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The 96-0 Reagan landslide made impressive headlines and followed thereafter with four more at-large Reagan delegates chosen at the state convention. Angelo said the victory was possible because the party was allowed to write its own rules. Some 420,000 voted in the Republican primary in which Reagan polled 278,300 votes to Ford's 139,994. In the Democratic primary, two candidates easily outpolled Reagan, and a third nearly matched him. Jimmy Carter received 736,032 votes; U.S. Senator [[Lloyd Bentsen]], a favorite son for President and a candidate for senatorial reelection, polled 343,033 votes, and [[George Wallace]], the [[governor]] of [[Alabama]], drew 270,798 votes. Carter, Bentsen, and Wallace hence polled some three times as many votes as Reagan and Ford combined.<ref>[[Austin]]: Texas State Archives, 1976 Republican presidential primary returns.</ref> The 1976 primary was the first election in Texas in which counties with at least 5 percent [[Mexico|Mexican]]-[[United States|American]] ethnicity were required to use bilingual ballots.<ref name="laredo">''The Laredo Morning Times'', May 2, 1976.</ref>

The 96-0 Reagan landslide made impressive headlines and followed thereafter with four more at-large Reagan delegates chosen at the state convention. Angelo said the victory was possible because the party was allowed to write its own rules. Some 420,000 voted in the Republican primary in which Reagan polled 278,300 votes to Ford's 139,994. In the Democratic primary, two candidates easily outpolled Reagan, and a third nearly matched him. Jimmy Carter received 736,032 votes; U.S. Senator [[Lloyd Bentsen]], a favorite son for President and a candidate for senatorial reelection, polled 343,033 votes, and [[George Wallace]], the [[governor]] of [[Alabama]], drew 270,798 votes. Carter, Bentsen, and Wallace hence polled some three times as many votes as Reagan and Ford combined.<ref>[[Austin]]: Texas State Archives, 1976 Republican presidential primary returns.</ref> The 1976 primary was the first election in Texas in which counties with at least 5 percent [[Mexico|Mexican]]-[[United States|American]] ethnicity were required to use bilingual ballots.<ref name="laredo">''The Laredo Morning Times'', May 2, 1976.</ref>

While he co-managed the Reagan campaign, Mayor Angelo was chosen to be a national committeeman, a position that he retained for twenty years. After Reagan became president, Angelo tried again for the Midland-based state Senate seat, but he lost in 1982 to the Democrat William “Bill” Sims of San Angelo in Tom Green County, 52,868 (47.9 percent) to 57,522 (52.1 percent).<ref>State of Texas, Archives Division, General election returns for state Senate, November 2, 1982.</ref> This race occurred about a decade before the region between Midland and San Angelo moved strongly into the Republican camp. In that same year, [[Bill Clements]] of Dallas, the first Texas Republican governor of Texas] since 1873, and Houston oilman George Strake, Jr., the GOP candidate for lieutenant governor and later the state party chairman, were crushed in an avalanche of Democratic votes. It was the last year through at least 2018 that the Democrats in Texas would win all of the statewide races, including judgeships. Angelo noted that the poor Republican prospects in Texas in 1982 were attribted to a downturn in the national economy, as Democrats rebounded nationwide in President Reagan's first mid-term election.  

While he co-managed the Reagan campaign, Mayor Angelo was chosen to be a national committeeman, a position that he retained for twenty years. After Reagan became president, Angelo tried again for the Midland-based state Senate seat, but he lost in 1982 to the Democrat William “Bill” Sims of San Angelo in Tom Green County, 52,868 (47.9 percent) to 57,522 (52.1 percent).<ref>State of Texas, Archives Division, General election returns for state Senate, November 2, 1982.</ref> This race occurred about a decade before the region between Midland and San Angelo moved strongly into the Republican camp. In that same year, [[Bill Clements]] of Dallas, the first Texas Republican governor of Texas] since 1873, and Houston oilman [[George Strake, Jr.]], the GOP candidate for lieutenant governor and later the state party chairman, were crushed in an avalanche of Democratic votes. It was the last year through at least 2018 that the Democrats in Texas would win all of the statewide races, including judgeships. Angelo noted that the poor Republican prospects in Texas in 1982 were attribted to a downturn in the national economy, as Democrats rebounded nationwide in President Reagan's first mid-term election.  

Angelo said that his defeat by Sims was a “blessing” because he needed to work full-time after 1983 on his business, and his being a state senator would have been too time-consuming to protect his company during a slump. Angelo recalls Clements' defeat by [[Mark White]] in 1982 as his own most personally disappointing election loss. Only two years earlier, his most exhilarating victory had been that of Reagan over President Carter just four years after Angelo, Barnhart, and Staff had worked to resurrect Reagan in the Texas primary.<ref name="hathorn"/>

Angelo said that his defeat by Sims was a “blessing” because he needed to work full-time after 1983 on his business, and his being a state senator would have been too time-consuming to protect his company during a slump. Angelo recalls Clements' defeat by [[Mark White]] in 1982 as his own most personally disappointing election loss. Only two years earlier, his most exhilarating victory had been that of Reagan over President Carter just four years after Angelo, Barnhart, and Staff had worked to resurrect Reagan in the Texas primary.<ref name="hathorn"/>