1992United States presidential election in Texas

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Turnout	72.92% (of registered voters) 47.64% (of voting age population)[1]
Nominee George H. W. Bush Bill Clinton Ross Perot Party Republican Democratic Independent Home state Texas Arkansas Texas Running mate Dan Quayle Al Gore James Stockdale Electoral vote 32 0 0 Popular vote 2,496,071 2,281,815 1,354,781 Percentage 40.56% 37.08% 22.01%
County results Bush   30–40%   40–50%   50–60%   60–70% Clinton   30–40%   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90% Perot   30–40%   40–50%
President before election George H. W. Bush Republican Elected President Bill Clinton Democratic

The1992 United States presidential election in Texas took place on November 3, 1992, as part of the1992 United States presidential election. Voters chose 32 representatives, or electors to theElectoral College, who voted forpresident andvice president.

Texas was won by incumbent PresidentGeorge H. W. Bush (R-Texas) with 40.56% of the popular vote overGovernorBill Clinton (D-Arkansas) with 37.08%. BusinessmanRoss Perot (I-Texas) finished in third, with 22.01% of the popular vote.^[2] Clinton ultimately won the national vote, defeating Bush.^[3] He thereby became the first Democrat to win a presidential election without Texas since its statehood in 1845.^[4] Despite Bush's ties to the state, this is the closest since1976 that Texas has come to voting for a Democratic presidential candidate. It has since become a cornerstone of the Republican electoral coalition. 1992 was the first election in which Texas provided the Republican nominee with his largest raw vote margin in the nation, a distinction the state held in every subsequent election until2020, when Texas's raw vote margin was exceeded byTennessee's.

Texas was one of the few states in the U.S. whereRoss Perot won any counties, namelyIrion,Somervell,Grayson, andLoving. Perot was the first non-major party candidate to win any Texas counties sinceGeorge Wallace in1968. As of the2024 presidential election^[update], this is the last time these four aforementioned counties have not voted Republican,^[5] and the last time a non-major party candidate won any of Texas's counties. Loving County, which was the country's least populous in 1992, gave Perot his best performance in the country, earning 46.88% of the vote. In contrast, and more typically in modern American politics,Starr County was Clinton's strongest outside theDistrict of Columbia, and one of only two to give him over 80% of the vote, the other beingMacon County, Alabama, while the Panhandle counties ofHansford andOchiltree were the third and fourth-strongest for Bush nationwide, behind the famous bastions ofJackson County, Kentucky, andSioux County, Iowa.^[6]

The 1992 election marked the last time (through the2024 election) that a Democratic presidential candidates carried any of the following counties:Crockett,Concho,McCulloch,Coleman,Mills,Throckmorton,Briscoe,Hill,Freestone,Henderson,Jack,Clay,Montague,Franklin,Lamar,Upshur,Angelina,Hardin,Liberty,Madison,Polk,San Jacinto, andHouston.Hays County, which Clinton won in 1992, would not vote Democratic again until 2020.^[5]

At this point in history noDemocratic presidential nominee had won without also winning Texas.^[7]

The Democrats regained the Texas governorship withAnn Richards's victory in the1990 election.^[8]

Texas was suffering economically due a collapse in the price of oil in the mid-1980s and taxes had been raised by the state legislature nearly every year since 1984.^[9]

Richards served as permanent chair of the1992 Democratic National Convention.^[10]

Garry Mauro was the chair of Clinton's campaign in Texas.James C. Oberwetter was the chair of Bush's campaign in Texas.^[11] TheFBI conducted a sting operation against Oberwetter in order to determine the validity of Perot's allegations of the Republicans spying on him. A FBI agent offered to sell an audio tape and documents from Perot's office to Oberwetter for $2,500.^[12]

Ross Perot, who had not announced his campaign yet, qualified to appear on the ballot in Texas on May 27, 1992.^[13] He remained on the ballot despite dropping out.^[14] Polling by theAustin American-Statesman after Perot dropped out showed a majority of his supporters going to Clinton.^[15] After dropping out Perot was courted by the Republicans, using U.S. SenatorPhil Gramm, and Democrats, using U.S. SenatorLloyd Bentsen.^[10] He reentered the race on October 1.^[16]

• Calhoun
• Karnes
• Lee
• San Saba

• Angelina
• Bee
• Bexar
• Bowie
• Brewster
• Coleman
• Crockett
• Freestone
• Grimes
• Harrison
• Hays
• Henderson
• Hill
• Jack
• Jones
• Lamar
• Liberty
• Madison
• Mills
• Palo Pinto
• Panola
• Refugio
• Upshur
• Val Verde

• Grayson
• Irion
• Loving
• Somervell

• United States presidential elections in Texas
• Presidency of Bill Clinton

• Abramson, Paul; Aldrich, John; Rohde, David (1995).Change and Continuity in the 1992 Elections.CQ Press.ISBN 0871878399.
• Steed, Robert; Moreland, Laurence; Baker, Tod, eds. (1994).The 1992 Presidential Election in the South: Current Patterns of Southern Party and Electoral Politics.Praeger Publishers.ISBN 0275945340.

• 1992 United States presidential election by state
• United States presidential elections in Texas
• 1992 Texas elections

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