Texas gubernatorial election, 1994

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Category: Texas elections

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Texas gubernatorial election, 1994

The Contenders

Incumbent Ann Richards, Democrat

George W. Bush, Republican

The Significance

This election is important for two reasons: it launched the political career of George W. Bush, and it demonstrated that an re-election battle is not necesarily a referendum on the incumbent.

George W. Bush was a young businessman seeking his first statewide elective office; Ann Richards was the popular and iconic governor, a former schoolteacher "with the sharpest mind in Texas politics". Despite Richards' solid performance, the challenger was effective and appealing enough as a campaigner to unseat the incumbent. Bush was helped, no doubt, by the Republican sweep in that year's election, and by the fact the Richards no longer seemed interested in the job. The electorate voted proactively, not retroactively as usual; that is, they made a decision based on the challenger's campaign, not on the incumbent's record.

Bush won re-election in 1998, and in 2000, received the Republican Presidential nomination.