United States presidential election in Texas, 2008

United States presidential election in Texas, 2008

November 4, 2008

Nominee John McCain Barack Obama Party Republican Democratic Home state Arizona Illinois Running mate Sarah Palin Joe Biden Electoral vote 34 0 Popular vote 4,479,328 3,528,633 Percentage 55.39% 43.63%

County Results   McCain—50-60%   McCain—60-70%   McCain—70-80%   McCain—80-90%   McCain—>90%   Obama—50-60%   Obama—60-70%   Obama—70-80%   Obama—80-90%

President before election George W. Bush Republican Elected President Barack Obama Democratic

The 2008 United States presidential election in Texas took place on November 4, 2008 throughout all 50 states and D.C., which was part of the 2008 United States presidential election. Voters chose 34 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice President.

Texas was won by Republican nominee John McCain by an 11.8% margin of victory despite "failing to deliver written certification of their nominations" on time to appear on the ballot. Barack Obama, the Democratic Party nominee and eventual President of the United States, made a similar error.^[1]

Prior to the election, all 17 news organizations considered this a state McCain would win, or otherwise considered as a safe red state. This is because although the state is very diverse and has a huge Latino population, Latinos in Texas - despite being fairly Democratic - make up only 20% of the electorate. Polling throughout the state showed Republican John McCain consistently and substantially leading Democrat Barack Obama. On Election Day, McCain won the state, although his margin was less than native son George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004. This was the first election since 1996 in which the margin of victory was less than 1 million votes. With its 34 electoral votes, Texas was the largest prize for McCain in 2008.

Primaries

• Texas Democratic primary, 2008
• Texas Republican primary, 2008

Campaign

Predictions

There were 17 news organizations who made state by state predictions of the election. Here are their last predictions before election day:

1. D.C. Political Report: Republican^[2]
2. Cook Political Report: Solid Republican^[3]
3. Takeaway: Solid McCain^[4]
4. Election Projection: Solid McCain^[5]
5. Electoral-vote.com: Strong Republican^[6]
6. Washington Post: Solid McCain^[7]
7. Politico: Solid McCain^[8]
8. Real Clear Politics: Solid McCain^[9]
9. FiveThirtyEight.com: Solid McCain^[10]
10. CQ Politics: Safe Republican^[11]
11. New York Times: Solid Republican^[12]
12. CNN: Safe Republican^[13]
13. NPR: Solid McCain^[14]
14. MSNBC: Solid McCain^[15]
15. Fox News: Republican^[16]
16. Associated Press: Republican^[17]
17. Rasmussen Reports: Safe Republican^[18]

Polling

McCain won every single pre-election poll. The final 3 polls averaged McCain leading 52% to 41%.^[19]

Fundraising

Obama raised $20,424,500. McCain raised $17,990,153.^[20]

Advertising and visits

Obama and his interest groups spent $9,917,565. McCain and his interest groups spent $33,983.^[21] Both campaigns visited the state twice.^[22]

Analysis

Texas, split between the south and southwest regions, has become a consistently Republican state at all levels and is the home state of then President George W. Bush. Economically and racially diverse, Texas includes a huge swath of the Bible Belt where many voters, especially those in rural Texas, identify as born-again or evangelical Christians and therefore tend to vote Republican due to the party's opposition to abortion and gay rights. Although once part of the Solid South, the last time Texas voted for a Democratic presidential nominee was Jimmy Carter in 1976.

McCain did well throughout the state, winning the vast majority of counties by double digits. He took practically every county in Eastern Texas - large regions of which once voted Democratic. All the suburbs of the major cities voted Republican by large margins. He also dominated the Texas Panhandle (including Amarillo), the Permian Basin (including Midland and Odessa) and the South Plains (including Lubbock), three of the most conservative regions in the country. He won these three regions by margins of three-to-one--his largest margin of victory in the entire country. ^[23] These areas had been among the first in Texas where the old-line conservative Democrats started splitting their tickets and voting Republican nationally; some counties in this region haven't supported a Democrat since Harry Truman in 1948. King County, a thinly populated county in the Panhandle, gave McCain 92.64% of the vote to Obama's 4.91%--McCain's biggest margin in any county in the nation.

Obama, however, did win major urban counties such as Dallas, Bexar and Harris counties-- home to the cities of Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston respectively. Dallas and Harris had been among the first areas of the state to turn Republican, largely due to an influx of Northern expatriates in the 1940s and 1950s. Neither county had supported a Democrat for president since 1964. Bexar had last gone Democratic in 1996.^[24] Liberal whites and Hispanic voters in Dallas combined with heavy turnout of African Americans in Houston, and Hispanic turnout in San Antonio helped give Obama the edge and carry these three counties. Obama also performed strongly in Travis County, which contains the state capital of Austin. Obama also carried El Paso County, which contains the city of El Paso, due in large part to heavy support by Hispanics. Obama also carried many of the Latino-majority counties in the Rio Grande Valley along the border with Mexico, which have strongly supported Democrats for decades. Although Obama lost the rural Tarrant county, he did well in the southern and eastern parts of Fort Worth and the eastern part of Arlington.^[25]

During the same election, incumbent Republican U.S. Senator John Cornyn was reelected with 54.82 percent and defeated Democrat Rick Noriega who took in 42.84 percent. Libertarian Yvonne Adams Schick received the remaining 2.34 percent. Republicans also knocked off a Democratic incumbent from Texas in the U.S. House of Representatives. At the state level, however, Democrats picked up three seats in the Texas House of Representatives and one seat in the Texas Senate.

Obama improved on Kerry's performance in Texas by 5%.

Results

United States presidential election in Texas, 2008
Party		Candidate	Running mate	Votes	Percentage	Electoral votes
	Republican	John McCain	Sarah Palin	4,479,328	55.39%	34
	Democratic	Barack Obama	Joe Biden	3,528,633	43.63%	0
	Libertarian	Bob Barr	Wayne Allyn Root	56,116	0.69%	0
	Write-ins	Write-ins	Write-ins	9,373	0.12%	0
	Independent	Ralph Nader	Matt Gonzalez	5,751	0.07%	0
	Constitution	Chuck Baldwin	Darrell Castle	5,708	0.07%	0
	Others	Others	Others	1,134	0.01%	0
	Green	Cynthia McKinney	Rosa Clemente	909	0.01%	0
Totals				8,086,952	100.00%	34
Voter turnout (Voting age population)						46.8%

Results breakdown

By county

County	McCain%	McCain#	Obama%	Obama#	Others%	Others	Total
Anderson	71.4%	11,884	27.8%	4,630	0.8%	141	16,655
Andrews	82.4%	3,816	17.1%	790	0.5%	23	4,629
Angelina	67.1%	19,569	32.2%	9,379	0.7%	205	29,153
Aransas	68.4%	6,693	30.7%	3,006	0.8%	79	9,778
Archer	82.4%	3,595	17.0%	740	0.7%	30	4,365
Armstrong	86.5%	856	12.9%	128	0.6%	6	990
Atascosa	55.0%	5,462	44.4%	4,415	0.6%	61	9,938
Austin	75.0%	8,786	24.1%	2,821	1.0%	114	11,721
Bailey	69.9%	1,618	29.4%	682	0.7%	16	2,316
Bandera	74.6%	6,935	24.2%	2,250	1.2%	112	9,297
Bastrop	53.3%	13,817	45.1%	11,687	1.6%	414	25,918
Baylor	76.8%	1,262	22.3%	366	0.9%	15	1,643
Bee	54.8%	4,471	44.7%	3,645	0.5%	41	8,157
Bell	54.5%	49,242	44.7%	40,413	0.8%	679	90,334
Bexar	46.8%	246,275	52.4%	275,527	0.7%	3,913	525,715
Blanco	69.2%	3,418	29.7%	1,467	1.1%	54	4,939
Borden	87.5%	316	11.1%	40	1.4%	5	361
Bosque	75.4%	5,762	23.5%	1,797	1.1%	87	7,646
Bowie	68.7%	24,162	30.7%	10,815	0.6%	209	35,186
Brazoria	64.3%	67,515	34.8%	36,480	0.9%	945	104,940
Brazos	63.9%	37,465	34.9%	20,502	1.2%	706	58,673
Brewster	47.6%	1,855	50.5%	1,970	1.9%	75	3,900
Briscoe	74.3%	617	24.7%	205	1.0%	8	830
Brooks	24.1%	556	75.7%	1,747	0.3%	6	2,309
Brown	80.3%	12,052	18.8%	2,822	0.9%	141	15,015
Burleson	68.2%	4,547	30.8%	2,053	1.0%	65	6,665
Burnet	71.4%	12,059	27.3%	4,608	1.3%	226	16,893
Caldwell	52.4%	6,107	46.4%	5,403	1.2%	138	11,648
Calhoun	59.7%	4,106	39.7%	2,729	0.6%	44	6,879
Callahan	80.3%	4,589	18.6%	1,063	1.1%	64	5,716
Cameron	35.3%	26,671	64.1%	48,480	0.7%	506	75,657
Camp	61.3%	2,798	38.0%	1,734	0.8%	35	4,567
Carson	85.5%	2,548	13.6%	406	0.9%	26	2,980
Cass	69.9%	8,279	29.5%	3,490	0.7%	77	11,846
Castro	68.2%	1,562	31.4%	719	0.4%	10	2,291
Chambers	75.1%	9,988	24.0%	3,188	0.9%	116	13,292
Cherokee	71.2%	11,695	28.1%	4,610	0.7%	112	16,417
Childress	77.6%	1,782	21.6%	497	0.7%	17	2,296
Clay	78.9%	4,213	20.3%	1,085	0.8%	41	5,339
Cochran	71.7%	758	26.9%	284	1.4%	15	1,057
Coke	79.8%	1,252	19.1%	299	1.1%	18	1,569
Coleman	81.3%	3,011	17.4%	643	1.3%	48	3,702
Collin	62.3%	184,897	36.8%	109,047	0.9%	2,639	296,583
Collingsworth	78.9%	943	19.6%	234	1.5%	18	1,195
Colorado	69.4%	5,795	30.0%	2,508	0.6%	50	8,353
Comal	73.2%	35,233	25.7%	12,384	1.1%	541	48,158
Comanche	73.1%	3,813	25.6%	1,334	1.3%	70	5,217
Concho	74.9%	807	23.9%	257	1.2%	13	1,077
Cooke	79.0%	11,871	20.3%	3,051	0.7%	110	15,032
Coryell	63.0%	11,550	36.1%	6,619	0.9%	163	18,332
Cottle	72.2%	509	26.5%	187	1.3%	9	705
Crane	77.0%	1,119	21.9%	319	1.1%	16	1,454
Crockett	66.4%	1,026	33.1%	512	0.5%	7	1,545
Crosby	63.8%	1,221	35.7%	684	0.5%	9	1,914
Culberson	33.9%	257	64.8%	492	1.3%	10	759
Dallam	79.9%	1,269	19.0%	302	1.1%	18	1,589
Dallas	42.0%	310,000	57.3%	422,989	0.7%	5,474	738,463
Dawson	70.9%	2,906	28.1%	1,152	0.9%	38	4,096
Deaf Smith	73.1%	3,466	26.3%	1,247	0.7%	31	4,744
Delta	72.2%	1,580	26.9%	589	0.8%	18	2,187
Denton	61.6%	149,935	37.5%	91,160	0.9%	2,168	243,263
DeWitt	73.8%	4,888	25.9%	1,716	0.3%	22	6,626
Dickens	75.1%	730	24.1%	234	0.8%	8	972
Dimmit	24.4%	874	75.0%	2,692	0.6%	21	3,587
Donley	81.3%	1,374	17.2%	291	1.5%	25	1,690
Duval	24.4%	1,076	74.8%	3,298	0.8%	35	4,409
Eastland	79.4%	5,165	19.5%	1,271	1.1%	73	6,509
Ector	73.6%	26,199	25.6%	9,123	0.8%	284	35,606
Edwards	65.0%	673	33.4%	346	1.5%	16	1,035
El Paso	33.4%	61,783	65.9%	122,021	0.8%	1,429	185,233
Ellis	70.7%	38,078	28.5%	15,333	0.8%	442	53,853
Erath	76.8%	10,768	22.3%	3,128	0.9%	123	14,019
Falls	59.4%	3,328	39.7%	2,225	0.8%	46	5,599
Fannin	69.2%	8,092	29.6%	3,464	1.2%	138	11,694
Fayette	70.8%	7,582	28.1%	3,014	1.1%	118	10,714
Fisher	60.7%	1,083	38.5%	687	0.8%	14	1,784
Floyd	70.8%	1,784	29.0%	730	0.3%	7	2,521
Foard	60.8%	327	36.8%	198	2.4%	13	538
Fort Bend	50.9%	103,206	48.5%	98,368	0.6%	1,248	202,822
Franklin	75.5%	3,392	23.1%	1,036	1.4%	63	4,491
Freestone	71.4%	5,205	27.9%	2,034	0.7%	49	7,288
Frio	40.5%	1,644	59.2%	2,405	0.3%	13	4,062
Gaines	83.2%	3,385	16.0%	650	0.8%	32	4,067
Galveston	59.3%	62,258	39.8%	41,805	0.9%	941	105,004
Garza	77.5%	1,356	21.4%	375	1.1%	19	1,750
Gillespie	77.5%	9,563	20.9%	2,576	1.6%	199	12,338
Glasscock	90.1%	502	9.3%	52	0.5%	3	557
Goliad	62.9%	2,298	36.4%	1,329	0.8%	28	3,655
Gonzales	64.8%	4,076	34.5%	2,167	0.7%	44	6,287
Gray	85.1%	6,924	14.2%	1,153	0.7%	56	8,133
Grayson	68.5%	31,136	30.6%	13,900	1.0%	441	45,477
Gregg	68.5%	29,203	30.9%	13,166	0.6%	241	42,610
Grimes	66.8%	5,562	32.5%	2,704	0.7%	56	8,322
Guadalupe	65.0%	30,869	34.0%	16,156	0.9%	436	47,461
Hale	72.1%	7,171	27.2%	2,708	0.6%	64	9,943
Hall	73.6%	930	25.6%	324	0.8%	10	1,264
Hamilton	76.1%	2,876	22.8%	863	1.0%	39	3,778
Hansford	87.9%	1,847	11.4%	240	0.7%	15	2,102
Hardeman	75.2%	1,199	23.4%	373	1.4%	23	1,595
Hardin	80.2%	16,603	19.0%	3,939	0.8%	160	20,702
Harris	48.8%	571,883	50.5%	590,982	0.7%	8,607	1,171,472
Harrison	65.4%	17,103	34.0%	8,887	0.6%	168	26,158
Hartley	86.2%	1,711	12.6%	250	1.2%	24	1,985
Haskell	65.6%	1,388	33.0%	699	1.4%	29	2,116
Hays	50.2%	29,638	48.1%	28,431	1.7%	983	59,052
Hemphill	85.7%	1,345	13.8%	216	0.6%	9	1,570
Henderson	71.9%	20,857	27.3%	7,913	0.8%	223	28,993
Hidalgo	30.3%	39,668	69.0%	90,261	0.7%	855	130,784
Hill	70.2%	9,264	28.9%	3,811	0.9%	113	13,188
Hockley	75.8%	5,795	23.5%	1,797	0.7%	53	7,645
Hood	76.6%	17,299	22.5%	5,087	0.9%	210	22,596
Hopkins	72.0%	9,299	27.3%	3,530	0.7%	90	12,919
Houston	68.1%	5,872	30.8%	2,656	1.1%	96	8,624
Howard	72.5%	7,029	26.3%	2,545	1.2%	115	9,689
Hudspeth	51.0%	458	47.9%	430	1.1%	10	898
Hunt	69.7%	20,573	29.1%	8,594	1.2%	357	29,524
Hutchinson	84.0%	7,361	15.1%	1,322	0.9%	78	8,761
Irion	78.8%	644	20.1%	164	1.1%	9	817
Jack	83.6%	2,528	15.5%	470	0.8%	25	3,023
Jackson	73.6%	3,723	25.7%	1,301	0.7%	33	5,057
Jasper	70.6%	9,022	28.6%	3,658	0.8%	96	12,776
Jeff Davis	60.6%	749	37.9%	468	1.5%	19	1,236
Jefferson	48.6%	42,905	50.8%	44,888	0.6%	503	88,296
Jim Hogg	26.0%	472	73.6%	1,336	0.4%	7	1,815
Jim Wells	41.7%	4,841	57.8%	6,706	0.6%	65	11,612
Johnson	73.3%	36,685	25.8%	12,912	0.9%	453	50,050
Jones	72.4%	4,203	26.3%	1,528	1.3%	77	5,808
Karnes	60.4%	2,736	38.9%	1,760	0.7%	31	4,527
Kaufman	67.5%	23,735	31.8%	11,161	0.7%	249	35,145
Kendall	77.5%	12,971	21.5%	3,599	1.1%	176	16,746
Kenedy	46.5%	94	53.5%	108	0.0%	0	202
Kent	76.3%	342	22.1%	99	1.6%	7	448
Kerr	74.3%	16,752	24.7%	5,570	1.0%	234	22,556
Kimble	80.7%	1,487	18.6%	342	0.8%	14	1,843
King	92.6%	151	4.9%	8	2.5%	4	163
Kinney	58.5%	907	40.8%	633	0.7%	11	1,551
Kleberg	46.0%	4,540	53.2%	5,256	0.8%	80	9,876
Knox	72.1%	986	26.8%	367	1.1%	15	1,368
Lamar	70.5%	12,952	28.6%	5,243	0.9%	167	18,362
Lamb	73.9%	3,344	25.5%	1,156	0.6%	25	4,525
Lampasas	74.0%	5,651	24.9%	1,903	1.0%	80	7,634
La Salle	40.2%	714	59.2%	1,052	0.6%	10	1,776
Lavaca	76.5%	6,293	22.7%	1,869	0.7%	61	8,223
Lee	67.6%	4,312	31.4%	2,000	1.0%	65	6,377
Leon	79.1%	5,566	20.1%	1,418	0.8%	57	7,041
Liberty	71.4%	15,448	27.7%	5,991	0.9%	187	21,626
Limestone	66.4%	5,079	32.9%	2,516	0.7%	57	7,652
Lipscomb	87.0%	1,093	12.3%	155	0.6%	8	1,256
Live Oak	74.1%	3,095	25.1%	1,048	0.8%	33	4,176
Llano	75.6%	7,281	23.4%	2,250	1.0%	98	9,629
Loving	84.8%	67	15.2%	12	0.0%	0	79
Lubbock	68.0%	66,304	31.3%	30,486	0.8%	744	97,534
Lynn	69.6%	1,473	29.6%	627	0.8%	16	2,116
Madison	71.0%	2,891	28.1%	1,146	0.9%	37	4,074
Marion	60.4%	2,567	38.7%	1,644	1.0%	41	4,252
Martin	81.0%	1,389	18.3%	314	0.7%	12	1,715
Mason	72.8%	1,544	25.7%	546	1.5%	31	2,121
Matagorda	63.3%	7,835	35.9%	4,440	0.8%	98	12,373
Maverick	21.2%	2,316	78.2%	8,554	0.6%	69	10,939
McCulloch	75.2%	2,263	24.2%	728	0.6%	19	3,010
Mclennan	61.6%	49,044	37.7%	29,998	0.8%	632	79,674
McMullen	74.5%	400	24.6%	132	0.9%	5	537
Medina	66.6%	10,480	32.7%	5,147	0.7%	110	15,737
Menard	69.9%	712	29.0%	295	1.1%	11	1,018
Midland	78.2%	36,155	21.0%	9,691	0.8%	370	46,216
Milam	62.4%	5,217	36.4%	3,044	1.1%	96	8,357
Mills	80.5%	1,753	18.3%	398	1.2%	26	2,177
Mitchell	74.7%	1,815	24.1%	586	1.2%	30	2,431
Montague	78.6%	6,245	20.1%	1,597	1.4%	108	7,950
Montgomery	75.9%	119,884	23.3%	36,703	0.8%	1,260	157,847
Moore	78.8%	4,282	20.7%	1,123	0.6%	32	5,437
Morris	60.2%	3,158	39.2%	2,055	0.7%	35	5,248
Motley	87.9%	522	11.3%	67	0.8%	5	594
Nacogdoches	63.4%	14,828	35.9%	8,393	0.7%	170	23,391
Navarro	66.2%	10,810	33.1%	5,400	0.7%	111	16,321
Newton	65.5%	3,446	33.3%	1,751	1.2%	63	5,260
Nolan	68.8%	3,485	30.0%	1,521	1.1%	57	5,063
Nueces	51.8%	52,391	47.3%	47,912	0.9%	927	101,230
Ochiltree	91.7%	2,851	7.8%	243	0.5%	15	3,109
Oldham	88.4%	813	11.1%	102	0.5%	5	920
Orange	73.1%	21,509	26.0%	7,646	0.9%	251	29,406
Palo Pinto	73.4%	7,264	25.3%	2,499	1.3%	127	9,890
Panola	74.2%	7,582	25.3%	2,586	0.5%	48	10,216
Parker	77.1%	36,974	21.9%	10,502	1.0%	475	47,951
Parmer	80.0%	2,969	19.4%	719	0.7%	25	3,713
Pecos	61.8%	2,480	36.8%	1,476	1.3%	54	4,010
Polk	68.1%	13,731	30.9%	6,230	0.9%	188	20,149
Potter	69.2%	20,761	29.8%	8,939	1.0%	313	30,013
Presidio	27.8%	489	71.3%	1,252	0.9%	16	1,757
Rains	74.3%	3,146	24.7%	1,048	1.0%	42	4,236
Randall	80.9%	41,948	18.3%	9,468	0.8%	416	51,832
Reagan	80.0%	795	19.8%	197	0.2%	2	994
Real	76.0%	1,238	23.0%	375	0.9%	15	1,628
Red River	68.5%	3,461	30.5%	1,539	1.0%	52	5,052
Reeves	47.0%	1,445	52.2%	1,606	0.8%	26	3,077
Refugio	56.9%	1,855	42.4%	1,382	0.7%	24	3,261
Roberts	92.1%	477	7.9%	41	0.0%	0	518
Robertson	59.3%	3,980	39.9%	2,675	0.8%	55	6,710
Rockwall	72.7%	23,300	26.5%	8,492	0.9%	274	32,066
Runnels	80.6%	3,118	18.6%	720	0.7%	29	3,867
Rusk	72.9%	13,646	26.6%	4,983	0.5%	93	18,722
Sabine	76.9%	3,749	22.1%	1,077	1.0%	48	4,874
San Augustine	63.0%	2,342	35.7%	1,328	1.2%	45	3,715
San Jacinto	68.7%	6,151	30.4%	2,721	1.0%	86	8,958
San Patricio	58.0%	12,404	41.4%	8,854	0.6%	138	21,396
San Saba	79.0%	1,941	19.8%	487	1.2%	29	2,457
Schleicher	74.4%	970	24.8%	324	0.8%	10	1,304
Scurry	79.3%	4,414	19.5%	1,088	1.2%	67	5,569
Shackelford	85.3%	1,284	13.8%	208	0.9%	13	1,505
Shelby	71.9%	6,630	27.6%	2,548	0.5%	42	9,220
Sherman	86.7%	884	12.5%	127	0.9%	9	1,020
Smith	69.4%	55,187	29.8%	23,726	0.8%	648	79,561
Somervell	75.8%	2,677	22.6%	799	1.6%	57	3,533
Starr	15.2%	1,492	84.5%	8,274	0.3%	26	9,792
Stephens	81.4%	2,869	17.8%	626	0.9%	31	3,526
Sterling	84.0%	520	15.7%	97	0.3%	2	619
Stonewall	71.3%	524	28.0%	206	0.7%	5	735
Sutton	75.3%	1,189	24.1%	381	0.5%	8	1,578
Swisher	66.4%	1,683	32.1%	813	1.5%	39	2,535
Tarrant	55.4%	348,420	43.7%	274,880	0.8%	5,253	628,553
Taylor	72.3%	34,317	26.8%	12,690	0.9%	432	47,439
Terrell	62.2%	323	35.8%	186	1.9%	10	519
Terry	67.3%	2,879	32.2%	1,379	0.5%	22	4,280
Throckmorton	80.1%	671	19.8%	166	0.1%	1	838
Titus	65.2%	6,028	34.0%	3,145	0.8%	72	9,245
Tom Green	70.4%	27,362	28.7%	11,158	0.9%	341	38,861
Travis	34.4%	136,981	63.9%	254,017	1.7%	6,716	397,714
Trinity	67.4%	4,095	31.7%	1,925	0.9%	57	6,077
Tyler	71.4%	5,644	27.4%	2,166	1.3%	100	7,910
Upshur	74.0%	11,222	25.0%	3,790	1.0%	152	15,164
Upton	75.0%	898	24.1%	288	0.9%	11	1,197
Uvalde	52.4%	4,590	47.1%	4,126	0.6%	50	8,766
Val Verde	44.9%	5,752	54.5%	6,982	0.7%	86	12,820
Van Zandt	77.1%	15,734	22.1%	4,505	0.8%	156	20,395
Victoria	66.4%	19,878	32.8%	9,832	0.7%	221	29,931
Walker	60.7%	11,623	38.3%	7,334	1.0%	189	19,146
Waller	53.3%	8,265	46.1%	7,153	0.6%	90	15,508
Ward	74.0%	2,667	25.0%	899	1.0%	36	3,602
Washington	70.8%	10,176	28.1%	4,034	1.2%	167	14,377
Webb	28.0%	13,119	71.4%	33,452	0.5%	250	46,821
Wharton	65.4%	9,431	34.2%	4,937	0.3%	50	14,418
Wheeler	85.4%	1,918	14.0%	314	0.6%	13	2,245
Wichita	69.0%	31,731	30.2%	13,868	0.8%	383	45,982
Wilbarger	72.8%	3,283	26.5%	1,196	0.7%	30	4,509
Willacy	29.7%	1,456	69.5%	3,409	0.8%	38	4,903
Williamson	55.8%	88,323	42.7%	67,691	1.5%	2,389	158,403
Wilson	66.6%	10,904	32.8%	5,362	0.6%	100	16,366
Winkler	75.2%	1,529	23.5%	477	1.3%	26	2,032
Wise	77.4%	15,973	21.7%	4,471	0.9%	195	20,639
Wood	76.8%	13,658	22.5%	4,010	0.7%	116	17,784
Yoakum	80.9%	1,989	18.3%	450	0.8%	19	2,458
Young	81.3%	5,942	17.8%	1,303	0.8%	60	7,305
Zapata	32.1%	919	67.7%	1,939	0.3%	8	2,866
Zavala	15.4%	596	84.2%	3,263	0.4%	17	3,876

By congressional district

John McCain carried 21 of the state's 32 congressional districts, including one district held by a Democrat.

District	McCain	Obama	Representative
1st	68.93%	30.53%	Louie Gohmert
2nd	59.75%	39.69%	Ted Poe
3rd	57.58%	41.73%	Sam Johnson
4th	69.10%	30.17%	Ralph Hall
5th	63.33%	36.05%	Jeb Hensarling
6th	59.77%	39.59%	Joe Barton
7th	58.36%	40.94%	John Culberson
8th	73.76%	25.53%	Kevin Brady
9th	22.54%	77.08%	Al Green
10th	54.96%	44.18%	Michael McCaul
11th	75.47%	23.75%	Mike Conaway
12th	62.90%	36.36%	Kay Granger
13th	76.54%	22.71%	Mac Thornberry
14th	66.27%	33.08%	Ron Paul
15th	39.63%	59.82%	Rubén Hinojosa
16th	33.57%	65.81%	Silvestre Reyes
17th	67.21%	32.02%	Chet Edwards
18th	22.19%	77.37%	Sheila Jackson Lee
19th	71.93%	27.36%	Randy Neugebauer
20th	35.65%	63.59%	Charlie Gonzalez
21st	58.49%	40.71%	Lamar S. Smith
22nd	58.23%	41.14%	Nick Lampson (110th Congress)
Pete Olson (111th Congress)
23rd	48%	51%	Ciro Rodriguez
24th	54.96%	44.37%	Kenny Marchant
25th	39.71%	59.15%	Lloyd Doggett
26th	58.00%	41.33%	Michael C. Burgess
27th	45.98%	53.32%	Solomon Ortiz
28th	43.53%	55.93%	Henry Cuellar
29th	37.73%	61.65%	Gene Green
30th	17.92%	81.69%	Eddie Bernice Johnson
31st	57.51%	41.53%	John Carter
32nd	53.03%	46.21%	Pete Sessions

Electors

Technically the voters of Texas cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Texas is allocated 34 electors because it has 32 congressional districts and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 34 electors, who pledge to vote for their candidate and his or her running mate. Whoever wins the majority of votes in the state is awarded all 34 electoral votes. Their chosen electors then vote for President and Vice President. Although electors are pledged to their candidate and running mate, they are not obligated to vote for them.^[26] An elector who votes for someone other than his or her candidate is known as a faithless elector.

The electors of each state and the District of Columbia met on December 15, 2008 to cast their votes for President and Vice President. The Electoral College itself never meets as one body. Instead the electors from each state and the District of Columbia met in their respective capitols.

The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state. All 34 were pledged to John McCain and Sarah Palin:^[27][28][29]

1. Marcia Daughtrey
2. Virgil Vickery
3. Charlie O'Reilly
4. Brenda Zielke
5. Mary Darby
6. Melba McDow
7. Paul Pressler
8. Deborah Cupples
9. Frank Alvarez
10. Russ Duerstine
11. Zan Prince
12. Bruce Harris
13. Gordon Starkenburg
14. Sandra Cararas
15. Donene O'Dell
16. Larry Lovelace
17. Nelda Eppes
18. Kenneth Corbin
19. Gene Ryder
20. Robert Hierynomus
21. Terese Raia
22. Arturo Martinez de Vara
23. Thomas Ferguson
24. Robert Long
25. Pat Peale
26. Joel Yowell
27. Judith Hooge
28. Giovanna Searcy
29. Patricia Ann Van Winkle
30. Ronny Risinger
31. Frank Eikenburg
32. Genny Hensz
33. Talmadge Heflin

References

1. "Bob Barr sues to remove Obama, McCain from Texas ballot". 2008-09-16. Retrieved 2016-09-22.
2. "D.C.'s Political Report: The complete source for campaign summaries.". www.dcpoliticalreport.com. Retrieved 2016-09-22.
3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on May 5, 2015. Retrieved May 4, 2015.
4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on April 22, 2009. Retrieved November 14, 2009.
5. "Election Projection: 2008 Elections - Polls, Projections, Results". www.electionprojection.com. Retrieved 2016-09-22.
6. "Electoral-vote.com: President, Senate, House Updated Daily". electoral-vote.com. Retrieved 2016-09-22.
7. Based on Takeaway
8. "POLITICO's 2008 Swing State Map - POLITICO.com". www.politico.com. Retrieved 2016-09-22.
9. "RealClearPolitics Electoral College". RealClearPolitics.
10. Based on Takeaway
11. "CQ Presidential Election Maps, 2008". CQ Politics. Archived from the original on June 14, 2009. Retrieved December 20, 2009.
12. Nagourney, Adam; Zeleny, Jeff; Carter, Shan (2008-11-04). "The Electoral Map: Key States". The New York Times. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
13. "October – 2008 – CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs". CNN. October 31, 2008. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
14. Based on Takeaway
15. Based on Takeaway
16. "Winning The Electoral College". Fox News. April 27, 2010.
17. "roadto270". hosted.ap.org. Retrieved 2016-09-22.
18. "Election 2008: Electoral College Update - Rasmussen Reports™". www.rasmussenreports.com. Retrieved 2016-09-22.
19. "Election 2008 Polls". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.
20. http://www.fec.gov/DisclosureSearch/MapAppState.do?stateName=TX&cand_id=P00000001
21. "Map: Campaign Ad Spending - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
22. "Map: Campaign Candidate Visits - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com". CNN. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
23. Silver, Nate. "Messing With Texas". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved 2009-05-17.
24. Leip, David. "Presidential General Election Map Comparison: Texas". Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
25. "Tarrant county election results by precinct, 2008".
26. "Electoral College". California Secretary of State. Archived from the original on October 30, 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-01.
27. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on November 28, 2008. Retrieved January 2, 2009.
28. "U. S. Electoral College 2008 Certificate". www.archives.gov. Retrieved 2016-09-22.
29. "U. S. Electoral College 2008 Certificate". www.archives.gov. Retrieved 2016-09-22.