{"id":182408,"date":"2026-02-27T04:05:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T04:05:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/182408\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T04:05:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T04:05:15","slug":"high-early-voting-turnout-marks-2026-primary-with-dems-leading-in-numbers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/182408\/","title":{"rendered":"High early voting turnout marks 2026 primary with Dems leading in numbers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 With one day remaining in early voting, turnout in the Texas primary election has been high from the start, with <a href=\"https:\/\/cbsaustin.com\/news\/local\/With one day remaining in early voting, turnout in the Texas primary election has been high from the start, with Democratic voters outpacing Republicans in participation. According to Vote Hub, a total of 869,118 Democratic voters have cast ballots statewide, compared with 732,144 Republican voters. Democratic turnout is 276 percent higher than at the same point in the last midterm primary, while Republican turnout has increased by 158 percent over the 2022 midterm primary. Brian Smith, a professor of political science at St. Edward\u2019s University, said increased turnout reflects heightened enthusiasm among voters and could influence participation in the general election. \u201cHigher voter turnout in the primaries means more excitement for the party and primary voters are general election voters, so more voters now will translate into the fall,\u201d Smith said. He added that the turnout surge may also be tied to interest in a competitive and costly Texas Senate race, noting, \u201cit also means that they\u2019re excited by the very close and very expensive Texas Senate race.\u201d In the Democratic primary, State Representative James Talarico and U.S. Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett are competing for their party\u2019s nomination. Talarico said his campaign is focused on mobilizing voters across Texas. \u201cWe are building a movement to take back the state and this country, we are focusing on mobilizing voters all over the state,\u201d he said. Crockett has also campaigned statewide, telling voters she is the strongest candidate for the November ballot. \u201cI am tired of people asking if I am electable. We know that is nothing but dog whistle. We know that if we know the history of Texas, the same type of people told Ann Richards, and you can go and google this the same type of people who told her she wasn\u2019t electable because she was a woman,\u201d Crockett said. Recent polling suggests Crockett holds a slight lead. The Texas Politics Project poll shows her ahead, while a Vote Hub poll places her at 45 percent of the Democratic primary vote compared with 41 percent for Talarico. Smith cautioned that primary polling does not necessarily predict the outcome of the general election. \u201cNot particularly, because they\u2019ve fallen in love with candidates before,\u201d he said. He added that without broader support, Democratic candidates could still face challenges in November: \u201cbut unless they actually are able to get rural voters, weak Republicans, independent voters to switch over, it might be a close race but they\u2019ll still end up losing.\u201d Smith said that candidates leading in the primaries typically maintain their advantage through Election Day, unless there is an unexpected surge in turnout. \u201cIf turnout goes way up, meaning there\u2019s a surge on election day, that\u2019s unexpected. That means new voters are coming out,\u201d he said. On the Republican side, Vote Hub reports turnout is also significantly higher than in the last midterm primary \u2014 158 percent higher than at the same point in 2022. In a statement, the chair of the Travis County GOP said many voters are still seeking more information about the numerous candidates on the Republican ballot.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Democratic voters outpacing Republicans i<\/a>n participation.<\/p>\n<p>According to Vote Hub, a total of 869,118 Democratic voters have cast ballots statewide, compared with 732,144 Republican voters. Democratic turnout is 276 percent higher than at the same point in the last midterm primary, while Republican turnout has increased by 158 percent over the 2022 midterm primary.<\/p>\n<p>Brian Smith, a professor of political science at St. Edward\u2019s University, said increased turnout reflects heightened enthusiasm among voters and could influence participation in the general election. \u201cHigher voter turnout in the primaries means more excitement for the party, and primary voters are general election voters, so more voters now will translate into the fall,\u201d Smith said. He added that the turnout surge may also be tied to interest in a competitive and costly Texas Senate race, noting, \u201cit also means that they\u2019re excited by the very close and very expensive Texas Senate race.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the Democratic primary, State Representative James Talarico and U.S. Congresswoman<a href=\"https:\/\/cbsaustin.com\/news\/nation-world\/cardi-b-urges-texas-fans-to-vote-early-for-jasmine-crockett-in-pricey-senate-race-james-talarico?teaserSource=trending\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"> Jasmine Crockett are competing for their party\u2019s nomination<\/a>. Talarico said his campaign is focused on mobilizing voters across Texas. \u201cWe are building a movement to take back the state and this country. We are focusing on mobilizing voters all over the state,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cbsaustin.com\/news\/local\/republican-voters-split-on-ag-race-days-away-from-primary\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">ALSO| Republican voters split on AG race, days away from primary<\/a><\/p>\n<p><p>KEYE<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Crockett has also campaigned statewide, telling voters she is the strongest candidate for the November ballot. \u201cI am tired of people asking if I am electable. We know that it is nothing but a dog whistle. We know that if we know the history of Texas, the same type of people told Ann Richards, and you can go and Google this, the same type of people who told her she wasn\u2019t electable because she was a woman,\u201d Crockett said.<\/p>\n<p>Recent polling suggests Crockett holds a slight lead. The Texas Politics Project poll shows her ahead, while a Vote Hub poll places her at 45 percent of the Democratic primary vote compared with 41 percent for Talarico. Smith cautioned that primary polling does not necessarily predict the outcome of the general election. \u201cNot particularly, because they\u2019ve fallen in love with candidates before,\u201d he said. He added that without broader support, Democratic candidates could still face challenges in November: \u201cBut unless they actually are able to get rural voters, weak Republicans, independent voters to switch over, it might be a close race, but they\u2019ll still end up losing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Smith said that candidates leading in the primaries typically maintain their advantage through Election Day, unless there is an unexpected surge in turnout. \u201cIf turnout goes way up, meaning there\u2019s a surge on election day, that\u2019s unexpected. That means new voters are coming out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>On the Republican side, Vote Hub reports turnout is also significantly higher than in the last midterm primary \u2014 158 percent higher than at the same point in 2022.  In a statement, the chair of the Travis County GOP said many voters are still seeking more information about the numerous candidates on the Republican ballot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN, Texas \u2014 With one day remaining in early voting, turnout in the Texas primary election has been&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":182409,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133],"class_list":{"0":"post-182408","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-austin","8":"tag-austin","9":"tag-austin-headlines","10":"tag-austin-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/182409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}