Donald Trump secures win in state of Texas

As anticipated, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has won the Lone Star State of Texas.

With 97% of the votes accounted for, 52.6% of Texans voted for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump while 47.7% voted for his opponent, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Breakdown of full election results

 "I look forward to working with the new administration to ensure that we secure our border, restore the balance of power between states and the federal government and end the federal outreach that has unfortunately become a staple of the outgoing executive's legacy," Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement.

"This morning I called President-elect Donald Trump and congratulated him on his election as President of the United States of America. Laura and I wish the President-elect, Melania, and the entire Trump family all our very best as they take on an awesome responsibility and begin an exciting new chapter in their lives. We pray for the success of our country and the success of our new President," former President George W. Bush said.

A Democrat hasn't carried the state since Jimmy Carter in 1976, and Republican nominees have coasted to double-digit statewide victory every presidential election since 2000.

Tellingly, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton never spent valuable crunch time campaigning in Texas. And her top surrogates, including Michelle Obama and Bill Clinton, went to battleground states like North Carolina and Arizona, rather than here.

Texas voters have shattered registration and early-voting records, even amid a nation-leading decline in the number of statewide polling stations sparked by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that weakened a key civil rights law.

Long plagued by some of the nation's lowest turnout rates, Texas should surpass its 2008 record of 8 million voters.

Texas has exceeded 15.1 million registered voters for the first time, with nearly a million new registrants just since the March primary. And like much of the nation, Texas smashed records for early voting turnout.

Almost 4.5 million Texas residents cast early ballots in the state's 15 largest counties alone. That accounts for 46 percent of all registered voters statewide and exceeds the record 3.5-plus million total early votes cast before the 2008 election.

A Democrat hasn't won statewide office in Texas since 1994, the nation's longest such political losing streak. The party's best chance to end that is incumbent Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Lawrence Meyers, who was first elected as a Republican in 1992 but switched parties in 2013.

Republicans are extending their total grip on the Texas Supreme Court to 20 years after three GOP justices easily won re-election.

Justices Debra Lehrmann, Paul Green and Eva Guzman each beat Democratic challengers Tuesday night. They were the only three justices this year whose terms were expiring.

Democrats must now wait until 2018 to try again. Republicans have entirely controlled the nine-member court since 1999, when then-Gov. George W. Bush appointed eventual U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to fill a vacancy.

The Texas Supreme Court handed down a major decision this summer that found the state's beleaguered school finance system is flawed but constitutional. More than 600 school districts had sued following $5.4 billion in classroom cuts by the GOP-controlled Legislature in 2011.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.