Getty Super Tuesday
Decision Desk has declared Joe Biden the winner of the Texas primary. Texas has a total of 228 delegates at stake for the Democratic nomination, which are awarded proportionally. Heavy has partnered with Decision Desk to share the results live tonight as they come in for Texas. Polls closed at 7 p.m. Central/ 8 p.m. Eastern but results took time to come in because of long wait times after the polls closed.
In the first section, you’ll see the live results along with a live delegate tracker. In the second section, you’ll see news about the election, updated throughout the night.
Democratic Primary Results for Texas – Updated Live
Heavy has partnered with Decision Desk to show the live results of the Democratic primary in Texas as they come in. Go here if you don’t see a results table below.
In this story below, you’ll find updates about what’s going on in the election today. Polling locations closed at 7 p.m. Central in Texas.
1 a.m. Eastern: Decision Desk declared Joe Biden the Texas primary winner. With a little more than 70% reporting, Biden has 31.61% of the votes to Sanders’ 28.77%.
12:32 a.m. Eastern: In Texas, Sanders was in the lead most of the night, but now Biden has taken a small lead, Decision Desk shared.
10 p.m. Eastern: Wait times in Texas are long right now. Even an hour after polls closed, there were still two hour wait times in some areas.
@TXCivilRights Reports of wait times from the last half hour:
-In Dallas, voter was in hr 2 of waiting at Oak Lawn Library
-At Ripley House in Houston, voter waiting 2 hrs
-At Wilson Elementary in Houston, voter made it through at 8pm after 2hr wait
-At MickeyLeland Academy, voter w/ 2hr wait
9:55 p.m. Eastern: At one point, the Texas Secretary of State website went down.
Texas SOS election results website appears to be down… #TexasPrimary
8:42 p.m. Eastern: In Hidalgo early voting, Bloomberg has 30%, Sanders 26%, and Biden 21%.
Hidalgo County early vote:
Presidential: Bloomberg 30%, Sanders 26%, Biden 21
#TXSEN: Hernandez 26, everyone else at 12 or less
In Travis County early voting, Sanders is at 37%, Warren 25%, Biden 12% and Bloomberg 9.61%.
Travis County early vote:
Sanders: 37%
Warren: 25
Biden: 12
Bloomberg: 9.61
Buttigieg: 9.19
7:50 p.m. Eastern: All eyes are turning to Texas, after Joe Biden won Virginia and North Carolina, and Bernie Sanders won Vermont. Mike Bloomberg won the American Samoa caucus.
7:25 p.m. Eastern: Long lines are being reported at Texas State, possibly as long as two hours, which could delay results there.
Long wait times at Texas State even with 12 days of early voting and an Election Day site, which followed a student voting rights fight in 2018: t.co/VICJOaetAR
t.co/nXY7GS4RKd
Tuesday afternoon: Robocalls were made in Texas that shared misinformation about the primary.
Our office has received reports of robocalls stating misinformation about today’s primary election. To be clear, all eligible voters should vote today. Look to @VoteTexas as your source for accurate election information. #TrustedInfo2020
Monday night: Beto O’Rourke, Amy Klobuchar, and Pete Buttigieg all endorsed Joe Biden the night before Super Tuesday. O’Rourke’s endorsement might move some Texas votes, since he was a longtime Congressman who recently ran against Ted Cruz for Senate in Texas.
How Texas Delegates Work
Texas has 228 delegates plus 33 unpledged delegates (who are essentially superdelegates), according to The Green Papers. Delegates are rewarded proportionally as long as a candidate reaches the 15 percent threshold of viability. Out of these, 149 are district delegates and 79 are statewide delegates (49 at-large national convention delegates and 30 pledged PLEOs.)
The 33 unpledged automatic delegates (aka superdelegates who vote on the second ballot at the DNC) consist of 20 DNC members and 13 members of Congress.
The district conventions are March 21 and the state convention is June 4-6.
The Democratic National Convention will take place July 13-16. According to Ballotpedia, there will be 4,750 delegates total, including 3,979 pledged and 771 automatic (more commonly known as superdelegates.) In order to not have a contested convention, a candidate needs 1,991 pledged delegates on the first ballot. (Superdelegates aren’t allowed to vote on the first ballot.) If no candidate gets this majority of pledged delegates, then a second ballot (or more) will take place and both pledged and automatic delegates can vote this time. From then on, a candidate needs the majority of all delegates to win, which is more than 2,375 votes.