| | Since 1964, the South has become competitive. The Democrats' grip on the Solid South began to break down in the 1964 election, when all of the states in the deep south (with the exceptions of Florida and Texas) voted for [[Barry Goldwater]] who broke with his party to oppose the [[Civil Rights Act]]. President Johnson's home state, Texas, remained Democrat. In 1965 federal legislation was enacted to scale back state impediments to black voter participation. In 1968, [[George Wallace]] swept the Deep South, with the exception of South Carolina which went Republican and Texas which remained Democrat. Republican [[Richard Nixon]] won the peripheral states of North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, and Florida. | | Since 1964, the South has become competitive. The Democrats' grip on the Solid South began to break down in the 1964 election, when all of the states in the deep south (with the exceptions of Florida and Texas) voted for [[Barry Goldwater]] who broke with his party to oppose the [[Civil Rights Act]]. President Johnson's home state, Texas, remained Democrat. In 1965 federal legislation was enacted to scale back state impediments to black voter participation. In 1968, [[George Wallace]] swept the Deep South, with the exception of South Carolina which went Republican and Texas which remained Democrat. Republican [[Richard Nixon]] won the peripheral states of North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, and Florida. |