What to know as Texas runoff day arrives with Senate fireworks, fights for political power

AUSTIN – It’s elimination time in Texas politics.

Republicans and Democrats on Tuesday will narrow the field in congressional, statewide and county races across the state. 

Here’s what voters should know:

Sen. John Cornyn and Attorney General Ken Paxton are ending a brutal fight for the Republican Senate nomination, with the winner advancing to face Democrat James Talarico in November.

The race to replace Paxton has sparked runoffs for attorney general in both parties. Republicans are deciding between state Sen. Mayes Middleton of Galveston and U.S. Rep. Chip Roy of Austin. Democrats are choosing between state Sen. Nathan Johnson of Dallas and former Galveston Mayor Joe Jaworski.

In a North Texas Democratic congressional runoff, U.S. Rep. Julie Johnson is facing a challenge from former U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, who previously represented the area in Congress but left to pursue a failed bid for the Senate. 

Voters who skipped the primary on March 3 may vote in the runoff for either party. Voters must choose either the Republican or Democratic runoff. Those who voted in the primary must stay with that party in the runoff. The winners advance to November’s general election.

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. 

Dallas County is using a countywide vote center model for both parties, meaning registered voters can cast their ballots in person at any of the polling sites. You can find those locations at the department’s online locator.

As of the March 3 primary, Texas had about 19 million registered voters.

About 2.2 million Republican ballots and 2.3 million Democratic ballots were cast in the March 3 primary.

About 62% of the vote in the March 3 Republican primary was cast before primary day. 

By the end of early voting Friday for the runoff, Republicans, with higher-profile contests, had cast about 829,000 ballots, compared with 348,000 cast by Democrats. 

The county-by-county results showed Cornyn’s metro strongholds held up better on turnout, while some of the smaller conservative counties backing Paxton posted higher participation rates.

For example, in Dallas County, where Cornyn beat Paxton by 18 percentage points in March, 45,974 Republicans voted early in the runoff compared with 64,948 in the March primary, a retention rate of roughly 70%.

Meanwhile, Republican turnout among registered voters in Montgomery and Galveston counties, where Paxton ran strongly in March, topped 6%, compared with about 3% in Dallas County.

Counties tend to release most or all results from early voting in the first vote update of the night, before in-person Election Day results are released.

Texas requires an automatic recount only in cases of a tie vote, according to The Associated Press. Losing candidates may request and pay for a recount if the margin is less than 10% of the leading candidate’s vote.

After Tuesday, there will be 160 days until the Nov. 3 general election.