Would Lloyd Bentsen have been reelected in 1994 and 2000

[OSR stands with Israel]

Say if Clinton never selected Bentsen to be his Treasury Secretary , and he remained in the senate do you think he gets reelected in 1994 and 2000. I think in he narrowly defeats Hutchinson by 3-5 points despite the 1994 GOP Wave but I think in 2000 he would lose to Rick Perry or John Cornyn due to Bush's coattails (which were very strong in TX and much stronger in 2000 than in 1994).


I dont get why Clinton chose Bentsen to be his Treasury Secretary given TX was already a tossup state then at the state level (the Dems got lucky in 1990) and given the history of the White House's parties performance in open seats  that are tossups during their tenure especially in off-year and midterm .

[The Arizonan]

In the past, Lloyd Bentsen has won his elections by close to sixty percent of the vote, so I say that he survives in 1994 and 2000. This creates an alternate timeline in which Ted Cruz never gets to be a senator.

[OSR stands with Israel]

In the past, Lloyd Bentsen has won his elections by close to sixty percent of the vote, so I say that he survives in 1994 and 2000. This creates an alternate timeline in which Ted Cruz never gets to be a senator.

They were when Dem incumbents in the south still routinely performed strongly and before realignment as well. In TN for example Senator Sasser for example won over 60% in 1982 and 1988 but then in 1994 was defeated by 14 points.

in 1994 I think Bentsen still survives due to TX Republicans not having established their dominance, but in 2000 with Bush on the top of the ballot and TX Democrats infrastructure having been utterly decimated in 1996 and 1998, I dont think Bentsen can win.

If McCain was the nominee, Bentsen could probably hang on just barely, but not with Bush being the nominee

[President Johnson]

I'm not sure he would have survived 1994. Actually it was pretty idiotic from Bubba to pick a popular senator from a Republican-trending state to be a B-level secretary.

[The Mikado]

I think Hutchinson wins in 1994. She wouldn't have beaten him like she beat Bob Krueger (poor bastard was the worst fit for Texas politics ever...a D.Phil in poetry from Oxford as a Texas Senator?). Bentsen would've kept it close. But 1994 hit Texas hard. Bush v. Richards was supposed to be close. W won by seven and a half points. I mean, yes, Bullock was reelected as Lieutenant Governor with 62% of the vote and Morales reelected Attorney General with 53% of the vote, so Dems COULD still win, but dissatisfaction with Clinton and Washington was driving the landslide and a US Senator was not going to be immune to that.

(On a side note, Texas' last Democratic Attorney General, Dan Morales, ending his career by spending three years in federal prison will never cease to amaze me as an irony)

[Landslide Lyndon]

Are we sure that Hutchison would have ran against a strong incumbent like Bentsen?
Maybe he faced a weak opponent in 1994 and managed to hold on.

[Progressive Pessimist]

In the past, Lloyd Bentsen has won his elections by close to sixty percent of the vote, so I say that he survives in 1994 and 2000. This creates an alternate timeline in which Ted Cruz never gets to be a senator.

As if the idea of living in alternate timelines wasn't tantalizing enough.