<\/p>\n
Barbie Cordier of Plano holds up a sign that reads \u201cTEXAS Strong! TEAM ABBOTT!\u201d as Gov. Greg Abbott speaks during a campaign event at Matt\u2019s Rancho Martinez in Allen, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026. Republican Gov. Abbott, seeking a fourth term, faces Democrat Gina Hinojosa, an Austin state representative.<\/p>\n
Juan Figueroa\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
Gov. Greg Abbott speaks during a campaign event at Matt\u2019s Rancho Martinez in Allen, Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026. Republican Gov. Abbott, seeking a fourth term, faces Democrat Gina Hinojosa, an Austin state representative.<\/p>\n
Juan Figueroa\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
Gov. Greg Abbott warned a crowd of Republicans in Abilene this week that \u201cfar left, progressive Democrats\u201d are turning out to the polls in big numbers<\/a> in cities like Austin.\u00a0<\/p>\n The governor, locked in a tight reelection battle against Gina Hinojosa<\/a>, said he needed them to get to the polls \u2014 and get their friends and family there too.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s going to take everybody in this room, everybody in Abilene, everybody across this entire region of the state of Texas, if we’re going to be able to win this race,\u201d Abbott said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n EARLY VOTE TRACKER: Search by county and see where turnout is highest<\/a><\/p>\n It was Abbott\u2019s first of three stops Monday, which also included a rally with Attorney General Ken Paxton in Wichita Falls<\/a>, as Republicans tear through deep-red parts of Texas in the final stretch of early voting, working to boost GOP turnout to offset strong showings so far in Democratic strongholds, like Harris, Dallas and Travis counties.\u00a0<\/p>\n And they\u2019re bringing in reinforcements, with President Donald Trump heading to Lubbock<\/a> on Tuesday and Vice President JD Vance in Weatherford, a solid red suburb of Fort Worth, on Thursday.\u00a0<\/p>\n That\u2019s because turnout in these parts of the state will be, as Abbott told the crowd in Abilene, \u201cabsolutely essential\u201d for Republicans to maintain their three-decade streak of dominance in statewide races.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n While turnout is up across the state, the smaller counties that Republicans tend to rely on have not kept pace with Texas\u2019s blue population centers. Rural counties have seen a turnout of about 21% of registered voters, according to an analysis by Derek Ryan<\/a>, a Republican consultant. The five largest counties in the state have so far outpaced that by 3 percentage points.\u00a0<\/p>\n By Monday, the state had logged 115,499 more ballots cast by voters who have only previously voted in Democratic primaries than those who have only voted in Republican primaries. While that is an imperfect measure of party affiliation, since voters do not register with a party in Texas, it does suggest Democrats may be off to a stronger start.<\/p>\n Ryan said that advantage could be because it is easier to vote early in more urban and suburban areas than rural parts of the state. Polling has also found Democrats tend to vote earlier. About two-thirds of Democrats prefer to cast early ballots, according to surveys by the University of Texas at Austin. Republicans are more evenly split, with many waiting to vote on Election Day.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt is possible that we may see Republicans make up some ground in the next few days,\u201d Ryan wrote in his analysis.<\/p>\n