Ordinarily, a Congressional race in West Texas wouldn’t be grounds for a footnote in history. But when one of the candidates involved a future President of the United States who turned out to be the loser in that election, the winner is still worthy of more than a small footnote in history.

Hance in Congress (Wiki Photo)

The scene was west Texas and House Appropriations Chair George Mahon was retiring after 44 years in Congress. With a Democrat holding the seat for so long, it might be a given that another Democrat would succeed him, right? Well, not exactly.

Despite TX-19’s Democratic heritage, the wide spread district, which ran from Midland to Lubbock, was not only turning into one of the most Republican areas in the state, but also the nation. Ford took 57% in the district even while losing Texas, and Reagan won 70% in 1980.

And Kent Hance would beat 32 year old George W. Bush only after a knock down, drag-out, Texas sized fight in which he painted Bush as an elitist from the Northeast who, despite time as a Midland oilman, was out of touch with West Texas values.

Bush in that ’78 campaign (Midland Reporter-Telegram)

Hance was helped by his name recognition, having been serving in the Texas Legislature since 1973 in a district that encompassed affair amount of territory of the sprawling Congressional district.

Nick Kristoff authored an in-depth New York Times piece of the ’78 campaign. When Bush would challenge Ann Richards for Governor, in 1994, she noted that if his name had been George Walker as opposed to George Walker Bush, he would have less credibility. Hance supporters would take up that theme as well.

The Bush name was “W’s” biggest asset. George H.W. Bush had held a Congressional seat in far-away Houston, but as a two-time Senate candidate, was widely known. More important, he had been a Midland oil man in it’s heyday and had a history with the area. “W” was in oil as well, and that clearly helped dispel the outsider charge. But it could only go so far.

At 32, there was a question of what he had accomplished and whether he was trying to catapult his famous name into a win. Bush responded thus: “We don’t need Dad in this race. We don’t need anyone in this race but the people of this district.”

Before facing Hance, Bush had to get past a primary from Jim Reese, a businessman and former Odessa Mayor who had scared Mahon into retirement with his surprisingly strong 45% against him two years earlier. Reese was trying again and many Republicans felt that, by going after Mahon when no one else would, he had earned the right to a clear shot at the seat.

Reese resented having to get past Bush, and hoped to win the primary outright. But Bush actually edged him, thus forcing a runoff.

In later years, Bush would call Reese “smooth talking,”… who felt entitled to the nomination in 1978. He was very unhappy that I had outpolled him in the first round of the primary. Reese had a hard edge, and so did some of his supporters. Their strategy was to paint me as a liberal, out-of-touch carpetbagger. They threw out all kinds of conspiracy theories.”

But Bush wasn’t just talking about his Texas supporters. Reese had some very prominent folks behind him, including Ronald Reagan, whose PAC issued him a $3,000 contribution. With George H.W. Bush aiming for the White House in ’80, some saw this as a proxy fight, and the elder Bush questioned why Reagan was “taking aim at my family.

But Bush gave the Reese camp ammunition. At one candidate forum, he quipped that “today is the first time I’ve been on a real farm. Reese responded by saying, “I want to assure you, this is not the first time I’ve been on a real farm.”

In the runoff, Bush won only Midland. But it was enough for a56-44% victory over Reese. Then came the hard part.

Candidate forum (Midland Reporter Telegram Photo)

Indeed, Bush’s oil background hindered his ability to appeal to farmers, who viewed him with suspicion. Hance on the other hand was comfortable on the farm, and he tried to convert it to his advantage.

Hance still parlayed the Bush doesn’t know these parts theme. He told the story of being on “a ranch in Dimmitt during my high school days, and a guy drove up and asked for directions to the next ranch. I said, ‘Go north five miles, turn and go east five miles, then turn again after you pass a cattle guard.’ As the guy turned around, I noticed he had Connecticut license plates. He stopped and said, ‘Just one more question. What color uniform will that cattle guard be wearing?’”

Bush tried to reassure farmers that their interests and the oil industries were not mutually exclusive. But one of his first ads backfired. It showed him jogging,” which a Hance strategist said “hat might be a good ad for Highland Park or Houston, but if a guy is jogging in Dimmitt, somebody is after him.” Meanwhile, “in the Panhandle, if it’s Texas Tech versus Yale, Tech will beat Yale every time. That’s not even a close game.”

But Bush had another problem, which stemmed from allegations of a “Bush bash.”

In his book, The Leadership Genius of George Bush by Carolyn Thompson and Jim Ware, Bush noted Hance “pulled a ‘Dear Fellow Christian’ letter out of his pocket which alleged that I had tried to serve beer to influence the votes of college students. What actually happened was that I had attended a Bush for Congress reception near Texas Tech at which beer was served.”

But what hurt Bush more was the fact that a promotion of the party had been advertised in the Texas Tech Newspaper, the University Daily.

It was revealed around the same time that Hance was part owner of the property that served beer. Bush was urged to make an issue of it but declined. He would write, “I thought people would appreciate a campaign that stayed positive and focused on the issues.” That may have been a first acknowledgement by Bush that he didn’t understand Texas politics, for Richards would famously call “a combat sport.” Bush would write “I learned an important lesson. When someone attacks your integrity, you have to respond.”

The Texas Monthly said “long before the Christian Coalition was a force to be reckoned with, Bush received a baptism by fire into the world of fundamentalist politics.”

And chewing tobacco hindered Bush as well, as one volunteer said “we always had to carry a spit cup so he could spit out the tobacco before he saw the Methodist preachers.”

The Hance campaign would say that Bush was “not a real Texan” because of his privileged upbringing and Yale education. ” He had a wonderful education, and we used that against him,” says Otis Green. Bush raised $400,000, but much of it was from his father’s connections. And a fair chunk of that was from out-of-state. Bush would respond by saying “we have been attacked for where I was born, for who my family is, and where my money has come from. I don’t think that’s fair.”

In early October, Congressional Quarterly had the race as Leaning Democratic. But they called Bush “articulate and aggressive,” and had moved it to “No Clear Favorite” a week before the election.

Hance won 53-47%. Bush once again would carry Midland but Hance took 14 of the 17 counties. Bush would often joke that he finished “second in a two man race.” But Hance quoted Bush as saying he “wasn’t going to be out-Christianed or out-good-old-boyed again,”

For his part, Hance would recall years later that
“we were glad the race was over. He was really improving every day. “He’s a bright guy, and he picked up the issues and got better as time went on. If it’d been two weeks earlier, we would have beaten him worse. If it’d been two weeks later, it would have been really close.”

Once in office, Hance voted like a Texas Congressman. He opposed the Chrysler Loans and the Alaska land package, two issues that are as far away from Texas as possible. And the people loved it.

In 1980, Hance had no major party opposition and in his second term, won a seat on Ways and Means. He wouldn’t be another Phil Gramm and spy against his party. In fact, sometimes, he’d act as the go-between. But like Gramm, he would ultimately switch parties.

That would come less than a year after the 1984 Senate primary when Hance had sought to succeed John Tower, who was vacating his Senate seat. The odds were against a west Texas man and Hance lost to Lloyd Doggett, who had appealed to Latinos by criticizing Hance for opposing the Simpson/Mazzoli amnesty act. He also hit his sponsorship of a tax cut bill that Doggett said would “take from the needy and give to the greedy.” Hance advanced to the runoff with Doggett and lost by just 1,345 votes. Doggett in turn lost the general election mightily to Gramm.

Hance became a Republican in 1985 and sought statewide office twice since then, including the Governorship. Where is he now? Appropriately, he is the President of Texas Tech.

And he became a strong supporter of Bush. He spoke warmly of Al Gore, with whom he served in the House. But, he added, “I’d hate to ride from Lubbock to Los Angeles with him.

Hance today (Texas Tribune Photo)