President Donald Trump won Texas’ 38 electoral votes Tuesday night, according to Decision Desk.
Trump won 52.16% of the vote, beating former Vice President Joe Biden, who had 46.4% of the vote, according to Decision Desk. Approximately 99% of all ballots had been counted at the time of this reporting, according to Decision Desk.
According to The Texas Tribune early voting tracker, Texas’ 2020 early voting turnout was 9.7 million people, surpassing Texas’ total 2016 election turnout by about 1.8 million votes.
In 2016, Trump won Texas with about 52% of the vote, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton received approximately 43% of the vote.
“Everybody should come together, and I think success brings us together,” Trump said earlier Tuesday while speaking at the Republican National Conference office in Virginia. “We’re going to have tremendous success. There's tremendous love going on in this country. There’s really a tremendous unity in this country right now.”
Trump’s platform includes abolishing the Affordable Care Act, ending illegal immigration and preventing undocumented immigrants from becoming eligible for taxpayer-funded welfare, healthcare and free college tutition, according to his campaign website. His running mate is Vice President Mike Pence, a former governor and House representative from Indiana.
Biden said Tuesday afternoon that he was “hopeful” about the election results to reporters in Wilmington, Delaware.
“The things that are happening bode well for the base that has been supporting me, but we’ll see,” Biden said. “You can’t think of an election in the recent past where so many states are up for grabs … There are all kinds of traditions. The only thing you know is that traditions are made to be broken.”
Biden served as the vice president under the Obama administration from 2009 to 2017 and as a U.S. senator for Delaware from 1973 to 2009. His running mate is Kamala Harris, a junior U.S. senator from California.
Biden’s policies include a seven-point plan to confront the COVID-19 pandemic, protect the Affordable Care Act with a public health insurance option and reduce prison incarcerations by providing mental health and rehabilitation support services, according to his campaign website.
“There is just so much in play right now and such an overwhelming vote out there, we’ll see,” Biden said. “If there’s something to talk about tonight, I’ll talk about it. If not, I’ll wait till the next day.”
Patrick Bixler, an assistant professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs, said despite Texas being consistently ranked as one of the worst states for voter turnout, the higher turnout for this election indicates a generational shift as well as new subgroups coming out to vote more.
“Voters that are coming out are going to create a little bit more balance amongst the parties,” Bixler said. “There's no question that Texas being a battleground state is connected to higher turnout, and voters who historically have felt disenfranchised are expressing their vote.”
