1988 United States Senate election in Texas

In July 1988 the Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis chose Lloyd Bentsen to be the Democratic vice-presidential candidate.[10] As the Texas Democrats had already had their primary for senate candidate, Bentsen could not be replaced on the ballot.[10] Bentsen was however able to run both for the Senate and for vice-president as Lyndon Johnson had gotten Texas law changed in 1960 to allow Johnson to do the same at the 1960 election.[11]

However Beau Boulter attacked Bentsen for running for both the senate and vice presidency, calling it arrogant, unethical and possibly illegal.[12] Boulter and the National Republican Senatorial Committee filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) claiming that the dual candidacy violated federal campaign finance laws as any spending in one race would unfairly affect the other campaign, however the FEC rejected the complaint and this decision was confirmed by the United States courts of appeals.[13] Boulter continued to attack Bentsen over the dual candidacy running a campaign advert in August 1988 mocking Bentsen for trying to ride two horses at the same time.[14]

Lloyd Bentsen was always the favorite for the election,[15] with a large cash advantage over Beau Boulter.[16] Filings with the FEC at the beginning of August showed Bentsen had $3.9 million compared to only $14,000 for Boulter.[16] The financial advantage for Bentsen continued through the campaign and by the beginning of November Bentsen had raised $7.5 million for the senate election, while Boulter had raised $2.7 million.[17]

Boulter's campaign receive little or no official Republican support, with the Republican presidential campaign giving a not very subtle endorsement of a "Texas Ticket", which was George Bush for president and Bentsen for the senate.[18] However Boulter hoped to benefit from Bush's coattails and ran campaign adverts pointing to his links with Bush and Ronald Reagan.[19] Boulter also ran adverts attacking Bentsen for supporting giving benefit to illegal immigrants, but this was denied by the Bentsen campaign.[19] Meanwhile, Bentsen ran adverts showing things they said he had done for Texas such as passing a trade bill, catastrophic coverage legislation, repealing the windfall profit tax and preserving local bus services.[19]

At the beginning of October 1988 Democratic polls were reported to show Bentsen at least 20% ahead of Boulter,[11] with Bentsen spending much of his time campaigning for the presidential election and very little time on the senate election.[17]

Bentsen won the senate election by a clear margin over Beau Boulter, at the same time as he and Michael Dukakis lost the presidential race,[20] with George Bush winning Texas with 56% of the vote compared to 43% for Dukakis.[21] Bentsen's vote total in the senate election was reported to be at the time the highest vote total in any Texas statewide election.[22] Boulter's showing was particularly embarrassing for the Texas GOP since Vice President Bush easily carried Texas by a margin almost identical to the one Bentsen garnered in the Senate race.

Bentsen received 93% of the black vote.[23]

• 1988 United States Senate elections

• Black, Earl; Black, Merle (1992). The Vital South: How Presidents Are Elected. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0674941306.