Texas' primary election early voting numbers for first day show Democrats energized

AUSTIN — The pace of early voting heading toward the March 6 primaries appears to be brisk in the state's most populous counties, compared with the 2014 midterm elections, and Democratic turnout was up dramatically, first-day figures released Wednesday showed.

The first day's totals from Tuesday, which include those who showed up in person to cast a ballot and those who previously had mailed in their votes in time to be included in the initial numbers, indicated that even Democrats are energized both in the urban counties and in the Republican suburbs.

In Harris County, home of Houston, just over 8,000 voters either cast ballots in person or by mail on Tuesday in the Democratic Primary. On the first day of early voting four years ago, only 3,356 Democratic ballots had been cast.

By comparison, the 2014 Republican total in Harris County on the first day was 11,855. This time it was 9,647.

In North Texas' Dallas and Tarrant counties, Democratic turnout more than doubled. Republican totals were lower on the first day of 2018, compared with four years ago.

In El Paso County, home to Senate Democratic hopeful Beto O'Rourke, first-day Democratic turnout was 4,018; that's nearly double the 2014 participation level. Republican first-day numbers were less than 1,000 in both 2014 and 2018.

But even in places like Denton and Collins counties, home to the GOP-friendly suburbs north of Dallas, Democratic turnout was off the charts. For instance, fewer than 350 Collin County Democrats had weighed in on the first day of early voting in 2014 and only 277 showed up in Denton County.

But this time, Collin County's Democratic numbers reached 1,555 and Denton's were 1,159.

Both counties, however, remain solidly red: Collin County turned out nearly twice as many first-day Republicans than Democrats and the Denton GOP vote outpaced the Democrats by about 1,000.

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In Nueces County, where Republicans lately have dominated but Democrats remained competitive, was first-day swing was equally dramatic: 1,340 Democrats had cast in-person or mail-in ballots this time, compared with 423 four years ago.

And four years ago, the Nueces County first-day totals showed Republicans outvoting Democrats by a near 2-1 margin. This time, the first-day Democratic turnout was more than two-and-half times the GOP.

Typically in mid-term elections, the party not in the White House tends to fare better. And that's a point not lost on Republican U.S. Sen Ted Cruz, who is trying to fend off O'Rourke's challenge. Cruz last week warned his own supporters to get to the polls because Democrats "will crawl over broken glass" to cast their ballots this year.

Early voting runs through March 2. Voters may cast ballots in either party's primary but not in both.

John C. Moritz covers Texas government and politics for the USA Today Network in Austin. Contact him at John.Moritz@caller.com and follow him on Twitter @JohnnieMo.