Texas voters have selected Donald Trump for president over Vice President Kamala Harris, Decision Desk HQ projected.
The state was called at 9 p.m. Eastern, an hour after polls closed, with 59 percent of the votes counted and Trump leading Harris 53.7 percent to 45.1 percent at the time.
Solidly red Texas supported Trump’s bid for the White House in 2016 and 2020. Trump beat Hillary Clinton by 9 points and President Joe Biden by 5.8 points in the state. RealClearPolling predicted Trump winning the state by 9 points again.
The Texas secretary of state reported a record 18.62 million registered voters in 2024 — 5 percent higher than the November 2022 number of 17.67 million. Approximately 9 million ballots were cast during early voting statewide.
Analysis by the Texas Tribune found that 58 solid red counties and six border counties broke their 2020 early voting turnout record. For example, Zapata County, which is home to roughly 8,000 people south of Laredo, saw a 14 percent increase in turnout rate.
At the same time, the outlet found that big blue counties failed to outperform their 2020 early voting turnout.
“In fact, the state’s largest counties all saw a similar decline in their turnout rate, between 10 and 12 percentage points,” the report stated.
Both Trump and Harris paid a visit to Texas as one of their final campaign stops. Harris campaigned with Beyoncé at a rally in Houston, while Trump rallied in Austin, bringing attention to tragedies resulting from the Biden-Harris administration’s disastrous border policies.
National Border Patrol Council President Paul Perez notably blasted Harris for visiting Texas only to “party like a fool onstage with celebrities instead of apologizing to the families.”
The National Border Patrol Council endorsed Trump in October, with Perez warning that if “we allow Border Czar Harris to win this election, every city, every community in this great country is going to go to hell.”
“The untold millions of people, unvetted, who she has allowed into this country that are committing murders, rapes, robberies, burglaries, and every other crime, will continue to put our country in peril,” he said. “Only one man can fix that. That is Donald J. Trump. He has always stood with the men and women who protect this border, who put their lives on the line for this country, a man who knows about putting his life on the line for what is right.”
The border emerged as one of voters’ top concerns ahead of the 2024 presidential election, as countless stories emerged of women and children being assaulted and murdered by violent criminals allowed into the United States by the Biden-Harris administration.