AUSTIN — Democrats have more than doubled their early voting in the state’s biggest counties compared with four years ago, leading some party leaders to point again to a growing wave election they think will send a dramatic message to Republicans.

But while Democrats are voting in larger numbers than they did four years ago, Republicans still are near where they were four years ago, even though they lack the same star power in the primary than they had four years ago at the top of the ballot.

In the state’s largest 15 counties, nearly 50,000 people voted in the Democratic primary elections on the first day of early voting. In 2014 — the last midterm election cycle — only about 25,000 Democrats cast primary votes.

Never have the Democrats had so many early voters in a primary in a gubernatorial election cycle going back to the mid-1990s, when early voting started.

In Bexar County, 3,278 voters cast ballots in the Democratic primary on the first day, up 31 percent from 2014, while 2,096 voted in the Republican primary, down 11 percent.

State Democratic Party Chair Gilberto Hinojosa said the numbers once again point to Democrats being more competitive than ever before.

“We have an historic number of Democratic candidates in virtually every level of office and the progressive values to move our state forward,” he said.

The strong early turnout numbers also come at a time when Democrats are on a roll in winning special legislative elections in GOP strongholds around the nation.

This week, a Democrat won a Kentucky legislative district that President Donald Trump had won with 72 percent of the vote in 2016. Tuesday night’s win was the 37th Republican-held legislative seat that Democrats have snared since Trump was sworn in.

Meanwhile, Republican early voting numbers are essentially flat in Texas, with 47,000 Republicans voting on the first day of early voting — slightly lower than the 49,000 that voted four years ago.

But Republicans say those numbers don’t mean Democrats are suddenly about to overtake Republicans in both energy and at the ballot box.

Republicans say they expect that as early voting continues, GOP voters will turn out in greater numbers.

“Democrats are overselling this,” said Vlad Davidiuk, communications director for the Harris County Republican Party.

He said he has no doubt that in some races voters are waiting to get more information on the candidates before committing to vote.

Four years ago, Republicans had intense GOP primaries for governor and lieutenant governor that helped drive early turnout numbers. Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick were both in tough battles seeking their first terms, which was driving interest in the primaries.

This year, they’re both expected to have a cakewalk to their nominations.

But while Democrats have set a record for the first day of early voting in a primary in a midterm cycle, some warn that it doesn’t mean the state is about to see record voting overall for the March 6 primary.

“It does not portend more people voting overall,” said Jeff Blaylock, publisher of TXelects.com, which analyzes election data and voter trends.

On Wednesday, numbers in Bexar County had fallen for both primaries: 2,473 people voted in the Democratic primary while 1,937 voted in the Republican one.

Blaylock is quick to note that the first day of early voting actually represents less than 1 percent voter turnout overall. He said Texas has some of the lowest overall voter participation rates in primaries nationwide, so trying to overanalyze turnout can be misleading.