Early voting for the March 1 primary election is underway.

GOV (Likely R): Gov. Greg Abbott (R) leads presumptive Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke (D), 47%-37%, according to the latest Texas Politics Project poll from the Univ. of Texas.

In the Republican primary, Abbott has the support of 60% of primary voters, well ahead of Allen West (15%) and former Sen. Don Huffines (14%). Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick fares even better with 82% support. Atty. Gen. Ken Paxton is within the margin of error of an outright win with 47% support, followed by Land Comm. George P. Bush (21%), former Supreme Court Justice Eva Guzman (16%) and U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert (15%).

O’Rourke is supported by 93% of Democratic primary voters, well ahead of his 2018 performance (62%). Mike Collier is within the margin of error of an outright win in the LTGOV (Lean R) race (46%), followed by Rep. Michelle Beckley (27%) and Carla Brailey (23%), who are within the margin of error of each other. In the AG (Lean R) primary race, Rochelle Garza (41%) leads Joe Jaworski (24%), Lee Merritt (15%) and Mike Fields (11%).

Asked if they “think Joe Biden legitimately won the 2020 presidential election,” 53% of respondents said yes, 36% disagreed and 11% were not sure. Two-thirds of Republicans said they did not believe Biden was legitimately elected, as did a third of independents, of which a slim majority agreed that the 2020 election was legitimate. Digging a little deeper, 81% of “extremely conservative” respondents believe the election was not legitimate despite the fact that no credible evidence has been presented to support that belief.

AG (Lean R): The Houston Chronicle endorsed Joe Jaworski for the Democratic nomination.

CD35 open (Safe D): U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) endorsed Greg Casar (D).

©2022 Texas Election Source LLC