WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump changed elections with his use of social media, and candidates in the midterms are stepping up their game — especially among Texas Democrats.

During October, social media marketing group Socialbakers, compiled data on all interactions on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for 65 House and 35 Senate races, including four in Texas. Interactions were based on how a supporter responded to a candidate's post such as a like, comment or share. Some data from Instagram could not be collected if a candidate uses a personal account, said spokesman Rich Mullikin.

The group looked at four races in Texas — the hotly contested U.S. Senate race and the 7th, 23rd and 32nd congressional districts. The Dallas Morning News examined data collected from Twitter and Facebook for the Texas candidates.

Mullikin said Socialbakers was one of the few groups that looked at the 2016 presidential election and saw how many more interactions Trump had compared with Hillary Clinton.

Trump heavily relied on his voice and Twitter during the presidential election. Since being in office, his use of Twitter has not stopped.

"I doubt I would be here if it weren't for social media, to be honest with you," Trump said in a Fox Business interview in October 2017.

Both GOP Sen. Ted Cruz and Democrat Beto O’Rourke have been active on social media. According to the data, O’Rourke has more than twice as many interactions as Cruz.

“Of course Beto has more interactions,” said Janet Johnson, adjunct professor at Dallas County Community College and author of a coming book on social media and politics. “He is on there all the time. He interacts and it’s worked for him.”

The Democrat’s use of social media hit the national scene in 2017, when he and Republican Rep. Will Hurd of San Antonio drove from Texas to Washington, D.C., to be back in time for votes after snowstorms shut down East Coast airports. People watched the congressmen on Facebook Live for 36 hours of debate, singalongs and doughnut stops.

During O'Rourke's run for the Senate, Facebook Live has been his go-to platform to record rallies, car rides to and from events, ordinary chores like doing his laundry and cooler moments like skateboarding in a Whataburger parking lot.

Cruz prefers using Twitter over Facebook. According to the data, Cruz has more than 1.2 million interactions on Twitter, compared with 504,000 on Facebook.

During O’Rourke’s CNN town hall Oct. 18, Cruz held a 33-minute Facebook Live interview with Dallas conservative radio host Mark Davis. Around the 10-minute mark, the video experienced some technical issues.

“We may not win best IT department of the year,” Cruz commented. as everyone tried to figure out the problem.

#CruzingWithMark - A conversation with Mark Davis in DFW Posted by Ted Cruz on Thursday, October 18, 2018

And people noticed. Michael Avenatti, attorney for porn actress Stormy Daniels and who is considering to run for president in 2020, called Cruz “a complete joke” for not knowing how to work the phone or Facebook.

.@tedcruz aka Lyin’ Ted - I’m a clown? You don’t even know how Facebook or an iPhone works. You are a complete joke. https://t.co/lRymvOxe4o — Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) October 20, 2018

In the congressional races, Democrats had a much higher rate of interaction than Republicans. In the Houston-area 7th District race between GOP Rep. John Culberson and challenger Lizzie Fletcher, the Democrat had more than 19 times as many interactions than the incumbent.

Johnson said based on the amount of social media posts, she sees how Democrats are responding as being a sign of the "Trump effect."

"He broke the mold of how candidates campaign," Johnson said. "Could that be just him? Democrats are getting out there, while Republicans are riding the coattail of Trump."

The president has used Twitter to give his support and endorsements of Cruz and Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Dallas.

Congressman Pete Sessions of Texas is doing a great job. He is a fighter who will be tough on Crime and the Border, fight hard for our Second Amendment and loves our Military and our Vets. He has my full and complete Endorsement! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 15, 2018

Ted Cruz has done so much for Texas, including massive cuts in taxes and regulations - which has brought Texas to the best jobs numbers in the history of the state. He watches carefully over your 2nd Amendment. O’Rourke would blow it all! Ted has long had my Strong Endorsement! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 17, 2018

In districts 23 and 32, the numbers were similar. Democrats Gina Ortiz Jones and Colin Allred had about four times as many interactions as their opponents, Reps. Will Hurd and Pete Sessions.

“Democrats are getting a lot more attention on social media than Republicans but that is all we can tell,” said Shannon McGregor, an assistant professor of communications at the University of Utah who studies politics and social media. “Numbers tell us momentum but that doesn’t translate into victories on Election Day.”

Texas is one of the worst voting states. In November 2014, only 16.3 percent of registered voters under the age of 40 turned out to vote.

O'Rourke and Cruz have both called the 2018 midterms "the election of lifetime." As early voting started on Monday, both candidates created Twitter hashtags, #VoteWithBeto and #ChooseCruz, for supporters to use to get the word out about voting.

After three days of early voting, counties across the state have been breaking records and seen numbers on pace with the 2016 election. So far over 1.5 million Texans cast their ballots, according to the Texas secretary of state.

CORRECTION, 10 a.m.. Friday, Oct. 26: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said that after three days of early voting, more than 2.45 million ballots were cast The correct total for the time period was more than 1.5 million ballots.