Ernest Angelo

Who is Ernest Angelo?

Ernest Angelo, Jr., known as Ernie Angelo, is a Texas oilman and Republican politician who served from 1972–1980 as mayor of the West Texas city of Midland and was in 1976 the co-manager of the Ronald W. Reagan Texas presidential primary campaign.

With a 2–1 margin among voters in the state’s first binding presidential primary, Reagan won all ninety-six delegate spots at stake. Coupled with a victory five weeks earlier in North Carolina, the historic Texas upset revived Reagan’s floundering campaign and set him firmly on the road to contest with President Gerald R. Ford, Jr., the party’s nomination at the convention held in Kansas City, Missouri. Without the Texas triumph, which occurred on May 1, 1976, and follow-up victories on May 4 in Indiana and Georgia, Reagan could have been forced out of contention for the nomination.