How Texas Drifted Right in 2012
By: Texas Tribune
Updated: November 23, 2012
Speculation abounds at the possibility that Texas one day will become a swing state -- or even a blue state. But if there is anything to learn from President Obama's performance on Election Day, it's that he wasn't nearly as strong in the state as in 2008. Texans supported Mitt Romney by wider margins than they supported U.S. Sen. John McCain four years ago.
Obama took one of the biggest dives in Travis County. In 2008, Obama won the county with 117,036 votes. In 2012, he again won the county, but with 92,037 votes, a 24,999-vote swing. In Tarrant County, a Republican stronghold, Romney netted 22,357 more votes than McCain did in 2008.
However, some counties in South and West Texas swung more Democratic this year. Hidalgo County, in South Texas, netted Obama 7,500 more votes this year than he received in 2008. In West Texas, Ector County, although it went to Romney, was more Democratic by 1,235 votes.
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