Texas is winner takes all; however, the primary usually falls so late here that the nomination is pretty much decided. In 2012, the primary got held up by redistricting lawsuits so we didn't even get to vote until May 29. By then Romney had the nomination locked up (I didn't vote for him).
In the general election, the last Democrat to win Texas was Jimmy Carter in 1976 (I didn't vote for him either). So pretty much whoever gets the Republican nomination will carry the state.
” Texas is winner takes all; however, the primary usually falls so late here that the nomination is pretty much decided. In 2012, the primary got held up by redistricting lawsuits so we didn’t even get to vote until May 29. By then Romney had the nomination locked up (I didn’t vote for him).
In the general election, the last Democrat to win Texas was Jimmy Carter in 1976 (I didn’t vote for him either). So pretty much whoever gets the Republican nomination will carry the state.”
That’s all changed this cycle. Texas is scheduled to hold their primary on March 1, which is a week after Nevada and the same day as Colorado, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Tennessee,Vermont, Virginia and North Carolina. This may help explain Cruz’s brilliant strategy of visiting many of the above states and grabbing all that free publicity while everybody else has set up camp in IA, NH and SC.
Because they are going in the first two weeks of March, they are not allowed to be a total “winner take all” state. However, they are using a modified “winner take all” system that is within the RNC rules. To win all the delegates, you must either receive 51% of the vote and/or have no other candidate reach 20% of the vote. Given Cruz’s popularity in TX, 51% is very doable.