The 1982 Texas gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 1982, to elect the

governor of Texas The governor of Texas heads the state government of Texas. The governor is the leader of the executive and legislative branch of the state government and is the commander in chief of the Texas Military. The current governor is Greg Abbott, who ...

. Incumbent

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Governor

Bill Clements William Perry Clements Jr. (April 13, 1917 – May 29, 2011) was an American businessman and Republican Party politician who served two non-consecutive terms as the governor of Texas between 1979 and 1991. His terms bookended the sole ...

ran for reelection, but was defeated in the general election by

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

Mark White, winning 46% of the vote to White's 53%. White was sworn into office on January 18, 1983. White carried 196 out of 254 counties. As of 2023, this is the last time a Democrat won a majority of the vote in a Texas gubernatorial election.

Primaries

Republican

Candidates

, Incumbent * Duke Embs

Democratic

Candidates

* Mark White, Attorney General *

Buddy Temple Arthur "Buddy" Temple III (January 26, 1942 – April 14, 2015) was a businessman from Lufkin, Texas, who served as a Democrat in the Texas House of Representatives and on the Texas Railroad Commission. He failed in a bid for his party's guberna ...

, Railroad Commissioner *

Bob Armstrong Joseph Melton James (October 3, 1939 – August 27, 2020) was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, "Bullet" Bob Armstrong. In the course of his career, which spanned five decades, Armstrong held numerous championship ...

, Former Land Commissioner * David Young * Ray Allen Mayo II * Donald R. Beagle Temple refused to participate in the runoff, causing White to win by default.

Results

Videos

(1) Gubernatorial Debate from September 24, 1982 in Amarill

(2) White Campaign commercials from October 7, 198

(3) White Campaign commercials from October 28, 198

(4) White Campaign commercial from September 29, 198

(5) White Campaign commercial for the Democratic Primary on April 12, 198

(6) White Campaign commercial for the Democratic Primary on March 6, 198

(7) Revised commercial from March 6, 198

(8) White Campaign commercial for the Democratic Primary on March 23, 198

(9) Gubernatorial Debate from October 11, 1982 in Austi

References

{{Elections in Texas footer Texas gubernatorial elections, 1982

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

Gubernatorial A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political_regions, political region, ranking under the Head of State, head of state and in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of ...

1982 in Texas November 1982 events November 1982 events in North America November 1982 events in the United States