1860 United States presidential election in Texas

The 1860 United States presidential election in Texas was held on November 6, 1860. State voters chose four electors to represent the state in the Electoral College, which chose the president and vice president.

1860 United States presidential election in Texas

← 1856 November 6, 1860 1872 →

Nominee John C. Breckinridge John Bell Party Southern Democratic Constitutional Union Home state Kentucky Tennessee Running mate Joseph Lane Edward Everett Electoral vote 4 0 Popular vote 47,548 15,438 Percentage 75.47% 24.50%

County Results

President before election James Buchanan Democratic Elected President Abraham Lincoln Republican

Before candidates were even nominated, Texas, as the frontier of slavery in the United States, was always recognised as extremely important to the extension of slavery,^[1] and nefarious tales of abolition plots there were common in the Southern media.^[1] Texas delegates to the first Democratic National Convention refused to accept “Northern Democrat” Stephen A. Douglas′ platform of “popular sovereignty” — locally called “squatter sovereignty” — because they believed that it would prevent the expansion of slavery in the same manner as the Republicans’ “free soil” policy.^[2] Texas was among the most insistent states upon a platform that guaranteed expansion of slavery into the territories and consequently the state Democratic party unanimously supported the nomination of Southern Democrat nominee John C. Breckinridge. Douglas, indeed, had so little support amongst the Texas electorate that his supporters had agreed to transfer their allegiance to Constitutional Union candidate John Bell,^[3] although their ultimate goal was to support whomever stood the best chance of beating Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln, who was not on the ballot in Texas.^[4]

With the state media overwhelmingly behind him,^[2] Texas overwhelmingly voted for Breckinridge by a margin of 50.97%, who won 75.47 percent of the vote, making Texas his strongest state.^[5] Despite the allegiance of Douglas supporters, Bell carried only three counties in the state and it is sometimes thought that the German-American abolitionists in such counties as Gillespie refrained from visiting the polls.^[6] Douglas gained a mere 18 votes as a write-in candidate.

Soon after this election, Texas seceded from the United States in March 1861 and joined the Confederate States of America. It would not participate in the following elections in 1864 and 1868. The state would not be readmitted into the Union until 1870 and would not participate in another presidential election until 1872.