Democratic turnout in Texas primaries reaches record levels, in latest sign of party enthusiasm

By Ethan Cohen, CNN

(CNN) — Democratic turnout in Tuesday’s Texas primary reached record levels, as more voters participated in the party’s primary than in the Republican one.

While more votes are still to be counted, more than 2.2 million votes have already been tallied in the Democratic primary for US Senate, a competitive race won by state Rep. James Talarico over US Rep. Jasmine Crockett. That’s the most in a midterm primary for the party since at least 1970, second only to the 2008 presidential race.

Turnout in the Republican primary was also strong. The more than 2.1 million GOP votes is that party’s largest midterm primary turnout and is currently only behind the presidential years of 2024 and 2016.

The Democratic advantage over Republicans in a primary turnout is a rarity in recent Texas history.

That happened in 2008, when Barack Obama was on the ballot, but has only happened once since then: in 2020, when Democrats had a competitive presidential primary and President Donald Trump faced virtually no competition as he sought renomination.

Democratic enthusiasm was also evident in North Carolina. While neither Senate primary was particularly competitive, roughly 200,000 more votes were cast in the Democratic contest than on the Republican side. Like in Texas, the Democratic advantage in that state has been rare in recent years.

These results add to the growing body of data showing that Democrats have an enthusiasm advantage heading into November’s midterm elections. But primary turnout isn’t necessarily predictive of general election performance.

In 2008, when nearly 2.9 million people voted in the Texas Democratic primary, with more than two-thirds of voters choosing a Democratic ballot over a Republican one, Obama went on to lose the Lone Star State by nearly 12 points to Sen. John McCain, the GOP nominee.

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