Hiya, Democrat living in Texas here.
Texas has been trending purple for the past few years. It's still a red state, but projections say it could turn blue in a decade or two. And I'd rather try to help that along by casting my ballots for Democratic candidates. Because, frankly, protest votes are stupid.
Also, you couldn't pay me to vote for Gary Johnson. The only good Libertarian is a Libertarian who's been beaten to death while screaming for help from police who refuse to help him because he's not paid up on his Police Fees, and then strung up from the town square as a lesson for people not to be douchebag Libertarians.
UPDATE: January 2024: Twelve years later, it's clear that Texas is going to be a blood-red state 'til the end of time. If need be, the state govenment will ban voting if it looks to get too close, but Texans just generally tend to be shits. They'd rather personally kill their children than ever run the risk of having to call a non-white person "sir."
But the Libertarians are, if anything, even worse. The joke used to be that a Libertarian was a Republican who wanted to smoke pot. The ensuing years have shown that the Libertarians are just Republicans, complete with their dedication to wars of conquest and banning abortion, but who also want to smoke pot and rape schoolchildren. And it's depressingly common to see various state-level Libertarian Parties posting explicit Nazi propaganda.
Still 100% true: The only good Nazi is a dead Nazi. And that absolutely includes Libertarians and Trumpers.