Texas shatters turnout records with over 9.6 million people casting early ballots, exceeding the entire statewide vote total from 2016

• Texas, a longtime GOP stronghold that has emerged as a political battleground in the 2020 presidential election, has shattered its turnout records, exceeding its entire statewide vote total from 2016.
• The Texas Secretary of State's office reported a final tally of 9,669,246 people that cast their ballots during the state's early voting period.
• In 2016, President Donald Trump won Texas by 9% over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
• Texas has not voted for a Democratic presidential nominee since Jimmy Carter's win in 1976.

Texas, a longtime GOP stronghold that has emerged as a political battleground in the 2020 presidential election, has shattered its turnout records, exceeding its entire statewide vote total from 2016.

The Texas Secretary of State's office reported a final tally of 9,669,246 people that cast their ballots during the state's early voting period, which ran from October 13 to October 30. The total includes votes cast early in-person, by mail, or from countywide drop boxes.

The turnout among registered voters has already hit 57% before Election day.

In 2016, Texas voters cast 8,969,226 ballots in the 2016 presidential election, according to the state's records. That year, President Donald Trump won the state by 9% over Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, with 59.39% of registered voters casting ballots.

As of Friday, nearly 89.6 million ballots had been cast in the general election, according to Michael McDonald, a University of Florida political-science professor who runs the US Elections Project.

For much of the year, Republicans generally assumed the state was safely in their column, but Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has been fairly competitive in the state for months.

The Biden campaign made a late push in the state this month, sending Jill Biden to Houston to headline a rally on October 13 and scheduling a mini-tour for Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris to campaign in Fort Worth, Houston, and McAllen this week.

The current Real Clear Politics average for Texas shows Trump ahead of Biden by a 2.3% margin (48%-45.7%).

Texas has not voted for a Democratic presidential nominee since Jimmy Carter won the state in 1976, and the party has not won a statewide election in the Lone Star State since 1994.