Record 885,000 cast votes early in Texas

Democrats exceed Republicans for first time in 10 years

Texas voters didn’t just set a record for early voting in a primary during a non-presidential election. They obliterated the records. More than 885,000 people voted in the Texas primaries through early voting or by mail in the state’s most populous counties, according the the Texas Secretary of State’s office. That is a 50 percent increase from the previous high of 592,000 in 2014, the last election cycle with the governor on the ballot.

For the first time in a decade more people voted in a Democratic Primary than a Republican Primary in the state’s largest counties. The last time Democrats beat Republicans was in 2008 when the battle between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton drove record turnout in the primary battle for president.

Just over 465,000 people voted in the Democratic Primary in the state’s 15 largest counties, compared to about 420,000 Republicans. In fact, more people voted in this year’s Democratic Primary than they did in even the presidential election in 2016, when turnout is typically much higher.

Harris County voters also shattered records. In 2014, about

105,000 people voted in the primaries. This year more than 169,000 people participated. About 88,000 people voted in the Democratic Primary, versus about 82,000 in the Republican Primary.

It’s the first time more people voted in the Democratic primaries during a major election cycle than in the Republican primaries in 10 years.

Democratic turnout has been boosted this year by a combination of factors. Opposition to President Donald Trump has been a big factor in turning out voters nationwide, but Democrats also have been aided by more candidates running for office and more competitive primaries than four years ago. Four years ago, in the nine congressional districts that make up parts of Harris County, just two had competitive primaries for Democrats. This year, seven of the nine have Democratic primaries.

Democrats say their voters are engaged and have a lot of enthusiasm heading into the midterm elections in which Democrats are trying to regain control of Congress.

Election Day for both the Democratic and Republican primaries is Tuesday.