1. Year of the Texas Woman?
Sissy Farenthold, Barbara Jordan, Ann
Richards, and the 1972 Election in Texas
Blake Ellis, Ph.D.

2. 40 Years Later: Wendy Davis

3. “Stand With Texas Women” Seemed to
Come Out of Nowhere . . . But Did It?

4. Texas Politics in 1972:
• In the 1950s and 1960s, Texas elections were usually
dominated by three important groups: Conservative
Democrats, Liberal Democrats, and Republicans.
• Conservative Vote: Usually about 60 percent
• Liberal Vote: Usually about 40 percent

5. 1972 Presidential Election:
• In Texas, Conservative
Richard Nixon defeats liberal
George McGovern 66
percent to 33 percent.

6. Sissy Farenthold for Governor

7. Governor Preston Smith and
Lieutenant Governor Ben Barnes
• Preston Smith: Conservative
Democrat, Elected Governor in 1968
and 1970.
• Ben Barnes: Conservative Democrat,
Youngest Speaker of the House in Texas
history, Elected Lieutenant Governor in
1968 and 1970.

8. Sharpstown: Touched Many
Texas Politicians

9. The “Dirty Thirty”
• A group of thirty Texas
legislators that kept the
Sharpstown scandal in the
headlines, pressuring
Governor Preston Smith to
investigate the issue and
encouraging reform of
Texas’s laws to prevent
future scandals.
• The group believed it should
run a candidate in the 1972
governor’s race, and its
members settled on Corpus
Christi state representative
Frances “Sissy” Farenthold.

10. 1972 Governor’s Race:
“Establishment” Candidates
• Governor Preston Smith (Conservative Democrat)
• Lieutenant Governor Ben Barnes (Conservative
Democrat)
• State representative “Sissy” Farenthold (Liberal
Democrat)
• Former state representative Dolph Briscoe
(Conservative Democrat)

11. Frances “Sissy” Farenthold
• Rallied the “Yarborough Democrats,” appealing to liberals, labor unions,
African Americans, Latinos, gays and lesbians, and young people.

12. Democratic Primary Results (1972)
• Dolph Briscoe: 44 percent
• Sissy Farenthold: 28 percent
• Ben Barnes: 18 percent
• Preston Smith: 9 percent
• Runoff Election Results:
• Dolph Briscoe: 54 percent
• Sissy Farenthold: 46 percent
• Dolph Briscoe defeated his Republican opponent in the fall to
become governor of Texas.

13. 1964:24th AmendmentOutlawstheCollectionofPoll
TaxesforFederal(SupremeCourtLaterAppliedthe
AmendmenttoAll Elections)

14. Supreme Court Rules FOR
“Single-Member Districts” (1963)
• Result of these changes:
• African American voter
registration in Texas
increases:
• 1960: 227,000
• 1966: 400,000
Barbara Jordan (left) wins a
seat in the Texas Senate in
1966.

15. Barbara Jordan: First African American
Woman Elected to the US House (1972)
• As time passed,
more and more
African American
Texans won
important seats,
from the Texas
House and Texas
Senate to city
council, mayor,
and the US
Congress.

16. Ann Richards, Governor

17. Ann Richards, Waco High
Graduate (1950)

18. Ann and Dave Richards

19. Sarah Weddington
• 1964: Enrolled in the
University of Texas School
of Law (one of only 5
women in a class of 120).
• 1967: Faces an unplanned
pregnancy the same year
she graduated from law
school
• 1970: Files suit against
Dallas County in the case
that eventually becomes
Roe vs. Wade

20. 1972: Ann Richards Manages
Sarah Weddington’s Campaign
• Sarah Weddington
served three terms
in the Texas House
of Representatives.
• She is pictured
here with former
law school
classmate (one of
the 5) and future
US Senator Kay
Bailey Hutchison.

21. 1976: Ann Richards Runs for
Travis County Commissioner
• First woman to serve in
that position
• Her political strategy is the
same as the one she used
to win Sarah Weddington’s
race:
• Turn out the UT vote
• Turn out women
• Turn out minorities

22. Texas Politics Before 1972
• Liberal Democrats:
• Labor Unions
• Minority Voters
• College Campuses/Students
• Highly Educated Professionals (Ideological Liberals)
• Increasingly visible LGBT Community
• Conservative Democrats:
• Rural Voters
• Suburban Voters
• Almost Exclusively White

23. 1990 Governor’s Race: Final
Results
• Ann Richards (D): 1,925,670 (49.47 percent)
• Clayton Williams (R): 1,826,431 (46.92 percent)

24. 1972 Electoral Map (17 EVs)

25. 2012 Electoral Map (332 EVs)

26. Texas Governor’s Races Since
Bush/Richards (1994)
• 1998:
• Republican: 68 percent
• Democrat: 31 percent
• 2002:
• Republican: 58 percent
• Democrat: 40 percent
• 2006:
• Republican: 39 percent
• Democrat: 30 percent
• NOTE: Another Republican ran a third-party campaign, winning 18
percent of the vote.
• 2010:
• Republican: 55 percent
• Democrat: 42 percent