Although it was considered a vulnerable state for Trump by some pollsters and experts and a potential upset victory for Biden due to its recent demographic trends, Trump held Texas with 52.1% of the vote, roughly the same percentage he carried it with in 2016. Biden improved on Hillary Clinton's 2016 vote share by 3.24 points, giving him the largest percentage in the state by a Democratic presidential candidate since Jimmy Carter carried the state in 1976. Trump's 5.58% margin of victory was also the narrowest for a Republican since 1996. Texas was the third-narrowest of Trump's state victories, behind only Florida and North Carolina, and the ninth-closest state overall. The election was also the first time Texas placed in the top ten closest states since 1968, and the first time since 1976 that Texas voted to the left of Ohio.[5][6]
This was also the first election since 1964 that the counties containing the five largest cities in Texas, consisting of Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, Austin, and Fort Worth, would vote Democratic at the same time. Voter turnout in the state increased to its highest level since 1992, when two Texans, George H. W. Bush and Ross Perot, were on the ballot, and the last time Texas was a battleground state.[7]