[1] Governor of Texas George W. Bush ultimately won the state by a margin of just over 3% against his Democratic opponent, Vice President Al Gore.

The 2000 election was seen as a turning point for Missouri's bellwether status; the state was notable for voting for the overall winner of the presidency throughout most of the 20th Century.

Missouri would ultimately lose its bellwether status in 2008 by narrowly voting for John McCain, and has been safely Republican in presidential elections since 2012.

Bush became the first Republican to win the White House without carrying St. Louis County since Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876.

Though Bush won the presidency in the 2000 election through the Electoral College, he lost the national popular vote.

(In 1888, Missouri voted for Grover Cleveland, the incumbent Democrat, who lost to Republican candidate Benjamin Harrison).

The state very narrowly voted for John McCain in 2008 and for Mitt Romney by a wider margin in 2012; both men were ultimately defeated by Barack Obama in the nationwide election.