As Texas’s political parties choose their nominees for the November midterm elections, Democrats are seeing a rare surge of enthusiasm in a state long dominated by Republicans.
The Democratic and Republican primary elections are on 6 March but many Texans are casting ballots in the two-week early voting period that runs through 2 March. Through the first week of early voting, the largest counties have returned almost 11,000 more Democratic votes than Republican. In those big counties in the last midterm primary, in 2014, Republicans surpassed Democrats by more than 100,000 votes.
Democratic early votes are up 93% on 2014 in the largest counties that are tracked daily by the Texas secretary of state’s office. Republican votes are up about 17%.
These numbers probably indicate higher Democratic turnout in November, Texas political experts say. It is not clear, however, that Democrats can convert such enthusiasm into election wins.
“Given Donald Trump’s residence in the White House,” said Mark Jones, a political scientist at Rice University, “there is good reason to believe that Democratic turnout in November will be greater than in 2014, just as the fact that Barack Obama is no longer in the White House means Republicans no longer will be able to utilize opposition to President Obama and his policies as a mobilization tool.”
Source :- theguardian
The Democratic and Republican primary elections are on 6 March but many Texans are casting ballots in the two-week early voting period that runs through 2 March. Through the first week of early voting, the largest counties have returned almost 11,000 more Democratic votes than Republican. In those big counties in the last midterm primary, in 2014, Republicans surpassed Democrats by more than 100,000 votes.
Democratic early votes are up 93% on 2014 in the largest counties that are tracked daily by the Texas secretary of state’s office. Republican votes are up about 17%.
These numbers probably indicate higher Democratic turnout in November, Texas political experts say. It is not clear, however, that Democrats can convert such enthusiasm into election wins.
“Given Donald Trump’s residence in the White House,” said Mark Jones, a political scientist at Rice University, “there is good reason to believe that Democratic turnout in November will be greater than in 2014, just as the fact that Barack Obama is no longer in the White House means Republicans no longer will be able to utilize opposition to President Obama and his policies as a mobilization tool.”
Source :- theguardian
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