Texas sees record voter turnout in primaries, led by Democratic voters | Houston Public Media

Editor’s note: This story was corrected March 6, 2026, to use the U.S. Senate primary elections as benchmarks to estimate voter participation. A previous version of this story used incomplete statewide data.

Texas saw a historic surge in voter participation for Tuesday’s primary elections, with nearly 4.48 million Texans casting their ballots, according to preliminary information from the Texas Secretary of State’s Office.

Because Texas hasn’t released a single statewide turnout number on election night, the secretary of state’s office recommended using a “benchmark race” — typically a high-profile statewide contest — to estimate voter participation.

Using the U.S. Senate race as that benchmark, at least 2.3 million Democratic voters and 2.16 million Republican voters cast ballots, meaning Democratic voters outnumbered Republicans by nearly 7% at the polls.

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Republican voters have historically led turnout at the polls in the state and had higher turnout specifically on Election Day this year, by more than 12,000, based on the benchmark numbers. But for the first time since 2020, Democrats showed a higher voter turnout overall.

The large Democratic turnout could be attributed to the high-profile, competitive Senate races, according to University of Houston political science professor Michael Kistner.

“Is it going to be a more progressive party or is it going to be a party more focused on sort of the bread and butter dinner table-type issues that might not catch many headlines, but what a lot of voters care about,” Kistner said.

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An election rule change in Dallas County, where Democratic and Republican primaries were held at separate locations, causing confusion among voters, could have also impacted the state’s total voter turnout, according to Kistner.

“That could have meaningfully depressed or deflated turnout totals in one of the largest counties in Texas,” he said. “And so there’s a possibility turnout would have been even higher than it actually was if there weren’t those issues, that confusion in the Dallas area.”

The March 3 primary was the first time Tennessee transplant Jessie Bradley voted in Texas. She said the process was “quite different” based on the number of items to vote on.

“It was a lot to select from, which was very unusual, but I did it to the best of my ability,” she said. “I think I’ve been here long enough to make the right decision.”

Several candidates campaigned at her local Brazoria County church, she said, which helped her learn more about who to vote for.

“We just need to be very informed on who’s out there and who’s going to be the next best person,” Bradley said.

Brazoria County voter Ashley Warren was at the West Pearland Library and said that while she regrets not being an early voter, the line was easy and quick for her. The county in Southeast Texas has nearly 254,000 registered voters and more than 61,500 voters cast ballots in the primaries, meaning turnout was more than 24%.

Harris County’s turnout followed the state trend and also saw record-breaking turnout. Turnout this year in Texas’ most populous county topped 560,000, according to the numbers released by the Harris County Clerk’s Office. During the March primaries in 2024, about 380,000 voters went to the polls.

Using the Senate race as a benchmark, Harris County’s Democratic voters outnumbered Republican voters by more than 166,000, or 84%.

Kistner said one factor that contributed to the large turnout in Harris County was President Donald Trump, a Republican whose policies have been divisive.

“He inspires a lot of strong opinions and views from people,” Kistner said. “So I think there’s sort of a reaction to some of what’s going on in D.C. right now. People have a desire to make their opinions heard.”

Runoff elections throughout the state will take place on May 26. For voters in Houston’s 18th Congressional District, they’re preparing their fourth election in less than seven months.

One factor Kistner said would help Harris County maintain large voter turnout: running elections as “smooth” as March.

“No election administration issues,” he said. “Everyone did their job really well.”

The Texas Newsroom’s Lucio Vasquez contributed to this report.