Jack Cox (Texas)

Jack Cox was the Republican nominee for governor of Texas in 1962. Running a year after John Tower had become the first Republican elected to the U.S. Senate from Texas since Reconstruction, Cox ran an aggressive campaign against Democrat John Connally. Cox labeled Connally as "Lyndon's Boy, John" because of his close ties to Vice President Lyndon Johnson. Connally defeated Don Yarborough, a staunch liberal, in a close run-off election for the Democratic nomination as he had the support of the party's conservative wing and that of big business. Some liberals refused to support Connally and Cox hoped to exploit that weakness and President Kennedy's unpopularity in the state. The race was considered surprisingly close throughout even though the political establishment and most of the state's newspapers supported Connally. The final result was a 54% to 46% Connally victory. Cox would run two years later against George Bush for the Republican senate nomination, but was defeated and never ran in another election.

Sources

• Two Party Texas - The John Tower Era by John Knaggs. 1986.
• The Texas Almanac 2006.