2020 Texas Democratic presidential primary

The 2020 Texas Democratic presidential primary took place on March 3, 2020, as one of 15 contests scheduled on Super Tuesday in the Democratic Party primaries for the 2020 presidential election, following the South Carolina primary the weekend before. The Texas primary was an open primary, with the state awarding the second-largest amount of national convention delegates on Super Tuesday and third-largest amount overall: 260 delegates, of which 228 were pledged delegates allocated on the basis of the primary.

Prior to election day, senator Bernie Sanders had been ahead in Texas polling, even in spite of Joe Biden's powerful win in the South Carolina primary, and had hopes of establishing a commanding lead thanks to the high favorability Sanders had with the Latino electorate. With the support of several last-minute endorsements like those of Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar and Beto O'Rourke, in another "surprise win", former vice president Joe Biden topped the final results with 34.6% of the vote and 113 delegates, leading over Sanders (who got 99 delegates) by almost five points, and practically leveled his loss in California. Widely seen as a blow to Sanders, his failure to win Texas helped contribute to his depleting momentum and eventual loss of front-runner status after Super Tuesday. Former mayor Michael Bloomberg and senator Elizabeth Warren placed ahead in some counties and won several district delegates, but overall they missed the 15% threshold for statewide delegates.

Procedure Texas was one of 14 states and one territory holding primaries on March 3, 2020, also known as "Super Tuesday". Voting took place throughout the state from 7:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. local time. In the primary, candidates had to meet a threshold of 15 percent at the state senatorial district or statewide level in order to be considered viable (Texas was the only state to chose districts from state senate elections over congressional districts for delegate distribution). The 228 pledged delegates to the 2020 Democratic National Convention were allocated proportionally on the basis of the results of the primary. Of these, between 3 and 10 were allocated to each of the state's 31 state senatorial districts and another 30 allocated to party leaders and elected officials (PLEO delegates), in addition to 49 at-large delegates. The Super Tuesday primary as part of Stage I on the primary timetable received no bonus delegates, in order to disperse the primaries between more different date clusters and keep too many states from hoarding on the first shared date or on a March date in general.

After precinct, county, and senatorial district conventions on March 21, 2020, during which delegates to the state convention were nominated, the state convention was subsequently held between June 18 and June 20, 2020, to vote on the 49 at-large and 30 pledged PLEO delegates for the Democratic National Convention. The delegation also included 32 unpledged PLEO delegates: 19 members of the Democratic National Committee and 13 representatives from Congress. Pledged nationalconvention delegates Type Type Type SD1 3 SD12 5 SD23 7 SD2 4 SD13 7 SD24 3 SD3 3 SD14 10 SD25 7 SD4 4 SD15 6 SD26 6 SD5 5 SD16 6 SD27 4 SD6 4 SD17 6 SD28 2 SD7 5 SD18 4 SD29 6 SD8 6 SD19 5 SD30 3 SD9 4 SD20 4 SD31 2 SD10 6 SD21 5 30 SD11 4 SD22 3 At-large 49Total pledged delegates 228

Candidates Filing for the primary began in early November 2019. The following candidates filed and were on the ballot in Texas:

Running

Joe Biden Michael Bloomberg Roque "Rocky" De La Fuente III Tulsi Gabbard Bernie Sanders Elizabeth Warren Robby Wells

Withdrawn

Michael Bennet Cory Booker Pete Buttigieg Julian Castro John Delaney Amy Klobuchar Deval Patrick Tom Steyer Marianne Williamson Andrew Yang

Kamala Harris had been accepted onto the ballot, but had withdrawn early so that she was not put on it.

Polling Polling Aggregation Source of poll aggregation Dateupdated Datespolled BernieSanders JoeBiden MichaelBloomberg ElizabethWarren TulsiGabbard Other/Undecided270 to Win270 to Win Mar 2, 2020 Feb 17-Mar 1, 202030.2%25.6%16.8%13.6%1.0%12.8%RealClear PoliticsRealClear Politics Mar 2, 2020 Feb 27-Mar 1, 202029.5%28.0%18.0%14.5%2.0%8.0% FiveThirtyEightFiveThirtyEight March 3, 2020 until March 2, 2020 28.2%25.5%16.5%13.3%0.4%16.1%Average29.0%26.5%17.1%13.8%0.9%12.6%Texas primary results (March 3, 2020)30.0%34.5%14.4%11.4%0.4%9.3%

Polling from January 1, 2020, to March 3, 2020 Poll source Date(s)administered Samplesize Margin JoeBiden MichaelBloomberg PeteButtigieg AmyKlobuchar BernieSanders ElizabethWarren AndrewYang Other Undecided Mar 2, 2020 Klobuchar withdraws from the raceSwayableSwayable Mar 1–2, 2020 1,378 (LV) ± 3.0% 27% 20% 5% 3% 28% 12% – 6% –Data for ProgressData for Progress Feb 28–Mar 2, 2020 300 (LV) ± 5.7% 30% 20% 4% 3% 28% 15% – 1% –AtlasIntelAtlasIntelFeb 24-Mar 2, 2020486 (LV)± 4.0%25%16%5%3%35%9% –3%4% Mar 1, 2020 Buttigieg withdraws from the raceEmerson College/NexstarEmerson College/Nexstar Feb 29-Mar 1, 2020450 (LV)± 4.6%26%16%5%4%31%14% –5% –ElucdElucdFeb 26-Mar 1, 2020833 (LV)± 3.4%20%14%7%5%31%13% – –11%YouGov/CBS NewsYouGov/CBS NewsFeb 27–29, 2020635 (LV)± 6.2%26%13%6%6%30%17% –2% –Marist CollegeMarist CollegeFeb 23–27, 2020556 (LV)± 5.3%19%15%8%3%34%10% –2%9%1,050 (RV)± 3.7%18%16%8%3%35%8% –3%9%Data for ProgressData for ProgressFeb 23–27, 2020513 (LV)± 4.3%21%21%9%5%30%13% –2% –CNN/SSRSCNN/SSRSFeb 22–26, 2020387 (LV)± 6.0%20%18%8%3%29%15% –0%5%Latino Decisions/Univision/University of HoustonLatino Decisions/Univision/University of HoustonFeb 21–26, 2020527 (LV)± 4.3%20%20%6%2%26%11% –7%6%University of Texas at TylerUniversity of Texas at TylerFeb 17–26, 2020586 (LV)± 4.1%19%21%8%4%29%10% –2%5%Public Policy Polling/Progress TexasPublic Policy Polling/Progress TexasFeb 24–25, 20201,045 (LV)± 3.0%31% –11%7%25%17% –4%5%24%17%10%4%24%14% –2%5% Feb 22, 2020 Nevada caucusesUniversity of Massachusetts LowellUniversity of Massachusetts LowellFeb 12–18, 2020600 (LV)± 5.9%20%18%7%9%23%14% –6%3%YouGov/University of HoustonYouGov/University of HoustonFeb 6–18, 20201,352 (LV)± 2.7%20%12%11%7%20%17% –8%5% Feb 11, 2020 New Hampshire primary; Yang withdraws from the raceYouGov/University of Texas/Texas TribuneYouGov/University of Texas/Texas TribuneJan 31-Feb 9, 2020575 (LV)± 4.09%22%10%7%3%24%15%6%13% –University of Texas At Tyler/Dallas NewsUniversity of Texas At Tyler/Dallas NewsJan 21–30, 2020372 (LV)± 4.8%34%16%4%3%18%17%3%5% –Data for ProgressData for ProgressJan 16–21, 2020615 (LV)± 6.5%26%7%10%4%20%14%3%3%12%Texas LyceumTexas Lyceum Jan 10–19, 2020401 (LV)± 4.89%28%9%6%4%26%13%0%5%7% Jan 13, 2020 Booker withdraws from the race Jan 2, 2020 Castro withdraws from the race

Polling before January 2020 Poll source Date(s)administered Samplesize Margin JoeBiden CoryBooker PeteButtigieg JulianCastro KamalaHarris AmyKlobuchar BetoO'Rourke BernieSanders ElizabethWarren AndrewYang Other UndecidedCNN/SSRSCNN/SSRSDec 4–8, 2019327 (LV)± 6.6%35%2%9%3%–1%–15%13%3%11%9% Dec 3, 2019 Harris withdraws from the race Nov 24, 2019 Bloomberg announces his candidacyUniversity of Texas at TylerUniversity of Texas at Tyler Nov 5–14, 2019 427 (RV) ± 4.7%28% 1% 8% 3% 5% 2% – 18% 19% 2% 4% – Nov 1, 2019 O'Rourke withdraws from the raceUniversity of Texas/Texas TribuneUniversity of Texas/Texas Tribune Oct 18–27, 2019 541 ± 4.2%23% 1% 6% 2% 5% 2% 14% 12% 18% 4% 4% 5%University of Texas at Tyler Sep 13–15, 2019 474 (RV) ± 4.5%28% 6% 4% 4% 6% 0% 19% 17% 11% 1% 5% –Texas TribuneTexas Tribune Aug 29–Sep 15, 2019 550 ± 4.2%26% 1% 4% 3% 5% 1% 14% 12% 18% 3% 4% 6%Quinnipiac UniversityQuinnipiac University Sep 4–9, 2019 456 ± 5.5%28% 1% 3% 3% 5% 2% 12% 12% 18% 1 1% 12%Univision/University of HoustonUnivision/UH Aug 31– Sep 6, 2019 1004 (RV) ± 4.5%20% 3% 1% 12% 5% – 19% 13% 12% 1% 4% 10%Ragnar ResearchRagnar Research Sep 3–5, 2019 600 ± 3.9%23% 1% 6% 2% 7% – 12% 12% 15% – 7% 18%Climate NexusClimate Nexus Aug 20–25, 2019 639 –24% 2% 3% 3% 7% – 21% 12% 12% 1% 5% 9%TEXAS LYCEUMTEXAS LYCEUM Aug 16–25, 2019 358 ± 5.2%24% 2% 3% 4% 4% 3% 18% 13% 15% 2% 8% 2%Emerson CollegeEmerson College Aug 1–3, 2019 400 ± 4.9%28% 2% 7% 2% 5% <1% 19% 16% 14% 3% 5% –YouGov/CBS NewsYouGov/CBS News Jul 9–18, 2019 910 ± 4.2%27% 0% 4% 4% 12% 1% 17% 12% 16% 1% 6% –YouGov/University of TexasYouGov/University of Texas May 31 – Jun 9, 2019 483 ± 5.0% 23% 1% 8% 3% 5% 1% 15% 12% 14% 0% 8% 7%Quinnipiac UniversityQuinnipiac University May 29 – Jun 4, 2019 407 ± 5.8% 30% 1% 3% 4% 4% <1% 16% 15% 11% 1% 5% 8%Change ResearchChange Research May 30 – Jun 3, 2019 1,218 ± 2.8% 24% 1% 8% 2% 8% 1% 27% 13% 12% 1% 2% –Emerson CollegeEmerson College Apr 25–28, 2019 342 ± 5.3% 23% 1% 8% 4% 3% 3% 22% 17% 7% 3% 11% – Apr 25, 2019 Biden announces his candidacyChange ResearchChange Research Apr 18–22, 2019 1,578 ± 2.5% 20% 2% 15% 4% 5% 1% 25% 19% 5% 1% 2% – – 4% 21% 5% 8% 1% 33% 23% 5% 0% 0% –

Results

2020 Texas Democratic presidential primary Candidate Votes % Delegates Joe Biden 725,562 34.64 113 Bernie Sanders 626,339 29.91 99 Michael Bloomberg 300,608 14.35 11 Elizabeth Warren 239,237 11.42 5 Pete Buttigieg (withdrawn) 82,671 3.95 rowspan=12 Amy Klobuchar (withdrawn) 43,291 2.07 Julian Castro (withdrawn) 16,688 0.80 Tom Steyer (withdrawn) 13,929 0.67 Michael Bennet (withdrawn) 10,324 0.49 Tulsi Gabbard 8,688 0.41 Andrew Yang (withdrawn) 6,674 0.32 Cory Booker (withdrawn) 4,941 0.24 Marianne Williamson (withdrawn) 3,918 0.19 John Delaney (withdrawn) 3,280 0.16 Deval Patrick (withdrawn) 1,304 0.06 Other candidates 6,974 0.33 Total 2,094,428 100% 228

Results by county

† - candidates who withdrew prior to early voting, but appeared on the ballot ‡ - candidates who withdrew after early voting had started

The winner in each county is denoted by bold.