SAN ANTONIO — Despite the margin of victory being narrower than any presidential election since 2000, the Associated Press is projecting that President Donald Trump will defeat Joe Biden in Texas—winning the Lone Star State’s 38 electoral votes in the process.
The development denies the Democratic Party its best chance in years to turn Texas blue, something the state still hasn’t done since 1976. With 82% of precincts reporting just after midnight Tuesday night, Trump was leading with 52% of the vote to Biden's 46%.
While the outcome appears to be in Trump’s favor this year, the numbers indicate that Texas continues to show an eagerness to lighten its shade of red. In a year that saw the state shatter early voting records, Biden came closer than any Democratic presidential contender has this century to beating a Republican in the Lone Star State. In 2012, 1.26 million votes separated Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. In 2016, that number was shaved to 807,179 ballots separating Trump and Hillary Clinton. And, as of 12:15 a.m. Wednesday, 622,258 were the difference between Biden and Trump.
Victory in Texas boosted Trump to beyond 200 electoral votes. Nationwide, Biden has 223 to Trump's 212.
Democratic-leaning Bexar County also aligned with precedent. With 272 of the county's 302 voting precincts reporting, Biden has 58% of the vote to Trump's 40%. If that margin of victory holds, the former vice president will have carried the county stronger than any other Democratic presidential candidate in at least 24 years.
the county will have supported a Democratic presidential candidate
The presidential race between Trump and Biden headlines the 2020 election. Texas polls have indicated as a relatively close contest in the typically red-leaning state that hasn't voted for a Democratic candidate since Jimmy Carter in 1976.
Nevertheless, as recently as mid-October, polls showed Trump and Biden deadlocked in the Lone Star State. It's led some to wonder if Texas could be a battleground state on Election Day—a suggestion that RNC leaders waved off in a September visit to Georgetown. In a June visit to Texas, Biden called the state "key" in deciding the presidential race's outcome. Members of the Trump re-election campaign have also visited Texas in recent weeks, including his daughter, Ivanka, who stopped by Austin in September.
It was in April of 2019 that Biden, the former U.S. senator and vice president under Barack Obama, announced he was running for the Oval Office. In the months since, the dueling campaigns have sparred over the government's coronavirus response, immigration, energy, health care and more.
One of the more remarkable developments in the homestretch of the race was Trump's own coronavirus diagnosis in early October, which ensured the pandemic would stay firmly in the spotlight in the final weeks of the election. The diagnosis resulted in the cancellation of one debate between the candidates. In addition, Trump – a business mogul and media personality – has had to withstand impeachment proceedings, reports contradicting his identity as a successful businessman, and consistent accusations of racism, sexism and xenophobia to lead his re-election campaign.
Trump won Texas in 2016, amassing 4.69 million Lone Star State votes to Hillary Clinton's 3.88 million, according to the secretary of state. But Bexar County went blue in that election, with nearly 320,000 San Antonio-area voters supporting Clinton and more than 240,000 supporting Trump.
2004 was the last time Bexar County voted for a Republican presidential candidate in the general election when George W. Bush defeated John Kerry by about 50,000 ballots.
No matter who wins between Biden and Trump, the U.S. will have its oldest ever commander-in-chief on Inauguration Day 2021.