Democratic U.S. Senate nominee James Talarico cast his ballot near his Austin home on Friday, reveling in a surge of early voter turnout that was reported across much of Texas this week.
Through the first four days of voting, more than 170,000 people had voted in Travis County, a 50% increase from the last midterm election in 2022. Statewide, nearly 3 million people had already voted going into Friday, according to the Secretary of State’s office.
“Really excited that Texans are getting out there,” Talarico said just after he exited the polls with his mother, Tamara Causey, and girlfriend, Brianna Menard, by his side.
While the result of those early votes won’t be known until Election Day, Talarico said he’s confident that Texans are going to send him to Washington, D.C.
“We’re going to shock the nation and shock the world when we take back Texas,” Talarico said. Democrats haven’t wan a statewide office in Texas in 32 years.
He and Republican candidate Ken Paxton are crisscrossing the state trying to turn out voters during early voting, which runs through Oct. 30. Election Day is Nov. 3.
During a campaign stop in Conroe earlier this week, Paxton told supporters that he’s confident there are more Republicans than Democrats in Texas, but it’s about making sure they all get out to vote.
“We need every Republican, and we will win if we do that,” he said.
Paxton was in South Texas on Friday, campaigning in Laredo and then into San Antonio. After voting, Talarico planned to attend a campaign event in Temple, then hold a rally near the University of Texas at Austin later.