The 2016 United States presidential election in Texas took place on November 8, 2016, as part of the 2016 United States presidential election. Primary elections were held on March 1, 2016.

Texas was won by Republican Donald Trump and his running mate Mike Pence by an 8.99% margin over Democrats Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine. Texas assigned its 38 Electoral College votes to the state's popular vote winner, but two faithless electors chose other candidates, making Texas the only state in 2016 to give Trump fewer than the assigned electoral votes. Even then, its 36 electoral votes were Trump's largest electoral prize in 2016.

When the Electoral College met on December 19, 2016, only 36 of the 38 electors voted for Trump for president. Two electors defected; one voted for Ohio Governor John Kasich, and the other voted for former Congressman Ron Paul, making the latter, at 81 and despite not running, the oldest person to ever receive an electoral vote. For vice president, 37 electors voted for Pence, while one voted for Carly Fiorina. This was the first time since 1976 where a Republican presidential candidate lost a pledged vote via a faithless elector; that year, Gerald Ford lost a Washington state electoral vote to fellow Republican Ronald Reagan. Additionally, this was the first time since 1972 that the winning presidential candidate lost an electoral vote, when Richard Nixon lost a Virginia electoral vote to Libertarian Party nominee John Hospers.

Texas was one of eleven states (and the District of Columbia) where Clinton improved on Barack Obama's performance in 2012. Clinton lost Texas by a smaller margin than any Democrat since 1996 (though her proportion of the vote was slightly smaller than that received by Barack Obama in 2008), which analysts attributed to Trump losing ground with college-educated white voters. Trump's 2016 performance in Texas was the weakest of any victorious Republican nominee since Richard Nixon in 1968 - the last Republican to win the presidency without carrying Texas. Trump in 2016 was the tenth consecutive Republican presidential nominee to win Texas, beginning with Reagan in 1980. Nevertheless, he became the first Republican to win the White House without carrying Bexar County since Richard Nixon in 1968, as well as the first to win without carrying Fort Bend County since Herbert Hoover in 1928, and the first to win without carrying Harris or Dallas County since Calvin Coolidge in 1924.

Primaries

Democratic primary

The Texas Democratic Party held their state's primary in concurrence with the other Super Tuesday contests on March 1. Eight candidates appeared on the ballot, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, dropped-out candidate Martin O'Malley and five minor candidates (Rocky De La Fuente, Willie Wilson, Star Locke, Keith Russell Judd and Calvis Hawes.) The Texas Democratic primary had 251 delegates to the Democratic National Convention: 222 pledged delegates and 29 super delegates. 145 delegates were allocated proportionally based on the results in the state's 31 senatorial districts. The other 77 pledged delegates were allocated proportionally based on the statewide popular vote.

Results + 2016 Texas Democratic Party presidential primaryCandidatePopular voteDelegatesCountPercentagePledged delegatesSuper delegatesTotal delegates Hillary Clinton936,00465.19%14721168Bernie Sanders476,54733.19%75075Rocky De Le Fuente8,4290.59%000Martin O'Malley5,3640.37%000Willie Wilson3,2540.23%000Keith Russell Judd 2,5690.18%000Calvis L. Hawes2,0170.14%000Star Locke1,7110.12%000Uncommitted88Total:1,435,895100%22229251 Key:Withdrew prior to contest

Republican primary

Results + 2016 Texas Republican Party presidential primaryCandidatePopular voteDelegatesCountPercentage Ted Cruz1,241,11843.76%104Donald Trump758,76226.75%48Marco Rubio503,05517.74%3John Kasich120,4734.25%0Ben Carson117,9694.16%0Jeb Bush35,4201.25%0Uncommitted29,6091.04%0Rand Paul8,0000.28%0Mike Huckabee6,2260.22%0Elizabeth Gray5,4490.19%0Chris Christie3,4480.12%0Carly Fiorina3,2470.11%0Rick Santorum2,0060.07%0Lindsey Graham1,7060.06%0Total:2,836,488100%155 Key:Withdrew prior to contest

Green Party caucus The Texas Green Party held its party caucuses at conventions at the precinct level on March 8, the county level on March 12, and the district level on March 19, leading up to the state nominating convention in Grey Forest, Texas, on April 9 and 10.

On April 10 it was announced that Jill Stein had won the state convention.

+ Texas Green Party presidential caucus, Saturday, April 9, 2016 Candidate Votes Percentage National delegates Jill Stein - - 15Sedinam Moyowasifza-Curry - - 3Darryl Cherney - - 2Kent Mesplay - - 2William Kreml - - 1 Total-100.00%23

Campaign The Green Party did host their National Convention in Houston from August 4–6 at the University of Houston making it the last physical convention for the Green Party to date for a presidential election as one was held virtually for the 2020 and 2024 elections.

General election

Polling

Trump won every single pre-election poll with margins varying from 2 to 14 points. Trump won the last poll 49% to 35% and the average of the last three polls showed Trump leading 50% to 38%.

Predictions The following are final 2016 predictions from various organizations for Texas as of Election Day. SourceRankingAs ofLos Angeles TimesNovember 6, 2016CNNNovember 8, 2016 Rothenberg Political Report November 7, 2016Sabato's Crystal BallNovember 7, 2016NBCNovember 8, 2016Electoral-vote.comNovember 8, 2016RealClearPoliticsNovember 8, 2016Fox NewsNovember 7, 2016ABCNovember 7, 2016

Results

The voting age population was 19,307,355, of which 15,101,087 were registered to vote. Turnout was 8,969,226, which is 46.45% of the voting age population and 59.39% of registered voters. The early voting period lasted for two weeks ending November 4, with 43.5% of registered voters casting early or absentee ballots. Out of those who cast votes, 73% cast their ballots early or absentee and 26% voted on Election Day.

Thirteen candidates received write-in votes, of which the large majority (42,366) went to Evan McMullin.

+ 2016 United States presidential election in TexasPartyCandidateRunning mateVotesPercentageElectoral votes Republican Donald Trump Mike Pence 4,685,047 52.23% 36 Democratic Hillary Clinton Tim Kaine 3,877,868 43.24% 0 Libertarian Gary Johnson William Weld 283,492 3.16% 0 Green Jill Stein Ajamu Baraka 71,558 0.80% 0 Write-in Various candidates Various candidates51,261 0.57% 0 Republican John Kasich Carly Fiorina 0 0.00% 1 Libertarian Ron Paul Mike Pence 0 0.00% 1 Totals 8,969,226 100.00% 38Turnout (VAP)46.45%

By county