2000_United_States_presidential_election_in_Texas

2000 United States presidential election in Texas

2000 United States presidential election in Texas

Election in Texas


The 2000 United States presidential election in Texas took place on November 7, 2000, and was part of the 2000 United States presidential election. State voters chose 32 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Quick Facts Turnout, Nominee ...

Texas was won by the Republican Party candidate, the state's incumbent governor, George W. Bush, by a 21.32% margin of victory. This was the first time since 1928 that Cottle County voted Republican. Many counties that Bill Clinton won in 1996 swung towards Bush in this election, in part due to the increasingly conservative bent of rural areas and Bush's favorite son status within the state. Perhaps the most notable and surprising county to be won by Bush was the very liberal Travis County. Bush's win in the county is likely due to the somewhat strong showing of left-wing third-party candidate Ralph Nader, who got 10.37% of the vote on the Green ticket, his best showing in any Texas county. Had those voters voted for Gore, he would have narrowly won the county by 5.16% (52.04% to Bush's 46.88%).[2]

Results

More information Party, Candidate ...

By county

More information County, George W. Bush Republican ...

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

By congressional district

Bush won 20 of 30 congressional districts, including seven held by Democrats.[4]

More information District, Bush ...

Analysis

The 2000 election in Texas was a very partisan election, with nearly 60% of voters voting for the Republican Party candidate. The third party vote shrunk to a total of 2.7%, likely because Ross Perot was not on the ballot that year. The vast majority of counties voted heavily for Governor Bush as his approval rating and popularity in the state was high. Many of the long time rural Democratic counties, including those in East Texas along the border of Louisiana, swung Republican as the national Democratic Party moved further to the left. Texas Democrats are more moderate to conservative by national standards, and many had a favorable view towards Bush because of his bipartisan approach with the Democratic state legislature during his tenure as governor.

Bush carried 230 of Texas's 254 counties. He racked up big margins in the Texas Panhandle, East Texas, the Permian Basin, the Texas Hill Country, and the Gulf Coast. He won every major and mid-sized city with the exceptions of El Paso, Laredo, Brownsville, McAllen, and Beaumont, all of which were carried by Vice President Al Gore. Two thinly populated counties, Glasscock and Ochiltree, gave Bush over 90% of the vote, with the former being the strongest Republican voting county in 2000.[5] This marked the first time since 1956 that a Republican candidate won any of Texas's counties with over 90% of the vote, and the first time since Texas native Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964 any candidate has done so.

Vice President Al Gore, the Democratic Party candidate, performed strongly in South Texas, which is composed of a heavy Latino population, and the city of El Paso. Three counties in East Texas voted for Gore by narrow margins: Jefferson, Morris, and Newton. This was the worst performance for a Democrat in East Texas since the 1984 election.

The Green Party candidate Ralph Nader, had his best performance in Travis County, home to the state capital Austin, winning 10.37% of the vote. As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last time a Republican won this liberal Democratic-leaning county.[6] This is also the last time Robertson County, and the East Texas counties of Newton and Morris voted Democratic, leaving Jefferson, home of Beaumont and Port Arthur, as the sole Democratic stronghold in this region until Donald Trump won it in 2016.

Electors

The electors of each state and the District of Columbia met on December 18, 2000,[7] to cast their votes for president and vice president. The Electoral College itself never meets as one body. Instead the electors from each state and the District of Columbia met in their respective capitols.

The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state. All were pledged to and voted for George Bush and Dick Cheney:[8]

  1. Ernie Angelo
  2. James R. Batsell
  3. Carmen P. Castillo
  4. Mary Ceverha
  5. Ken Clark
  6. Hally B. Clements
  7. Mary E. Cowart
  8. Sue Daniel
  9. Michael Dugas
  10. Betty R. Hines
  11. Jim Hamlin
  12. Cruz G. Hernandez
  13. Chuck Jones
  14. William Earl Juett
  15. Neal J. Katz
  16. Betsy Lake
  17. Adair Margo
  18. Loyce McCarter
  19. Joseph I. Oniell III
  20. Michael Paddie
  21. Nancy Palm
  22. Howard Pebley Jr.
  23. Robert J. Peden
  24. Helen Quiram
  25. James B. Randall
  26. Clyde Moody Siebman
  27. Stan Stanart
  28. Henry W. Teich Jr.
  29. Randal Tye Thomas
  30. James Davidson Walker
  31. Tom F. Ward Jr.
  32. Gayle West

See also


References

  1. "Turnout and Voter Registration Figures (1970-current)". www.sos.state.tx.us.
  2. Southwell, Priscilla L (September 1, 2004). "Nader voters in the 2000 Presidential Election: what would they have done without him?". The Social Science Journal. 41 (3): 423–431. doi:10.1016/j.soscij.2004.04.009. S2CID 144552793.
  3. "President Elect - 2000". Archived from the original on March 3, 2009. Retrieved May 10, 2011.

See also


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