Texas Called for Trump, Despite Spirited Campaign to Turn State Blue

President Donald Trump won the state of Texas over Democratic candidate Joe Biden on Tuesday, Fox News and the Associated Press projected.

With the victory, Trump will secure 38 electoral votes, bringing him closer to the necessary 270 votes to secure the presidency.

Trump's victory over Biden in Texas marks the 11th consecutive presidential election that a Republican has secured the Lone Star State. Since 1980, when Ronald Reagan won the state, Republicans have been victorious in Texas.

In 2016, Trump beat Hillary Clinton by nine-points to secure Texas, while the previous GOP nominees, Mitt Romney and John McCain, saw victories in the state by 16 points and 12 points, respectively.

Prior to Trump's victory, polls in the state showed a tight race between the two candidates.

One poll conducted by the University of Massachusetts Lowell's Center for Public Opinion found 47 percent of likely voters in Texas saying they'd vote for Biden, compared to 48 percent who chose Trump.

Additionally, the Cook Political Report last week shifted the state from "lean Republican" to a "toss up," meaning that "either party has a good chance of winning."

While polls showed the two in close competition across the state, Trump suggested that he was "way ahead in Texas."

While speaking to KXAN News last week, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick predicted that Trump will win the state by 4-to-8 or 4-to-9 points. Patrick, who is also the chair of Trump's re-election campaign in Texas, previously claimed that the next president would add to the nine-percentage-point victory Trump saw over Hillary in 2016.

"It could be tighter, only because you have so many more voters out. Remember, there are a lot of those Republican voters coming out too," Patrick said on October 30.

On the other hand, Abhi Rahman, communications director for the Texas Democratic Party, also told the local news site that "Texas is the biggest battleground state."

Trump's win over Biden in Texas not only secures him the 38 electoral votes in the state, but it also provides his campaign with more confidence, as it was able to secure the country's largest Republican state.

While Trump's victory in the state comes at a greater/lesser margin than he saw in 2016, previous early voting data in the state showed significantly more Texans casting their ballots compared to the last election cycle.

Last Friday, with less than two days left in the state's early voting period, data showed Texas surpassing 100 percent of the total votes counted during the 2016 election.