From the Chron:
The state’s red-hot Republican primary battles have ignited higher-than-usual voter turnout.
Going into Friday, the last day of in-person early voting ahead of Tuesday’s runoff elections, almost 800,000 people had voted in the Democratic and Republican primary runoffs. That is about 200,000 more people than what the state saw going into the final day of early voting in 2022, when both parties last had statewide runoffs in a midterm cycle.
Republican races are no doubt stirring the most interest. Voting in the GOP primary runoff is up 53% compared to four years ago. That is almost assuredly due to the U.S. Senate race between incumbent John Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, which has drawn $31 million in television ad spending just since their primary battle on March 3.
[…]
Turnout on the Democratic side is being driven by hot congressional races in Dallas and Houston. About 38,000 people had voted early as of Thursday in Houston’s primary runoffs, which include a battle for Harris County judge and the 18th Congressional District showdown between U.S. Reps. Christian Menefee and Al Green. That is up by about 6,000 voters compared to four years ago during the last runoffs on the Democratic ballot.
In Dallas, former U.S. Rep. Colin Allred is trying to make a comeback and knock off U.S. Rep. Julie Johnson in an expensive race that has dominated news coverage in the Metroplex. More than 30,000 have voted in the Democratic runoff in Dallas County, up about 8,000 people from four years ago.
While voting is up for both parties, it’s still tragically low when considering Texas has about 18.7 million voters eligible to vote in the runoffs. That means about 4% of registered voters have participated in early voting. Runoff elections historically have low turnout in part because of graduation season and Memorial Day traveling.
Yes, and also because of fewer high profile races – Democratic turnout would surely be a lot higher if we were still litigating James Talarico versus Jasmine Crockett – and also because sometimes there are no statewide races, or more locally no countywide races, in which case a large number of people literally have nothing to vote on. You can say that this is another argument in favor of instant runoff voting, and to an extent I agree with you. I would just note that sometimes, in the interregnum between March and May, we find out some things about a previously unheralded candidate who is still on the ballot that we didn’t know when we first voted, and it gives us a chance to fix an error that we wouldn’t be able to do anything about if the race were over. I’m obviously talking about Maureen Galindo here, but she’s not the first candidate for which this is true. Sometimes having those extra months to more fully vet everyone is a good thing.
Anyway. Final EV turnout, pending late-arriving mail ballots, was 69,946 on the Dem side in Harris County, and 95,602 for the GOP. The early voting total for Dems has almost eclipsed the final turnout from 2022 and 2018, and could reach 100K on Tuesday. Going back through the years, the only time Dem turnout in primary runoffs has exceeded 100K was 2020, which had a Senate runoff of interest. How “tragically low” has Dem primary runoff turnout been in Harris County?
2024 = 45,893
2022 = 72,809
2020 = 162,469
2018 = 57,590
2016 = 30,334
2014 = 18,828
2012 = 29,912 (the 165,644 total given is for both primaries combined)
2010 = 15,225
2008 = 9,670. Remember how there were 410K votes in the 2008 primary, still the all-time high? Yeah, the runoff had a Railroad Commissioner race between two nobodies, a Civil District Court bench, and a Justice of the Peace bench. Just a little different from Obama v Hillary.
2006 = 13,726. That one, like 2012, had a Senate runoff. They’re not always high profile.
2004 = 6,610. Literally the only race on the ballot was for Precinct 7 Constable, so nearly all of Harris County had no Democratic races to vote in for that runoff.
So if you have voted or plan to vote in the 2026 Democratic primary runoff here in Harris County, you will be participating in what will almost certainly be the second-highest turnout Democratic primary runoff of the century. That sounds better than “tragically low”, right?