1872 United States presidential election in Texas

Main article: 1872 United States presidential election

1872 United States presidential election in Texas

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Nominee Horace Greeley Ulysses S. Grant Party Liberal Republican Republican Home state New York Illinois Running mate B. Gratz Brown Henry Wilson Popular vote 66,546 47,468 Percentage 57.07% 40.71%
County Results Greeley   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90%   90–100% Grant   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90%   90–100%
President before election Ulysses S. Grant Republican Elected President Ulysses S. Grant Republican
Electoral College vote
December 17, 1872
8 members of the Electoral College from Texas
Candidate Thomas A. Hendricks Party Democratic Home state Indiana Running mate B. Gratz Brown Electoral vote 8

The 1872 United States presidential election in Texas was held on November 5, 1872, as part of the 1872 United States presidential election. State voters chose eight electors to represent the state in the Electoral College, which chose the president and vice president.

Texas voted for the Liberal Republican nominee Horace Greeley, who received 57% of the vote. However, Greeley died before the electors could cast their votes for president and vice president. Since it was already clear long before Greeley's death that incumbent Republican President Ulysses S. Grant had easily won re-election in any case, Texan electors (along with the electors of five other states) were effectively left free to vote for whoever they chose. All eight electors voted for Thomas A. Hendricks.

This was the first presidential election since 1860 that Texas participated in. It had seceded from the United States in March 1861 and joined the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. It would not participate in the following elections in 1864 and 1868 and would not be readmitted into the Union until 1870.

This was the first presidential election in Texas in which the Republican nominee was on the ballot. President Grant finished a respectable second with over 40% of the vote, which ultimately stood as the best performance for a Republican candidate for over half a century until Republican Herbert Hoover won the state in 1928 as part of anti-Catholic surge against Democratic nominee Al Smith.

This remains the only election in which Texas's electoral votes went to a Democrat while neighboring Arkansas voted Republican.

Results

1872 United States presidential election in Texas [1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Democratic	Thomas A. Hendricks	–	–	8
	Liberal Republican	Horace Greeley	66,546	57.07%	0 [a]
	Republican	Ulysses S. Grant (incumbent)	47,468	40.71%	0
	Straight-Out Democrat	Charles O'Conor	2,580	2.21%	0
Total			116,594	100.0%	8

See also

• United States presidential elections in Texas

Footnotes

1. Eight electors were pledged to Greeley, who had died after the election, but before the meeting of the Electoral College; these electors voted for Thomas A. Hendricks.

References

1. "David Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections".