NATIONAL ELECTION RETURNS : State-by-State Election Reports of Key Races and Issues : Texas
AUSTIN — Texans split their tickets to send two of their sons to Washington, favoring Republican George Bush for President and reelecting Democrat Lloyd Bentsen to the Senate for a fourth term.
Adopted Texan Bush had 57% of the vote with three-quarters of the vote in, while Michael S. Dukakis had 43%. Texas’ 29 electoral votes are the third-largest haul in the country.
Bentsen was seeking to match Lyndon B. Johnson’s double victory of 1960, when he became the first and only person to win national office and a U.S. Senate seat in the same year. He lost the vice presidency but gained 58% of the vote in defeating Rep. Beau Boulter, whom he had outspent 6 to 1.
Democrats picked up two House seats, raising their total to 19, while Republicans won 8 seats.
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