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 homestate, Texas, remained Democrat. In 1965 federal legislation was enacted to scale back state impediments to black voter participation. In 1968, [[George Wallace]] swept the region, with the exception of South Carolina which went Republican and Texas which remained Democrat.
In the 1976 election, Democrat contender [[Jimmy Carter]].<ref>[http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/collections/stats/elections/maps/1976ec.gif 1976 Electoral Distribution].</ref> swept carried most of the region combining the black vote with a majority of evangelical whites. Beginning in 1972, the Solid South began a long string of picking the winner beginning with Richard Nixon (1972), Jimmy Carter (1976), [[Ronald Reagan]] (1980 & 84), and [[George H.W. Bush]] (1988).<ref>In 1980 Carter carried his home state of Georgia.</ref>
While the South may have lost the Civil War, since Lyndon Johnson Southern views and priorities have dominated the White House and the national agenda.