Texas wasn't supposed to be this much of a blowout. For years, the "Blue Texas" hype machine was running at full tilt, fueled by demographic shifts and narrowing margins in 2016 and 2020. But when the 2024 United States presidential election in Texas results actually hit the tape, the narrative didn't just stumble—it basically fell off a cliff.
Donald Trump didn't just win the Lone Star State; he dominated it. He cleared a margin of over 1.5 million votes, marking the largest Republican victory here in two decades. While pundits were looking for a "purple" hue in the suburbs, the map turned a deeper shade of crimson. Honestly, if you were expecting a nail-biter, you weren't looking at the right data points.
The Final Tallies and That Massive Margin
Let’s talk raw numbers because they’re kinda staggering. Donald Trump pulled in 6,393,597 votes, securing 56.14% of the total. Kamala Harris trailed significantly with 4,835,250 votes, or about 42.46%.
That 13.7% gap is a massive leap from 2020, when Trump won by about 5.6 points. You've got to go back to 2012 to see a double-digit margin like this. It wasn't just a win; it was a reversal of a decade-long trend where Democrats were slowly clawing back territory. Trump became the first candidate in history to net over 6 million votes in Texas. That’s a lot of people.
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Voter turnout sat at 61.15%, which is actually a bit of a dip—about 5.5 percentage points—from the high-water mark of 2020. Some folks think the lower turnout hurt Harris more than Trump, especially in the big urban centers where the "blue wall" needs every single brick to stay standing.
Why the Rio Grande Valley Shocked Everyone
The real story, the one everyone is still buzzing about, happened down south. The Rio Grande Valley (RGV) has been a Democratic stronghold for, well, forever. Or it was.
In a move that felt like a political earthquake, Trump flipped Starr County. To put that in perspective, a Republican hadn’t won Starr County since 1892. That is not a typo. We are talking 132 years of Democratic loyalty snapped in a single night.
It wasn't just Starr, though. Trump took Hidalgo County (51% to 48.1%) and Cameron County (52.5% to 46.7%). These are areas that are 85% to 95% Hispanic. Maverick County saw a 28% swing to the right.
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So, what happened? Basically, the GOP's messaging on the economy and border security resonated way more than the "Latinx" outreach efforts of the past. Voters in the RGV often work in law enforcement or the oil and gas industry. When you talk about shutting down drilling or "reimagining" the border, you’re talking about their paychecks.
The Suburban "Blue Wave" That Wasn't
For a while, the strategy for Democrats was: "Win the big cities, flip the suburbs, and Texas is ours." It worked in 2018 and 2020 to an extent. But in 2024, the suburbs put the brakes on.
Take Tarrant County (Fort Worth). It’s been the biggest "swing" county in the state. Trump won it back with 51.9% of the vote. Even Williamson County, north of Austin, which has been trending blue, went for Trump by about 2 points.
Harris still won the big urban hubs—Dallas, Travis, and Bexar—but the margins weren't explosive enough to offset the rural and suburban surge for the GOP. In Harris County (Houston), she won with 52%, but the "undervote" was a real problem. Over 100,000 people showed up to vote but left certain down-ballot races blank. That lack of enthusiasm at the top of the ticket trickled down, allowing Republicans to pick up ten local judicial seats in Houston alone.
Breaking Down the Demographics
The 2024 United States presidential election in Texas results proved that the Hispanic vote isn't a monolith. Exit polls suggest Trump grabbed about 55% of the Latino vote in Texas. That’s a 13-point jump from his 2020 performance.
- Men: Trump’s support among Latino men was particularly strong, focused on economic stability and traditional values.
- Young Voters: While Harris won younger voters overall, the margin was much slimmer than Biden’s was.
- Rural Voters: The "Red Wall" in West Texas and the Panhandle remained impenetrable. In places like Roberts County or Glasscock County, Trump routinely pulls 90% or more.
There’s also the "cost of voting" factor. Some studies, like those from the Brennan Center, point out that Texas's restrictive voting laws—like S.B. 1—might have played a role in lower turnout among Black and Latino communities. Whether it was the law or just a lack of excitement for the Harris-Walz ticket is still a heated debate among local strategists.
What This Means for 2026 and 2028
If you're a Democrat in Texas, these results are a "back to the drawing board" moment. The old playbook of waiting for demographics to solve the problem clearly failed. The "demographics is destiny" argument assumes that as the state gets less white, it gets more blue. 2024 blew that theory out of the water.
Republicans, on the other hand, now have a blueprint for winning Hispanic voters that they’ll likely export to other states. It’s less about identity politics and more about "kitchen table" issues: the price of eggs, the safety of the neighborhood, and the stability of the energy sector.
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Actionable Insights for the Future
If you want to keep a pulse on where Texas is heading after these results, keep an eye on these specific areas:
- Monitor the "Rio Grande Shift": Watch local 2026 midterms in the RGV. If Republicans keep winning mayoral and county judge seats, the 2024 flip wasn't a fluke; it's a realignment.
- Watch the Urban Margins: For Democrats to ever be competitive statewide again, they don't just need to win Houston and Dallas—they need to win them by 20+ points, not 6 or 10.
- Voter Registration Trends: Track new GOP registrations in formerly blue-leaning border counties. The Texas Secretary of State's office updates these periodically.
- Down-Ballot Impact: Look at how the GOP "sweep" affects the Texas Legislature's priorities in the next session, particularly regarding school choice and border funding.
The 2024 United States presidential election in Texas results didn't just maintain the status quo; they redefined the political geography of the state. Texas remains firmly Republican, and for now, the "Battleground Texas" dream is on indefinite hold.