2026 Texas Primary Elections: More voters cast their ballots early across the state

AUSTIN, Texas - Election Day is Tuesday, March 3, for the Texas primaries, and more voters are casting their ballots early across the state. 

Travis County is outpacing several of its past primary elections, according to local officials.

What they're saying:

In the March 3, 2026, primaries, Texans will select candidates to represent their parties on the ballot in the November general election.

"We’re looking at Democratic primary turnout that’s simply off the charts," Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University, said. "We’ve had 1.5 million people vote early, and we’re expecting somewhere between 2.5 and 2.75 million to vote overall."

Early voter counts show Democrats are turning out in greater numbers for their primary races than Republicans, something that hasn’t happened since 2008.

"I don’t think Republicans, at least at this point, have that much to be concerned about because what we’re seeing are people who generally vote Democratic simply turning out in higher numbers to vote in the Democratic primary—not new voters who tended to vote Republican in the past," Jones said.

U.S. Senate primary race

Dig deeper:

Many observers point to one contest in particular to explain the heightened turnout at the polls.

"Without question, the two that are dominating attention are the Republican U.S. Senate primary and the Democratic U.S. Senate primary," Jones said.​

Three candidates are seeking the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate in November, with U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett and state Rep. James Talarico considered the front-runners. 

On the Republican side, incumbent John Cornyn is seeking reelection. He faces Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt.

Jones said he expects to see a few runoffs for the GOP, but not so much for the Democrats.

"The Republican races that are pretty much destined to go to a runoff are the U.S. Senate race and the Texas attorney general race," Jones said. "The Texas comptroller race, I think, was headed for a runoff and still might get there, but Donald Trump’s last-minute endorsement of Don Huffine could, in theory, push him over the top."

What's next:

If no candidate receives a majority of votes in a race, the top two will face off in a runoff election on May 26.

Voters are reminded to bring valid identification to the polls. There are 160 polling locations available in Travis County.