Voter registrations in Texas now exceed 17M. The state was very close to that threshold when the deadline to register for the November 2 election passed, and it has since surpassed it.
The number of registered voters has increased by nearly 3M in the seven years since the 2014 general election. To put that in perspective, it took 17 years add the previous 3M registrations.
Keep in mind that these are net registration numbers. Hundreds of thousands of registrations are canceled in the Januarys following even-year general elections. For example, between the November 2020 general election and January 2021, a net 279K voters were removed from the rolls. More than 1M registrations have been removed from the rolls since the 2014 general election, so at least 4M Texans have registered to vote since Gov. Greg Abbott (R) was first elected governor.
HD51 open (Safe D): Del Valle data analyst Matt Worthington announced he is exploring a run for the seat being vacated by Rep. Eddie Rodriguez (D-Austin), who is running for Congress. He unsuccessfully ran for a place on the Del Valle ISD board in 2018 (28%).
Tarrant County: Former County Commissioner Andy Nguyen (R) is holding a campaign kickoff event in Arlington on Thursday for a rematch against Commissioner Devan Allen (D), who defeated Nguyen, 51%-49%, in 2018.
Austin: The city council set a January 25 special election to fill the unexpired term of Greg Casar, who is running for Congress. If necessary, a runoff will be held March 22. Attorney Chito Vela is expected to announce his candidacy tomorrow (Tuesday). He unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for HD46 in 2018, losing the runoff, 51%-49%.
Real estate broker Jennifer Virden announced she would run for mayor. She unsuccessfully ran for the D10 seat on the council in 2020, losing a December runoff, 51%-49%. Mayor Steve Adler is term-limited.
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