WASHINGTON — Julián Castro’s withdrawal from the Democratic race Thursday means that 2020 will be just one of three presidential cycles in the last half-century without a Texan.
From Lyndon Johnson in 1956 to Ted Cruz in 2016, the Lone Star State has generated a steady and mostly unbroken string of White House contenders who stuck it out at least through the initial nominating contests.
Three ended up as commander in chief.
Texans have run in all but two of the last 16 cycles. The exceptions were 1972 and 1984, when George H.W. Bush was vice president.
A brief history:
Lyndon Baines Johnson
The senator won delegates in 1956. He lost to John Kennedy in 1960 and became his vice president, winning the 1964 election after ascending to the job when Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas on Nov. 22, 1963. With the Vietnam War raging and protests growing, Johnson decided not to run again in 1968, though his name did appear on some primary ballots.
Lloyd Bentsen
The senator and future Treasury secretary won tepid support in the early contests of 1976, placing second at home in Texas with 22% and collecting a half-dozen delegates before dropping out. As Massachusetts Gov. Mike Dukakis’ running mate in 1988, he delivered one of the greatest zingers in debate history when George H.W. Bush’s eventual vice president, the boyish Sen. Dan Quayle, declared that he had nearly as much experience as JFK when he was elected president: “I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy.”
John Connally
The former governor famously spent $11 million in 1980 to capture one delegate to the Republican convention.
George H.W. Bush
Bush ran in 1980, 1988 and 1992. He ran second to Ronald Reagan on his first try, winning the job after eight years as Reagan’s vice president. Democrat Bill Clinton held him to one term in 1992 with an assist from Dallas billionaire Ross Perot.
Ron Paul
The obstetrician turned congressman ran for president in 1988 as the Libertarian Party nominee. He formed an exploratory committee in 1992, and ran for the GOP nomination in 2008 and 2012. His son, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, ran in 2016.
Ross Perot
The Dallas billionaire businessman ran as a third-party candidate in 1992 and 1996. He drew 19% of the vote nationwide on his first try, though no electoral votes. Many Republicans blamed him for sapping enough support from Bush to throw the election to Clinton. It was the best showing for a third-party candidate since Teddy Roosevelt in 1912, and he was a former president at that point.
Phil Gramm
The senator came out strong in 1996, but his boasts about fundraising muscle alienated voters. Pundit Pat Buchanan’s strength in the Louisiana caucuses caught him off guard. And he angered Iowa and New Hampshire leaders by backing efforts in other states to move their contests earlier. (Castro took that stance, too, to similar effect). Gramm dropped out a week into the primaries after spending $21 million, a huge sum at the time. “When the voter speaks, I listen, especially when the voter is speaking someone else’s name,” he said.
George W. Bush
The governor won his first term in 2000 after a monthlong recount in Florida, edging Vice President Al Gore by 537 votes to become the first son of a president to ascend to that office since John Quincy Adams. His reelection in 2004 during the Iraq War was not nearly so close.
Rick Perry
Perry, lieutenant governor in 2000, had followed Bush into the Governor’s Mansion but didn’t have such luck following him into the Oval Office. With Texas booming in 2012, he shot to the top but never recovered from his “oops” moment in a debate, when he forgot one of the three cabinet departments he vowed to eliminate. A comeback effort in 2016 fizzled. Donald Trump mocked his intellect but later tapped him as Secretary of Energy — head of the department he’d forgotten.
Ted Cruz
The freshman senator began angling for the 2016 nomination within months of his election in 2012. He outlasted a large set of rivals to end up as runner-up to Trump, who had questioned his eligibility given that he was born in Canada.
Jeb Bush
The Midland-born University of Texas graduate, son and brother of presidents and former governor of Florida wasn’t able to extend the dynasty. Trump drove him from the race early, deriding him as “low-energy Jeb.”
Beto O’Rourke
The three-term El Paso congressman sought to capitalize on a near-miss 2018 Senate race in which he held Cruz below 51% and raised $80 million from Democrats nationwide, a record for any Senate candidate anywhere. He entered the 2020 presidential race with huge buzz and high expectations, but his lack of experience held him back. He dropped out Nov. 1.
Julián Castro
The former San Antonio mayor and secretary of housing and urban development in the second Obama term, was the only Hispanic candidate in 2020. He dropped out Jan. 2.
Before LBJ
Two other notable Texans ran for president before Johnson.
Sam Houston
The first president of the Republic of Texas also ran for president of the United States after statehood in 1845. Having served as U.S. senator, he ran for the nomination of the Know-Nothing Party (American Party) in 1856 and the Constitutional Union Party in 1860.
John Nance Garner
After becoming speaker of the House in 1931, “Cactus Jack” ran for president in 1932, falling short to Franklin Roosevelt but ending up as vice president — a job he would lament was "not worth a bucket of warm piss.” The duo won reelection in 1936 but soon grew estranged over FDR’s plan to pack the Supreme Court. Garner challenged FDR in 1940 and was, naturally, replaced on the ticket.
