What you should know:
- The state has certified the vote counts they received from the counties and has now released final official results for each race.
- Republican President Donald Trump prevailed in Texas over his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden.
- Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn has defeated Democratic challenger MJ Hegar.
- Republicans in the state House and Senate held onto their 20-year majority, and they are positioned to further entrench their power until the next redistricting rolls around in 2031.
How to read these results
or I Independent candidates in some races.
If you share your address below, we’ll personalize the results for you by showing the races you got to vote in. (Don’t worry; we won’t store your information.)
President
President Donald Trump won Texas’ 38 electoral votes. A Democrat hasn’t won Texas since Jimmy Carter in 1976, and Trump’s margin of victory of about 5.8 percentage points was smaller than his nine-point margin in 2016.
U.S. Senate
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn won his fourth six-year term, defeating Air Force veteran MJ Hegar.
U.S. House
There were competitive races across the U.S. House in 2020, but Republicans held on to battleground seats. Democrats held on to two seats that they flipped in 2018.
Texas sends 36 representatives to the U.S. House, the second-most of any state. Each representative serves a two-year term.
Railroad Commissioner
The Texas Railroad Commission regulates the state’s booming oil and gas industry, making it a hugely important elected board. Past efforts to give the 127-year-old agency a more relevant moniker have failed, even though it hasn’t had total oversight of railroads for decades. Members of the three-person board are elected statewide. One seat was up for election in 2020 after incumbent Ryan Sitton lost the Republican primary in a surprising upset.
State Board of Education
There are 15 districts within the State Board of Education. Ten are held by Republicans, and five are held by Democrats. Democrats targeted three seats of the eight seats up for election this year and won one of them.
Some counties report results by precinct, and others report results from countywide voting centers. The “polling locations reporting” note under each State Board of Education race accounts for both methods of reporting. Here’s more about our results data.
Texas Supreme Court
The Texas Supreme Court, the state’s highest civil court, has nine justices. Four positions are up for election this year. Justices are elected statewide, and no Democrat has been elected to the court since 1994.
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals is the state's highest criminal court. The court has nine justices, and three positions are on this year’s ballot. Judges run for office as partisans, and no Democrat has been elected to the court since 1994.
Texas Senate
The upper chamber of the Texas Legislature was rather sleepy compared with the other spots on the ballot this year. Democrats appeared to win back the District 19 seat held by Pete Flores, R-Pleasanton. The senators elected this year will serve two-year terms.
Some counties report results by precinct, and others report results from countywide voting centers. The “polling locations reporting” note under each Texas Senate race accounts for both methods of reporting. Here’s more about our results data.
Texas House
The race for control of the Texas House was the state’s marquee political contest in 2020, and Republicans kept their majority. There are 150 members of the Texas House. Each is elected to a two-year term.
Some counties report results by precinct, and others report results from countywide voting centers. The “polling locations reporting” note under each Texas House race accounts for both methods of reporting. Here’s more about our results data.
What we’re seeing
The coronavirus pandemic upended how results came in on Election Day. Gov. Greg Abbott added six extra days of early voting, and 57.3% of registered voters cast their ballots before Election Day — 8.7 million in person and 973,000 by mail. This only included mail-in ballots that were returned on or before Friday, the end of the early voting period. Ballots returned after that date were counted later. Although mail-in voting was not expanded for all Texans, Texas saw a surge in mail-in ballots from those who qualify, including people who are 65 years or older, cite a disability or illness, or are out of their county during the early voting period and Election Day. Additionally, domestic mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day were allowed to arrive as late as 5 p.m. Nov. 4. In close races, counting mail-in votes was necessary to determine the winner, which could delay results. The official canvass of final voter results was completed by Nov. 17.
The Texas Tribune’s election data is provided by Decision Desk HQ, which gathers information from the secretary of state’s office and a representative sample of 28 counties. We’re posting results as quickly as they’re available. Decision Desk will call winners and provide voter turnout estimates for some federal races (president, U.S. Senate and U.S. House) and statewide races (Railroad Commissioner, Texas Supreme Court and Texas Court of Criminal Appeals). Decision Desk does not provide turnout estimates or call legislative races, so Texas Senate and House race winners will not appear in our results after the final canvass, which occurs a few weeks after election night. State Board of Education races do not have turnout estimates, but Decision Desk will call them. Some counties report results by precinct, and others report results from countywide voting centers. The “polling locations reporting” note under each legislative race accounts for both methods of reporting.
About the data
Live election results data provided by Decision Desk HQ.
Candidate information from the Texas secretary of state’s office, the Texas Democratic Party, the Republican Party of Texas, the Libertarian Party of Texas, the Green Party of Texas and Texas Tribune research.
County shapes and city locations provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. Road lines provided by Natural Earth.
Contributions by Emily Albracht, Darla Cameron, Chris Essig, Mandi Cai and Anna Novak.