Hobby was elected lieutenant governor in November 1972 with 93 percent of the statewide vote, having defeated token opposition, not from a Republican but from the Hispanic former third party, Raza Unida, which ran Alma Canales of Edinburg even though she did not meet the age requirement for the office. The position had opened when the two-term incumbent, Ben F. Barnes, ran unsuccessfully in the Democratic gubernatorial primary and finished in third place. Hobby was an easy winner in most of his elections, including a high-profile race in 1982 in which he defeated the Republican nominee George Strake Jr., also a Houston businessman, a former Secretary of State of Texas, and later the Republican state chairman. Hobby was re-elected in 1974 (when the term was extended to four years) defeating Republican Gaylord Marshall. Hobby polled 1,170,253 votes (74 percent) to Marshall's 379,108 (24 percent) and in their 1978 rematch with Hobby polling 1,434,613 votes (64.91 percent) to Marshall's 760,642 votes (34.42 percent), 1982 defeating Strake with Hobby polling 1,830,870 votes (58.35 percent) to Strake's 1,272,644 votes (40.56 percent), and 1986 defeating David Davidson with Hobby polling 2,032,781 votes (61.37 percent) to Davidson's 1,231,858 votes (37.19 percent). Hobby did not seek an unprecedented sixth term in 1990, and the lieutenant governorship passed to fellow Democrat then-Comptroller Bob Bullock on January 15, 1991.