Note: This report has been updated to correct an erroneous reference to 2014 turnout.
Early voting in person ended today (Friday) for the July 14 primary runoff and special elections.
Through yesterday (Thursday), 532K people have voted in the Democratic runoff statewide – 193K by mail and 339K in person – which is already the third fourth highest total since 1990. The number of voters will almost certainly eclipse the 2014 total today (Friday) and should easily pass the 2002 total on Election Day. The highest number of Democratic runoff voters since 1990 was in 1994, when 747K people voted in the runoff statewide.
Nearly 349K people have voted in the Republican runoff in those counties and portions of counties with runoff races – 97K by mail and 251K in person. Despite the lack of a statewide race, the number of Republican runoff votes cast is already the fifth highest in state history, trailing only the past four election cycles. Turnout is on pace to eclipse all but the 2014 (1.36M) and 2012 (1.11M) totals.
Statewide Democratic turnout through yesterday was 3.25% of all registered voters, and Republican turnout was 2.13% of all registered voters, not just those in areas with runoff races. Combined turnout for all of 2018 was 5.7%, and it was 4.0% in 2016.
Democratic turnout is highest in Zapata Co., where 45% of registered voters have already cast ballots. Republican turnout is highest in Roberts Co., where 34% of the county’s 689 registered voters have already cast ballots. Two Roberts Co. residents have voted in the Democratic runoff, both by mail.
Voter Registration: A record 16.4M Texans are registered to vote, an increase of nearly 150K since the March primary. Since November 2016, the state’s voter rolls have increased by 2.1M registrations, of which a net 600K have been added since the November 2018 general election. Keep in mind that voter registrations dropped by 200K in January 2019 largely because of biennial cancellation of certain suspense voters’ registrations.
Daily Report Highlights
SD19: Rep. Roland Gutierrez (D-San Antonio) reported an additional $7K in contributions in a daily report, and he increased the amount of contributions disclosed in an amended runoff report to $60K from $27K. Xochil Peña Rodriguez reported an additional $5K in contributions.
SD27: Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr. (D-Brownsville) reported an additional $7K in contributions in a pair of daily reports.
HD2: Rep. Dan Flynn (R-Van) reported an additional $10K in contributions, and Bryan Slaton reported an additional $2K.
HD26 open: Jacey Jetton reported an additional in-kind contribution of $10K from Associated Republicans of Texas for “campaign phone calls.”
HD47: Justin Berry reported an additional in-kind contribution of $14K from Associated Republicans of Texas for “campaign canvassing.”
HD59: Rep. J.D. Sheffield (R-Gatesville) reported $24K in additional contributions in a trio of daily reports, including $12K in kind from Associated Republicans of Texas and $4K in kind from Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) campaign. Shelby Slawson reported a contribution under $100.
HD60: Glenn Rogers reported an additional $90K in contributions, including $39K from Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) campaign, $22K from Texas Assoc. of Realtors TREPAC and $21K from Texas Farm Bureau AGFUND. Jon Francis reported an additional $21K in contributions, of which all but $1K came from the Wilks family.
Other Election News
SD27: Republican nominee Vanessa Tijerina was arrested yesterday (Thursday) morning for allegedly violating a protective order. It is her second arrest in the past six weeks. In June, she was charged with two felony counts of driving while intoxicated with child passengers and two misdemeanors.
SEN: The M.J. Hegar campaign filed its July semiannual report a few days early. She raised $156K and spent $879K during the last six days of June, and she has $902K on hand.
CD21: The campaign of U.S. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Austin) announced he raised $544K during the second quarter and has $1.7M on hand. His Democratic challenger, former Sen. Wendy Davis (D-Fort Worth), raised $1.4M during the quarter and will report having $2.8M on hand. Davis out-raised Roy in the first quarter, $1.2M to $440K, including contributions disclosed in their pre-primary reports, and during each of the last two quarters of 2019 ($910K to $383K and $941K to $574K).
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