The map above shows the turnout and the candidate that won each county. The only place where Beto O'Rourke won and the turnout was high was in Austin and its northern suburbs. Every other county he won had either moderate or low turnout. Ted Cruz, on the other hand, had really high turnout in San Antonio's northern suburbs and various other counties throughout the state. He also won very few counties with low turnout.
Findings
- Cruz won 17 counties with very high voter turnout as opposed to O'Rourke's two.
- In addition, Cruz won 53 counties with moderately high turnout as opposed to O'Rourke's four.
- Cruz also won significantly more counties with moderate turnout at 96 versus O'Rourke's six.
- Even in counties with moderately low turnout, Cruz again dominates by winning 48 while O'Rourke only captured six.
- O'Rourke won the majority of the low turnout counties winning 14 while Cruz only won eight.
Caveats
- There may still be a few votes not counted.
- The map is presented in an Albers equal-area conic projection.
- The choropleth classification is based on Jenks or natural breaks.
Details
In total, Cruz won 222 counties as opposed to O'Rourke's 32. However, 7.65% of the counties he won were high voter turnout while O'Rourke's high turnout counties make up 6.25% of his total counties won. Counties with a moderately high turnout account for 23.87% of Cruz's county wins and 12.50% of O'Rourke's. Moderate turnout counties account for 43.24% of Cruz's counties and 18.75% of O'Rourke's. Turning over to the low end, counties with moderately low turnout account for 21.62% of Cruz's county wins and 18.75% of O'Rourke's. Finally, low voter turnout counties account for 3.60% of Cruz's wins while they make up a whopping 25% of O'Rourke's.
It is hard to tell if O'Rourke would have fared better if the counties he won had a higher voter turnout or if those were voters for Cruz that stayed home. One thing is for sure, Cruz's campaign got voters to the polls and that is evident by the dark red counties spread throughout the state.
Sources
Texas Office of the Secretary of State. "2018 General Election: Election Night Results." Accessed November 7, 2018. https://enrpages.sos.state.tx.us/public/nov06_331_race0.htm.