1998 Texas gubernatorial election

1998 Texas gubernatorial election

← 1994 November 3, 1998 2002 →
 
Nominee George W. Bush Garry Mauro
Party Republican Democratic
Popular vote 2,550,821 1,165,592
Percentage 68.2% 31.2%

County results
Bush:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90%
Mauro:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%

Governor before election

George W. Bush
Republican

Elected Governor

George W. Bush
Republican

The 1998 Texas gubernatorial election was held on November 3, 1998, to elect the governor of Texas. Incumbent Republican governor George W. Bush was re-elected in a landslide over 4-term Democratic Texas Land Commissioner Garry Mauro, winning 68% of the vote to Mauro's 31%. Bush carried 239 counties, while Mauro carried just 15. Exit polls revealed that Bush won 27% of the African-American vote, which was the highest percentage for any Republican statewide candidate, and 49% of the Latino vote. Bush was sworn in for a second term as governor on January 19, 1999.

As of 2023, this is the most recent gubernatorial election in which El Paso, Hidalgo, Willacy, and Travis counties voted for the Republican candidate, with the latter giving Bush over 60%, a rarity for Republicans in that county given its status as a liberal stronghold.[a] This was the first election in which Republicans won consecutive gubernatorial elections in the state. Bush's 37-point margin of victory was the largest won by any candidate since 1966 and is, to date, the largest ever won by a Republican candidate.
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