Photo by Joshua Cotten (Unsplash)
Something special is happening in Texas.
Early voting opened yesterday in the Lone Star State, and metropolitan counties have already reported record turnout — in some cases, even rivaling that of contemporary presidential elections.
In Dallas County, Judge Clay Jenkins reported that 76,079 votes had been recorded on the first day of early voting, becoming one of the first signs of an incredible outcome this November.
This is a significant increase over 2018 — the last blue-wave midterm cycle where Democrats took back Congress — which saw 59,388 ballots cast on day one. Dallas also surpassed first-day general election turnout from both 2020 and 2024, years in which presidential candidates were on the ballot.
Even more impressively, more than 100,000 people cast an in-person ballot in Harris County, which represents the state’s most populous metropolitan area. There, the previous record of 63,188 votes from 2018 was well and truly shattered.
Tarrant County also experienced a massive surge in early voting, despite election officials’ bewildering decision to close nearly one hundred polling locations in an unmistakable act of voter suppression. On Monday, 50,409 ballots were recorded, up from 41,956 votes in 2018 and 29,197 votes in 2022.
Texas voters are victims of some of the most extreme voter suppression methods in America, historically resulting in the second-lowest turnout rates in the country, yet they are nonetheless shattering state records ahead of one of the most consequential elections of our time.
In addition to the unwarranted removal of polling locations, the election was threatened by a so-called technical “glitch” that left around 600,000 voter registrations stuck in limbo until the last minute, paired with another 1.2 million voters (and counting) who’ve been unknowingly placed on a ‘suspense list’ following changes to their address.
Thankfully, voters on the suspense list can still vote, but must navigate needlessly convoluted bureaucratic red tape to do so — most easily cleared during the early voting period, with polls open between now and October 30. If you’ve been affected, please don’t wait until Election Day to vote!
If all else fails, request a provisional ballot.
While we should remind ourselves that early voters do vote both ways, the level of excitement driving turnout records across Texas — and indeed other former GOP strongholds like Georgia — marks an indisputable advantage for Democrats heading into November.
Nevertheless, we can’t let these kinds of headlines invite any sense of complacency. In 2024, the early vote totals from across the entire country suggested, at the very least, a blue ripple, which was ultimately undone on Election Day itself. Borrowing a term from the other side, we truly have to make this one “too big to rig.”
With two weeks remaining before Election Day, we’re still facing an uphill battle to retake our country and flip historic conservative strongholds like Texas — made particularly apparent by the enormous last-minute campaign contributions being dumped into these races by Elon Musk and other members of the Epstein class.
But if voters can continue to show up in record numbers, especially in states where voter suppression is rampant, no amount of dark money will be able to steal this election from the people.
Together, we can make this happen.
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