Texas Democrats showed up Tuesday for the first day of early voting, and the surge continued throughout the first week. More Democrats have voted in the early voting stage of 2018 than Republicans. Fifty-four percent of the 51,249 votes cast on Tuesday were in the Democratic primary, according to the Texas Tribune. Carol Donovan, chairwoman of the Dallas County Democratic Party believes President Donald Trump is what is motivating voters for the huge surge of Texas Democrats.
“After just one year, Trump has the lowest approval rating of any modern president. Between his trips to Mar-a-Lago, all of the scandals within his Cabinet, and his attacks on women and immigrants and now even teenage survivors of a mass shooting, it is evident that the voters of this country are angry and want change,” said Carol Donovan.
In Dallas County on Tuesday, Feb. 20 4,023 votes were cast in the Democratic primary compared to the 2014 Democratic primary’s 2,587 votes. 1,957 votes cast in the Republican primaries compared to the 2014 primary’s 2,412 votes.
The number is concerning to Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Washington appears to be watching as well. President Trump on Tuesday asking “all of my many Texas friends” to vote for Gov. Greg Abbott, Sen. Ted Cruz, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, and Attorney General Ken Paxton. Later in the day, he issued a supportive tweet for Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush as well.
“We’ve seen a surge of liberal enthusiasm in deep red states like Georgia, Alabama, and Oklahoma, Abbott said in a recently published report. “We always hoped the liberal wave would never hit Texas, but these early voting returns aren’t encouraging so far.”
The total number of in-person voters in Dallas County continued to rise through the six days of early voting with 19,829 voters as opposed to 2014’s 12,907.
“Trump truly is the catalyst for the “Blue Wave,” and we’ve been working hard to capture that energy and translate it into a high voter turn out in Dallas County. We are pleased to see it is working,” said Donovan.
Early voting continues through Friday, March 2, the polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Election day is Tuesday, March 6. To read more about the candidates, read NDG’s coverage of the recent Monday Night Political Forums since the beginning of January here.
