See how many people voted early ahead of Thursday's election

Jordan Buie | The Tennessean

Early voting in Tennessee has finally ended. Here's a breakdown of the numbers ahead of the primary election Thursday.

Republicans have cast nearly twice as many ballots as Democrats

So far, about 626,900 people have voted in Tennessee, including early and absentee ballots cast between July 13 and July 28.

Republicans have cast 398,117 ballots and Democrats have cast 210,743.

Early voting totals up 11 percent from 2014 midterms

This total shows a continued rising trend for early voting, which is up 11 percent from the the roughly 564,000 who voted early or absentee during the same two-week period in 2014.

About 543,000 people voted early in 2010, the last time there was a competitive Republican primary for an open governor's office.

For the full list of totals from the secretary of state's office, go here.

Still, Adam Ghassemi, director of communications for Secretary of State Tre Hargett, said these numbers are set to change some as absentee ballots continue to arrive through election day.

For this primary, all eyes are on the governor's race, which includes a packed field of six top-tier candidates — four Republicans and two Democrats.

U.S. Rep. Diane Black, former economic and community development commissioner Randy Boyd, House Speaker Beth Harwell and Williamson County businessman Bill Lee are on the Republican ballot. Former Nashville Mayor Karl Dean and House Minority Leader Craig Fitzhugh are the Democrats.

Another major contest is the race for the seat of outgoing U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, but U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn and former Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen are expected to cruise through to become the Republican and Democratic nominees, respectively.

Reach Reporter Jordan Buie at 615-726-5970 or by email at jbuie@tennessean.com. Follow him on Twitter @jordanbuie.