| TEXAS | 38 Electoral Votes |
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| Population
(Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Texas Secretary of State) Total Resident Population, July 1, 2019 est. 28,995,881 Registered Voters, Nov. 2020 16,955,519 ...15,279,870 (non-suspense) Texas has: 254 Counties. Largest counties (five over 1 million): Harris, Dallas, Tarrant, Bexar, Travis. Largest cities (three over 1 million): Houston, San Antonio, Dallas. Government
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State of Texas Texas Secretary of State TX Democratic
Party Dallas Morning
News, p  The Lone Star State |
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| Voter Registration Deadline: Oct. 5, 2020. . Early Voting: Oct. 13-30, 2020*. Early Voting On July 27, 2020 Gov. Greg Abbott signed a proclamation extending the early voting period from Oct. 19-30 to Oct 13-30. Conservatives unsuccessfully challenged the governor's action as exceeding his authority. (+) Vote by Mail Texas does have among the most restrictive laws governing vote by mail, requiring in-person voting except in a few narrow circumstances. The Texas Democratic Party litigated to ease these restrictions in view of the pandemic, while Attorney General Ken Paxton and Texas Republicans fought to ensure the law was followed to the letter. (1, 2). On Oct. 1, 2020 Gov. Abbott, citing ballot security, issued a proclamation limiting in-person return of mail ballots to one location per county. The ACLU of Texas described the move as "yet another thinly disguised attempt to stymie the vote" and the Texas Democratic Party described it as a "blatant voter suppression tactic." LULAC filed a lawsuit. On Oct. 9 U.S. District Judge Robert Pittman ruled in their favor. On Oct. 12 the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Abbott's policy saying it "effectively gives voters forty extra days to hand-deliver a marked mail-in ballot to an early voting clerk. And the voter still has the traditional option she has always had for casting a mail-in ballot: mailing it." (+) Early Voting: In Person: 8,764,242 By Mail: 937,884 |
Ballot Access: The Libertarian Party and the Green Party are the only minor parties in Texas that have ballot access. "Independent candidates for President file an application with the Secretary of State. The application must be submitted with a petition, and both documents must be filed no later than May 11, 2020. The petition can be circulated beginning after March 3, 2020. For 2020, the petition must contain 89,693 signatures of registered voters who did not vote in the presidential primary of either party." There is also the write-in route (+). |
Overview:
There was
debate among Democrats about how much of an effort to
make in Texas. In June 2020 Joe Biden
told the Texas Democratic Convention that Texas is
"an important battleground state for our campaign (+)." However, Mark McKinnon, the
political advisor and TV producer who has decades
of experience in the Lone Star State, had
cautionary words for Democrats. "Texas is a very
conservative state," he said. "Don’t get
distracted by the big, shiny object of Texas.
Don’t waste valuable time and resources there.
It’s big. It’s expensive. It’s a place where
Democrats’ dreams have been dashed for
decades." In early August the Biden campaign announced its first Texas staff, in September it added more staff, and by October, as Trump's fortunes continued to falter, the campaign made a $6.2 million investment in advertising. Trump won with a plurality of 631,221 votes (5.58 percentage points), carrying 232 counties to 22 for Biden. Particularly notable was Biden's poor performance in South Texas and the Rio Grande Valley; he still won most counties in Southwest Texas, but it was a much lighter shade of blue on the maps, in the middle there is one county, Zapata, which went Republican for the first time in decades, and Trump flipped five counties in the Southeast: Kenedy, Kleberg, Jim Wells, La Salle and Frio. Additionally Trump flipped Reeves and Val Verde Cos. for a total of eight counties. Biden flipped two counties: Tarrant (Fort Worth) and Williamson (adjacent to Austin). While Biden's 46.48% of the vote was the best Democratic showing since Jimmy Carter won the state in 1976, Democrats were stymied in races up and down the ballot. Trump | Biden General Election Details BALLOT [PDF] |
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| Democrats Biden 725,562 (34.64%), Sanders 626,339 (29.91%), Bloomberg 300,608 (14.35%), Warren 239,237 (11.42%)... Total 2,094,428. details 260 Delegates: 149 District, 49 At-Large, 30 PLEO, 32 Unpledged. |
Republicans Trump 1,898,664 (94.13%), Uncomm. 71,803 (3.56%)... Total 2,017,167. |
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| 1992 | 1996 | 2000 | 2004 | 2008 | 2012 | 2016 |
| Bush 40.56% |
Dole 48.75% |
Bush 59.30% |
Bush 61.09% |
McCain 55.45% |
Romney 57.16% |
Trump 52.23% |
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| Voting Eligible
Population*: 17,396,296. VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 51.6%. Voter Registration Deadline: Oct. 11, 2016. Early Voting: Oct. 24-Nov. 4, 2016. |
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Overview:
Texas last voted for the Democratic
candidate for president in 1976 (Jimmy Carter), and the
last time a Democrat was elected statewide in Texas
was in 1994. However, Democrats saw signs that something might be afoot. Along with several other states, the Clinton campaign designated Texas an "expansion state." On Sept. 7 the Dallas Morning News endorsed Clinton, its first endorsement of a Democrat for president since before World War II. National Democrats opened several offices, starting with one in Houston on Sept. 10. The Clinton campaign even ran a very modest one-week ad buy totalling around $100,000, first reported Oct. 17. In addition Hillary Clinton herself had long ties to the state; she came here for several months in 1972 to register black and Hispanic voters in South Texas for the DNC during the McGovern presidential campaign. In terms of visits by the candidates, Texas mostly served as a fundraising stop. Texas is a minority-majority state. According to the Pew Research Center (>), the state has a Hispanic population of about 10.4 million, accounting for 39% of the total population, the third highest share of any state. 4.8 million of these people are eligible to vote, or 28% of the total eligible to vote. Implementation of Texas' tough voter ID law continued to be fraught with problems. A report by ProPublica, co-published with The Texas Tribune, found "the state’s efforts to enact and enforce the strictest voter ID law in the nation were so plagued by delays, revisions, court interventions and inadequate education that the casting of ballots was inevitably troubled (>)." The Trump-Pence ticket prevailed with a plurality of 807,179 votes (8.99 percentage points), carrying 227 counties to 27 for Clinton-Kaine. Trump did not end up winning all 38 electoral votes, however, as one Texas elector backed Kasich and another backed Ron Paul. General Election Visits Clinton | Trump BALLOT [PDF] |
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| Voting Eligible
Population*:
16,100,196. VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 49.7%. Voter Registration Deadline: October 9, 2012. Early Voting: October 22-November 2, 2012. |
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2012 Overview Texas, which last voted for the Democrat Jimmy Carter in 1976, remained solidly in the Republican column. The Romney/Ryan ticket garnered a plurality of 1,261,719 votes (15.78 percentage points), carrying 228 counties. The state did not see much of the presidential campaign other than as a stop for fundraising; according to the FEC (>) during the primaries and general election presidential candidates raised a total of over $82 million from Texas contributors, including $39.7 for Romney and $24.2 million for Obama. Texas is a minority-majority state; according to the 2010 Census the population was 45.3% white, 37.6% Hispanic, 11.8% black and 4.1% Asian. The U.S. Department of Justice blocked a voter ID law, and the matter went to court on July 9, 2012. General Elction Visits Obama | Romney BALLOT [PDF] |
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| Voting Eligible
Population*: 14,780,857. VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 54.7%. According to the unofficial tabulation 5.35 million people (about 66.5%) voted early. |
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2008 Overview The major candidates made a few visits to Texas, almost all of which were for fundraising. McCain-Palin caried the state with a plurality of 950,795 votes (11.77 percentage points). Obama/Allies | McCain/Allies | Nader | Barr |
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| Voting Eligible
Population*: 13,796,256. VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 53.7%. According to the unofficial tabulation a bit fewer than 3.8 million people (over 51% of voters) voted early. |
Total
Number of Voters: 7,482,947 |
2004
Overview Bush won his home state with a plurality of 1,694,213 votes (22.87 percentage points), carrying 236 of the 254 counties. General Election Details Kerry/Allies | Bush-Cheney '04 |
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| Voting Eligible Population*: 13,033,081. VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 49.2%. Early voting in person: Oct. 23-Nov. 3, 2000. According to the unofficial tabulation more than 2.4 million people (over 38% of voters) voted early. |
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2000
Overview Gov. Bush won handily in his home state, gaining a plurality of 1,365,893 votes (21.32 percentage points) and carrying 230 of 254 counties. |
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| Archive Pages: 2016 | 2012 | 2008 | 2004 | 2000 | 1992
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| Copyright © 2002-18 Eric M. Appleman/Democracy in Action. |
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