When Jimmy Carter was elected in 1976, he did something no other Democrat has been able to accomplish since: win Texas.
Part of his victory can be chalked up to where the state was politically at the time.
“We should understand the 1976 election in Texas as part of a gradual transformation that occurred over several decades,” Mark Lawrence, the director of the LBJ Presidential Library, told The Texas Newsroom.
It was President Dwight Eisenhower, a Republican, who won Texas in both presidential elections in the 1950s. But the next decade was a different story. In the '60s it was three Democratic candidates — President John F. Kennedy, President Lyndon B. Johnson, and Hubert Humphrey — who won Texas’ popular vote.
“But thereafter you see that the state really shifted pretty dramatically toward the Republicans,” Lawrence said. “The one exception was 1976 when Jimmy Carter won by a small margin.”
Carter snagged Texas from Republican candidate Gerald Ford by just 4 points. Overall, Carter received 297 electoral votes to Ford’s 240.
So, why was Carter the exception?
Lawrence cited several elements that contributed to Carter’s victory here, including “Carter’s stature as a white Southerner.”
“I think Texas voters, like voters across the South, were inclined to give him a close look, because he looked like them, sounded like them, came from the South — which was somewhat unusual in the history of the United States after the Civil War,” Lawrence said.
Natasha Altema McNeely, an associate professor of political science at University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley, said Carter was also able to win because he garnered Black and Hispanic votes in states across the South.
“His success in Texas is a more specific example of his success across the South,” McNeely said, adding that he also earned the vote of southern non-Hispanic voters and unions.
But Carter’s presidency was as short-lived as his support from Texas voters. In his 1980 reelection bid, Carter lost to Republican Ronald Reagan by a landslide.
Reagan beat Carter by 14 points in Texas.
McNeely said the 1980 political environment created new difficulties for Carter. It was a controversial — and transitional — time in America.
“With the candidacy of Ronald Reagan, you have Republicans really emphasizing religious beliefs … smaller government, more effective government … states rights,” McNeely said. “So, at the state level, those types of political strategies, and political concepts are especially appealing to Southern politicians and Southern voters, including here in Texas.”
In contrast, McNeely said Carter’s focus on human rights and social welfare “didn't quite appeal to many voters across the South, including Texas.”
Another key moment McNeely said led to Carter’s defeat was the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis. That’s when, as the U.S. Department of State describes it, “Iranian students seized the embassy and detained more than 50 Americans, ranging from the Chargé d’Affaires to the most junior members of the staff, as hostages.”
The Americans were held hostage for 444 days.
Many sharply criticized Carter for how he handled the hostage negotiations, including his Republican opponent.
While McNeely acknowledges Carter’s significant impact on American politics, she believes his greatest legacy — particularly in Texas — happened after he left the Oval Office.
For 35 years, Carter partnered with Habitat for Humanity to build homes for people. In Texas, they built homes after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
“He was here in Texas in 2014 in Dallas, helping to build houses and repair houses,” McNeely said. “So, I think that was one of the many lasting components of his legacy outside of his political career."
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