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→Campaign for U.S. Senate, Republican primary 1982
===Campaign for U.S. Senate, Republican primary 1982===
===Campaign for U.S. Senate, Republican primary 1982===
In 1981, Mengden was one of four senators named as Senate President Pro Tempore. He soon left the Senate to contest the 1982 Republican nomination for the [[U.S. Senate]] to challenge the two-term [[Democratic Party|Democrat]] [[Lloyd Bentsen|Loyd Millard Bentsen, Jr.]], also of Houston, an icon in the eyes of most Texans at the time. Mengden lost the nomination to then [[U.S. Representative]] James Mitchell "Jim" Collins (1916-1989) of [[Dallas]]. Mengden accused Collins of having focused in [[Washington, D.C.]], primarily on killing "bad legislation," rather than passing needed bills. "Our problems are so great that even if that was valid sixteen or seventeen years ago, it's not today," said Mengden, who claimed to have obtained passage in the state Senate of ninety-one bills.<ref name=davis/> Both candidates ran as active supporters of President Reagan.
In 1981, Mengden was one of four senators named as Senate President Pro Tempore. He soon left the Senate to contest the 1982 Republican nomination for the [[U.S. Senate]] to challenge the two-term [[Democratic Party|Democrat]] [[Lloyd Bentsen|Loyd Millard Bentsen, Jr.]], also of Houston, an icon in the eyes of most Texans at the time. Mengden lost the nomination to then [[U.S. Representative]] James Mitchell "Jim" Collins (1916-1989) of [[Dallas]]. Mengden accused Collins of having focused in [[Washington, D.C.]], primarily on killing "bad legislation," rather than passing needed bills. "Our problems are so great that even if that was valid sixteen or seventeen years ago, it's not today," said Mengden, who claimed to have obtained passage in the state Senate of ninety-one bills.<ref name=davis/> Both candidates ran as active supporters of President Reagan.
Collins polled 152,469 votes (58 percent) in the low-turnout primary to Mengden's 91,780 (34.9 percent). A third contender, computer executive Don L. Richardson, received the remaining 7.1 percent of the vote. Collins was then handily defeated by Bentsen. The year 1982 remains the most recent in Texas political history in which Democrats carried all statewide offices on the ballot.
Collins polled 152,469 votes (58 percent) in the low-turnout primary to Mengden's 91,780 (34.9 percent). A third contender, computer executive Don L. Richardson, received the remaining 7.1 percent of the vote. Collins was then handily defeated by Bentsen. The year 1982 remains the most recent in Texas political history in which Democrats carried all statewide offices on the ballot.
The Mengdens resided in their later years in Lakeway in Travis County, outside Austin. Mengden died at the age of ninety-one. He is interred at the Texas State Cemetery in Austin. Upon her death, Mrs. Mengden will be interred beside him.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cemetery.state.tx.us/pub/user_form.asp?pers_id=9713|title=June Shell Mengden|publisher=cemetery.state.tx.us|accessdate=September 10, 2011}}</ref>
The Mengdens resided in their later years in Lakeway in Travis County, outside Austin. Mengden died at the age of ninety-one. He is interred at the Texas State Cemetery in Austin. Upon her death, Mrs. Mengden will be interred beside him.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cemetery.state.tx.us/pub/user_form.asp?pers_id=9713|title=June Shell Mengden|publisher=cemetery.state.tx.us|accessdate=September 10, 2011}}</ref>