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Ultimately, Republican [[John Tower]], then a college [[professor]] from [[Wichita Falls]] and later from Dallas, won the remaining five and one-half years of Johnson's term by approximately ten thousand votes over Senator William Arvis Blakley of Dallas. who had been appointed on an interim basis by Governor Daniel, a former U.S. senator and Texas attorney general.​

Ultimately, Republican [[John Tower]], then a college [[professor]] from [[Wichita Falls]] and later from Dallas, won the remaining five and one-half years of Johnson's term by approximately ten thousand votes over Senator William Arvis Blakley of Dallas. who had been appointed on an interim basis by Governor Daniel, a former U.S. senator and Texas attorney general.​

Wilson did not seek a fourth two-year term as attorney general in 1962; instead he entered the Democratic gubernatorial primary against several prominent opponents, including [[incumbent]] Marion Price Daniel, Sr., of Liberty, Texas, highway commissioner Marshall Formby of Plainview north of [[Lubbock]], General Edwin A. Walker, who made [[anti-communism]] the centerpiece of his campaign, and the leading candidates, former U.S. Secretary of the Navy John Connally of Floresville, and [[liberal]] attorney Don Yarborough of [[Houston, Texas|Houston]] (no relation to his fellow liberal U.S. Senator [[Ralph Yarborough]] of Austin. In the campaign, Wilson was particularly critical of a politician not on the ballot: Lyndon Johnson. Wilson declared that Johnson had engineered Connally's candidacy because the vice president feared a Republican victory in Texas in 1962. According to Wilson, Johnson was engaged in "a move ... to oust Price Daniel, oust me, oust Senator Ralph Yarborough and gain complete control of the state government."<ref>Charles Ashman, ''Connally: The Adventures of Big Bad John,'' New York: William Morrow, 1974, p. 98.</ref>​

Wilson did not seek a fourth two-year term as attorney general in 1962; instead he entered the Democratic gubernatorial primary against several prominent opponents, including [[incumbent]] Marion Price Daniel, Sr., of Liberty, Texas, highway commissioner Marshall Formby of Plainview north of [[Lubbock]], General Edwin A. Walker, who made [[anti-communism]] the centerpiece of his campaign, and the leading candidates, former U.S. Secretary of the Navy John Connally of Floresville, and [[liberal]] attorney Don Yarborough of [[Houston, Texas|Houston]] (no relation to his fellow liberal U.S. Senator [[Ralph Yarborough]] of Austin.<ref name=cashman/>

 

In the campaign, Wilson was particularly critical of a politician not on the ballot: Lyndon Johnson. Wilson declared that Johnson had engineered Connally's candidacy because the vice president feared a Republican victory in Texas in 1962. According to Wilson, Johnson was engaged in "a move ... to oust Price Daniel, oust me, oust Senator Ralph Yarborough and gain complete control of the state government."<ref name=cashman>''Connally: The Adventures of Big Bad John,'' New York: William Morrow, 1974, p. 98.</ref>​

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Ultimately, Connally narrowly won the nomination in a runoff election against Yarborough and then defeated the strongest Republican gubernatorial candidate in Texas since 1924, Jack M. Cox of Houston in the [[general election]]. Cox, who earlier had been a Democratic state representative, had lost the Democratic nomination to Governor Daniel in the 1960 party primary.<ref>Review of Texas gubernatorial election returns, ''Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report.''</ref> In 1964, Cox, a part of the [[conservative]] wing of his new party, lost the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate to [[George Herbert Walker Bush]], also of Houston, and the future vice president and U.S. President.

Ultimately, Connally narrowly won the nomination in a runoff election against Yarborough and then defeated the strongest Republican gubernatorial candidate in Texas since 1924, Jack M. Cox of Houston in the [[general election]]. Cox, who earlier had been a Democratic state representative, had lost the Democratic nomination to Governor Daniel in the 1960 party primary.<ref>Review of Texas gubernatorial election returns, ''Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report.''</ref> In 1964, Cox, a part of the [[conservative]] wing of his new party, lost the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate to [[George Herbert Walker Bush]], also of Houston, and the future vice president and U.S. President.