Early voting continues for the May 1 general and special elections and runs through April 27.

Through yesterday (Wednesday), the third day of early voting, just over 11K people have voted in the CD6 special election, corresponding to roughly 2.4% of registered voters in the district.

In Tarrant Co., just under 29K people have voted early in person through at least a portion of today (Thursday). Of those, just under a third of voters live in Fort Worth, and 56% of Fort Worth voters live in District 3, District 6 or District 7, all on the west side of the city, which tends to vote more Republican than Democrat. Mayoral candidate Brian Byrd represents District 3. More than 3K people have voted in the Southlake mayoral election, which is roughly a fifth of the number of voters who cast ballots in the November 2020 city election, and 2K people have voted in the Grapevine mayoral election.

In Travis Co., more than 25K voters had cast ballots through yesterday, representing 3.4% of registered voters. Nearly half of all in-person votes were cast in West Austin, which tends to be more conservative than the rest of the county. This turnout pattern caught the attention of council member Greg Casar:

Republican voting rates were of course much higher during the 2020 presidential election, for which turnout overall was much, much higher. That said, Proposition B, which would reinstate a homeless camping ban, is likely driving turnout in the more Republican areas of the city.

CD6 special: As a share of their total contributions, Democrat Jana Lynne Sanchez (54%) and Republican Susan Wright (53%) led the field in terms of itemized Texas contributions, according to an analysis of the latest campaign finance reports tweeted by Rice University’s Mark Jones.

Republicans Brian Harrison (67%) and Dan Rodimer (54%) and Democrats Shawn Lassiter (47%) and Sanchez (46%) had the most support from out-of-state donors. Republican state Rep. Jake Ellzey (59%), Lassiter (47%) and Democrat Lydia Bean (44%) received the largest share from unitemized donors through the WinRed and ActBlue platforms. Harrison and Sanchez either did not receive any donations through those platforms or itemized all of them. Ellzey received just 7% of his contribution total from itemized out-of-state donors, the lowest figure among the seven candidates Jones analyzed.

Meanwhile, Rodimer’s campaign has produced advertising claiming to be “the only candidate for Congress in this race that’s ever been endorsed by Trump,” referring to Rodimer’s 2020 race for a Nevada seat. Trump has not endorsed in the CD6 race. Trump adorns a number of Rodimer’s online ads, including those promoting a MAGA Meetup in Waxahachie today (Thursday).

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