Editing Bill Clements (section)

== First Term as Governor of Texas (1979–1983) ==
{{Main|1978 Texas gubernatorial election}}
On January 16, 1979, Clements succeeded [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]] [[Dolph Briscoe]] as governor of Texas. To win the position, he first defeated [[Texas Legislature|state Representative]] [[Ray Hutchison (politician)|Ray Hutchison]] in the Republican primary by a lopsided vote of 115,345 to 38,268. He won the general election held on November 7, 1978, by narrowly defeating Democratic former [[Texas Supreme Court]] Chief Justice [[John Hill (Texas politician)|John Luke Hill]], who had also served six years as [[Attorney General of Texas|state attorney general]]. Clements polled 1,183,828 votes (49.96 percent) to Hill's 1,166,919 votes (49.24 percent).

His first term was marked by SEDCO's involvement in the largest oil blowout in history, the [[Ixtoc I oil spill]], which caused extensive environmental damage. Clements faced heavily Democratic state legislatures during his tenure. In 1979, the legislature overrode one of his vetoes, the last time that Texas lawmakers had completed an override. In 1980, Clements commuted the death sentence of [[Randall Dale Adams]] to life in prison. Adams, the subject of ''[[The Thin Blue Line (1988 film)|The Thin Blue Line]]'', an [[Errol Morris]] documentary film, was exonerated in 1989 after serving twelve years in prison.  Clements was also governor at the time of the execution of [[Carlos DeLuna]], who was put to death in 1989; evidence questioning the findings of the facts that underlie DeLuna's conviction was published in 2012.

Clements ran for reelection in 1982 but was defeated by Democratic Attorney General [[Mark White (Texas politician)|Mark Wells White]] by more than 327,000 votes because of sagging economic indicators and weak support from minority voters, who historically support Democratic candidates.  Clements was also damaged politically by the [[Ixtoc I oil spill]] disaster; the rig that failed was owned by SEDCO, but leased to Permargo (a Mexican drilling firm), which had an exploration contract with [[Pemex]], despite his shares in SEDCO, being held in blind trust at the time.<ref>{{cite web |author=Olive Talley |date=June 10, 1983 |title=Oil driller settles one group of suits from Mexico oil spill |url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/06/10/Oil-driller-settles-one-group-of-suits-from-Mexico-oil-spill/7424424065600/ |access-date=August 7, 2017 |publisher=[[UPI]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=William K. Stephens |date=September 23, 1979 |title=TEXAS POLITICS FEEL RESIDUE OF OIL SPILL |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1979/09/23/archives/texas-politics-feel-residue-of-oil-spill-governors-company-owned.html |access-date=August 7, 2017 |work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> His opponent, White, as attorney general, led the state's lawsuit against SEDCO.  White received 1,697,870 votes (53.2 percent) to Clements's 1,465,537 (45.9 percent).