Political History
A Disputed 1948 Election Put Alice on the National Map
Alice and Jim Wells County became nationally known after a controversial vote-count in the 1948 Democratic Senate primary involving Lyndon Johnson.
In 1948, Lyndon B. Johnson and Coke Stevenson ran against each other in the Texas Democratic Senate primary. The race was extremely close. Days after the election, Jim Wells County submitted revised returns that gave Johnson a narrow win — by just 87 votes statewide — and the nickname 'Landslide Lyndon.'
The episode became one of the most debated moments in Texas political history. Allegations of vote fraud in Alice were never fully resolved in the courts. Johnson went on to become a U.S. Senator and eventually President. The Handbook of Texas covers this episode in detail.
Source to confirm: Handbook of Texas — Alice, Texas