Connally served as Governor of Texas from 1963–1969. In the campaigns of 1964 and 1966, Connally defeated Republicans, Jack Crichton, a Dallas oil industrialist, and Thomas Everton Kennerly, Sr. (1903–2000), of Houston, respectively. He won with margins of 73.8 percent and 72.8 percent, respectively, giving him greater influence with the most of the legistlature being Democratic.