp 1898 1900 1901 6th sp 1902 4th sp 1903 8th sp 1904 1905 8th sp 1906 1908 1910 1912 1913 10th sp 1914 1916 1918 1919 12th sp 1920 1922 13th sp 1924 1926 1928 1930 17th sp 1931 14th sp 1932 1933 7th sp 8th sp 15th sp 1934 1936 1937 10th sp 1938 1940 1942 1944 1946 6th sp 1947 9th sp 16th sp 1948 15th sp 1950 18th sp 1951 13th sp 1952 7th sp 1954 1956 1958 1960 1961 20th sp 1962 4th sp 13th sp 1963 10th sp 1964 1966 8th sp 1968 3rd sp 1970 1972 1974 1976 1st sp 22nd sp 1978 1980 1982 1983 6th sp 1984 1985 1st sp 1986 1988 1989 12th sp 18th sp 1990 1991 3rd sp 1992 1994 1996 1997 28th sp 1998 2000 2002 2003 19th sp 2004 2006 22nd 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 27th sp 2020 2021 6th sp 2022 34th sp 2024 18th sp
State government Gubernatorial elections 1845 1847 1849 1851 1853 1855 1857 1859 1861 1863 1866 1866 1869 1873 1876 1878 1880 1882 1884 1886 1888 1890 1892 1894 1896 1898 1900 1902 1904 1906 1908 1910 1912 1914 1916 1918 1920 1922 1924 1926 1928 1930 1932 1934 1936 1938 1940 1942 1944 1946 1948 1950 1952 1954 1956 1958 1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1970 1972 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 2026 Lieutenant gubernatorial elections 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 Attorney General elections 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 Comptroller elections 2010 2014 2018 2022 Senate elections 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024 House of Representatives elections 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024 Constitutional amendments 1972 2005 2007 2021 2023
Austin Mayoral elections 2003 2006 2009 2012 2014 2018 2022 2024 Austin municipal elections 2022 2024
Corpus Christi Mayoral elections 2012 2014 2016 2017 sp 2018 2020
Dallas–Fort Worth Arlington mayoral elections 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 2021 2023 Dallas mayoral elections 1856 1857 1875 1904 1925 1961 1963 1965 1995 1999 2002 sp 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023 Dallas municipal elections 2015 2019 2021 Fort Worth mayoral elections 2003 2007 2009 2011 2015 2017 2019 2021 2023 Denton mayoral elections 2020 2022 Plano municipal elections 2017 2019 2021
El Paso Mayoral elections 2001 2003 2005 2009 2013 2017 2020 2024 Municipal elections 2017 2020 2024
Houston Mayoral elections 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2019 2023 Municipal elections 2005 2007 2009
Laredo Mayoral elections 2018 2022
Lubbock Mayoral elections 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024
San Antonio Mayoral elections 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 2021 2023 2025
Government
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The 1972 United States presidential election in Texas was held on November 7, 1972, as part of the 1972 United States presidential election. Incumbent Republican President Richard Nixon overwhelmingly won the state of Texas with 66.20% of the vote,^[2] to the Democratic Party candidate George McGovern's 33.24%, thus giving him the state's 26 electoral votes. This result made Texas 9.8% more Republican than the nation-at-large. This was the first time a Republican won the state of Texas since Texas-born Dwight D. Eisenhower won it in 1956, even as Democrat Dolph Briscoe won the gubernatorial election on the same Ballot.

Nixon's win in Texas made him the first ever Republican presidential candidate to break sixty percent of Texas' popular vote in a presidential election, surpassing former President Dwight D. Eisenhower's performance of 55.26% in 1956, and even native son Lyndon B. Johnson's 63.32% in 1964. Nixon is so far the only Republican candidate to break 65% of the state's popular vote. At the county level, 246 of Texas' 254 counties voted for Nixon, all by wide margins except heavily black Robertson County where Nixon won by a single vote. Nixon won 22 of Texas' 24 congressional districts – with the 18th (Harris County) and 20th (Bexar County) constituting the only congressional districts McGovern won anywhere in the former Confederacy. McGovern, however, did not win either county each of these districts were located in.

McGovern's only county wins came from the south Texas region along the U.S.-Mexico border and Cottle County in the northern part of the state, though even his performances here were underwhelming. In fact, in the oldest extant Democratic stronghold in the entire United States,^[3] Nixon became the only Republican since Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952 to win Dimmit County and Presidio County. This is also the last election in which Zavala County voted Republican,^[3] though that county did so even in 1960. Duval County, however, gave McGovern over 85 percent of the vote, which was the highest percentage of votes he received in any county nationally.^[4] 1972 was the third successive election when Duval proved the most Democratic county in the nation. He was the first Republican to ever carry La Salle, Hidalgo, Jim Wells, Willacy, Brooks, Cameron, Kenedy, and Nueces counties (all in South Texas), and the first since 1920 to carry Zavala County; and the first since 1928 to carry Dimmit, Frio, Kleberg, and San Patricio counties. He was the first Republican to carry many historically Democratic East Texas counties as well.

Nixon had previously narrowly lost Texas to John F. Kennedy in 1960 and had lost it narrowly again to Hubert Humphrey in 1968. However, as with the rest of the country in 1972, with the exception of Massachusetts and Washington, D.C., Texas voted for the Republican ticket of incumbent Nixon and Agnew.

As of the 2024 presidential election, this is the best Republican election performance in Texas, as well as the last time every single county in the Texas Triangle was won by the Republican candidate. Jefferson County would not vote Republican again until 2016, La Salle and Jim Wells counties until 2020, and Hidalgo and Willacy counties until 2024.