Texas Democrats outpacing GOP in early vote count

Last week of early voting kicks off

The last week of early voting kicked off on Monday, and with more than a million votes cast so far, the turnout is outpacing the last midterm election.

AUSTIN, Texas - Data from the Texas Secretary of State's Office shows Democrats are currently slightly ahead of Republicans at the ballot box. Both parties are outpacing the number of early votes made at the same point in 2022. 

Republicans are showing up at the polls, but the GOP turnout is a little less than the early vote at this time in the 2024 presidential primary.

What they're saying:

The chairman of the Texas Democrat Party, Kendall Scudder, was featured in Monday’s Battleground Texas segment. In his conversation with Steven Dial, Scudder indicated he believes their stance against immigration enforcement is resonating with voters and driving turnout. 

The party chairman also noted that for the first time in a long time, Democrats have a lot of competitive names on their primary ballot.

"I am a firm believer when we compete in every corner of this state we will have better results. That’s why we recruited a candidate at the state and federal level for the first time since 1974. Having more candidates drives turnout, but I have said since Congresswoman Crockett got into this race against Rep. Talarico," said Scudder.

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After the primary, votes are counted and some fence mending will be needed. Dial asked Scudder if he is worried those who support the losing candidate will not return to the polls in November.

"I know both of our candidates very well, I have known them for years. They are good people who understand and have a very strong northern star for what we are trying to accomplish. There may be wounds after the election, but I have 100% confidence they will both be at the table to make sure Democrats are winning elections. This is not the dirtiest primary we have seen in Texas. I would argue the Republican primary is much nastier. Also, think back to primaries like the 1990 primary between Maddox and Richards, it really doesn’t get any nastier than that one, but we ended up winning that election," said Scudder.

As for that battle for the Democratic senate nomination, Jasmine Crockett has dropped two new ads. She has also pushed out internal polling showing a hypothetical head-to-head with Ken Paxton; she was leading. 

Meanwhile, James Talarico was in San Marcos on Monday afternoon. He is continuing to push back on accusations that his campaign has taken donations from dark money donors.

Battleground Texas runs from Monday through Friday at 3 p.m. It can be viewed on the FOX Local app.