With five days left until Election Day, more people in Texas have already cast their votes than the total number of ballots collected for the state’s 2018 midterm election.
So far, more than 8.4 million Texans have voted in the 2020 election, according to the United States Elections Project — more than 48% of all registered voters in the state. Comparatively, 8.3 million voters cast ballots in the midterm election, when Texans voted to reelect Sen. Ted Cruz, Gov. Greg Abbott, and a number of House representatives.
According to the New York Times, more than 8.9 million Texans voted in the 2016 general election. If early voting in the state continues at the current rate, Texas could be on track to surpass that number by the end of this week.
And if early voting were to keep up at the same pace as yesterday today & tomorrow, Texas would surpass the *total* number of votes cast in the 2016 election tomorrow.
— Taniel (@Taniel) October 29, 2020
Nationally, Texas is second to California for the greatest number of ballots cast to date by roughly 30,000 votes.
Texas’s record-breaking turnout has been greatest among young voters — KSAT reports more than 753,000 Texans under the age of 30 have already voted in the 2020 election, a 600% increase from the same period in 2016.
Texas made headlines on Wednesday when the Cook Political Report moved Texas from “lean Republican” to “toss up.” The nonpartisan newsletter noted that while Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden does not need to win Texas to clinch the presidency, “it is clear that it’s more competitive than ever.” The newsletter said the change “shouldn’t come as a surprise” and pointed out the close 2018 midterm election between Cruz and former Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke.
CNBC labeled Texas a toss-up on Tuesday, but FiveThirtyEight still predicts that President Trump is “slightly favored” to win Texas, giving him a 65-100 shot at winning Texas’s 38 electoral votes.
Texas hasn’t voted for a Democratic president since 1976, when it went for President Jimmy Carter. Before that, however, it has only voted for three Republican presidents since 1848 — Presidents Herbert Hoover, Dwight Eisenhower, and Richard Nixon, according to 270 to Win. Trump won the state in 2016 with 52.2% of the vote, a 9-point lead over Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.
