Texas has clinched the Electoral College for Donald Trump.
The ballots of three dozen Texas presidential electors Monday put the billionaire over the 270 electoral votes needed to formally win the White House. All but two of the state’s 38 electors stuck with Trump.
Among the pair of electors to revolt was Dallas paramedic Chris Suprun. He had compared Trump to “a king” earlier this month in announcing that he would cast his ballot for someone else. Suprun said he would vote for Ohio Gov. John Kasich instead.
Another elector used his ballot to vote for former Texas congressman Ron Paul.
More than 100 demonstrators outside the Texas Capitol had more electors would also reject Trump. The businessman won Texas by nine percentage points, the state’s smallest margin of victory for a Republican presidential candidate since 1996.
An effort by anti-Trump forces to persuade Republican electors to abandon the president-elect came to practically nothing and the process unfolded largely according to its traditions. Trump’s polarizing victory Nov. 8 and the fact Democrat Hillary Clinton had won the national popular vote had stirred an intense lobbying effort, but to no avail.
With several states still voting, Trump had 304 votes and Clinton had 169. It takes 270 Electoral College votes to win the presidency. Texas put Trump over the top, despite two Republican electors casting protest votes.
