The 1988 United States presidential election in Texas took place on November 8, 1988. All fifty states and the District of Columbia, were part of the 1988 United States presidential election. Texas voters chose 29 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president.
Incumbent Vice President George H. W. Bush won his home state against Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis. Bush ran with Indiana Senator Dan Quayle as Vice President, and Dukakis ran with Texas Senator Lloyd Bentsen.
Texas voted for Bush by a solid 12.6% margin. Texas had been considered a competitive, albeit Republican-leaning, state in the run-up to the election.
Background
Support for the Republican Party of Texas grew during the 1980s. Republican nominee Bill Clements won the governorship in 1978 and returned to the office in 1986 after losing in the 1982 election. Between 1978 and 1986, Republican membership in the Texas House of Representatives rose from 22 to 56, in the United States House of Representatives from 4 to 10, and in local and judicial offices from 0 to 504.
Campaign
Primary
Dukakis won 38% of the white vote. The racial composition of the Democratic primary was 67% white, 23% black, and 11% Hispanic, and 45% of white voters participated in the Republican primary.
Dukakis selected Texas U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen, who had previously been considered in 1984, to serve as his vice-presidential running mate. U.S. Senator Phil Gramm nominated Bush at the Republican National Convention.
General
Bentsen was running for reelection in the concurrent senatorial election against Republican nominee Beau Boulter. The Bush campaign and Texas GOP were initially interested in aiding Boulter, but later pursued a Texas Ticket strategy in which they promoted voting for both Bush in the presidential election and Bentsen in the senatorial election. Bentsen criticized the strategy on October 22, stating that the "Republicans are trying to peddle the notion that you can vote twice for Texas by voting for George Bush and Lloyd Bentsen". Bentsen won reelection despite the Republican victory in the presidential election.
Among white voters, 61% supported Bush while 38% supported Dukakis.
As of the 2024 presidential election, and despite Bill Clinton's two ensuing nationwide election victories (while holding the Republican margin of victory in Texas to single digits both times), the 1988 election constitutes the last occasion when Lee County, Calhoun County and San Saba County have supported the Democratic presidential nominee.
Results
Results by county
Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic
- Bastrop
- Baylor
- Briscoe
- Burleson
- Caldwell
- Calhoun
- Cameron
- Camp
- Cass
- Clay
- Comanche
- Concho
- Crosby
- Culberson
- Delta
- El Paso
- Falls
- Fannin
- Foard
- Franklin
- Galveston
- Hall
- Hardeman
- Hardin
- Haskell
- Hudspeth
- Jasper
- Karnes
- Kent
- Kleberg
- Knox
- Lee
- Limestone
- Marion
- McCulloch
- Menard
- Milam
- Mitchell
- Montague
- Navarro
- Nolan
- Nueces
- Polk
- Rains
- Red River
- Reeves
- Sabine
- San Augustine
- San Jacinto
- San Patricio
- San Saba
- Shelby
- Terrell
- Throckmorton
- Titus
- Travis
- Trinity
- Tyler
- Waller