1980 United States presidential election in Mississippi

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1980 United States presidential election in Mississippi

The election was held on November 4, 1980. Mississippi voters chose seven electors for the Electoral College. Ronald Reagan, the Republican from California, won Mississippi with 49.42% of the vote, while incumbent Jimmy Carter, the Democrat from Georgia, received 48.09%. Reagan won all seven electoral votes, defeating Carter by 1.33 percentage points.

This result helped push Mississippi toward the Republican side in future presidential elections; Carter had carried the state in 1976, but no Democrat would win Mississippi again afterward. It was a very close vote—the second-closest in Mississippi up to then—and the closest for a Republican at that time. It was also the largest number of votes cast in Mississippi history up to that point.

As of 2024, several counties voted Democratic for the last time in this election, and Clarke County ended in a tie between Reagan and Carter. Mississippi also voted for a different party than the nation as a whole for the seventh straight election.

Campaign notes: Both parties targeted Mississippi. Governor William F. Winter supported Carter and criticized Reagan for not debating agricultural policy. Reagan began his campaign in Philadelphia, Mississippi with a states’ rights message. Among white voters, Reagan won 62% to Carter’s 35%.