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. Though Texas had voted for Carter in 1976, four years later the state supported Reagan by a wide margin in the midst of a national landslide.
While Carter failed to carry the state in 1980,Dave Leip's U.S. Election Atlas; 1980 Presidential General Election Data: National by State – Sorted by Vote Percentage for Carter he remains (through the 2024 election) the last Democratic presidential candidate to have won the following counties: Cherokee, Coke, Erath, Kaufman, Leon, Somervell, Van Zandt and Wise.Sullivan, Robert David; 'How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century'; America Magazine in The National Catholic Review; June 29, 2016 This was also the last time Texas voted more Democratic than California.
Among white voters, 59% supported Reagan while 37% supported Carter.
Results
Results by county