More than 7.5 million Texans voted early in 2026 election, matching 2018 pace

A record 7.4 million Texans voted early in the 2026 midterm election, according to preliminary records from the secretary of state’s office. That puts turnout at about 40%, matching the modern-day high-water mark for a midterm election set in 2018.

The in-person early voting period ended Friday.

“We’re not going to hit presidential levels, but this is definitely high turnout,” said Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University. “The question that is still out there is, and this happens every time that we try to interpret early voting numbers: How many votes are actually still out there?”

More than 19 million Texans are registered to vote, up 2.2% from the November 2024 presidential election.

This year’s election features several high-stakes contests that have captured nationwide interest. State Rep. James Talarico, an Austin Democrat, and Attorney General Ken Paxton, a McKinney Republican, are locked in a tight race for a U.S. Senate seat. And state Rep. Gina Hinojosa, an Austin Democrat, is challenging Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who is running for a historic fourth term.

Turnout data posted Saturday is not final and can be incomplete. Each county is responsible for reporting turnout. Some counties post sooner than others. And mail-in ballots are expected to continue to come in.

Earlier this week, the turnout rate lagged behind the 2018 election, when U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke challenged U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz — and came closer than any Democrat to winning statewide office.

Matt Angle, a Democratic strategist, said the last-minute surge in voters likely means that more Hispanics and Black people are voting.

“That doesn’t mean Democrats are going to win, Republicans are going to lose,” he said. “That’s a big mistake to make those assumptions, but it shows that the structure of the electorate is such that Democrats have a chance to win.”

Preliminary reports show that the state’s urban cores are seeing increasing turnout rates, which Angle emphasized are “areas where Democrats compete better.”

The state’s most populous counties, such as Harris, Dallas, and Tarrant, are seeing higher turnout than previous midterm elections and are “also where you have more diverse voters. …Now that doesn’t mean that those shares couldn’t be made up on Election Day, but typically, though, what happens is the electorate’s a little bit more diverse on Election Day.”

Texans cast 9 million ballots during early voting during the 2024 general election, reaching a 49% turnout rate among registered voters at the time.

Texans surpassed the turnout rate in the 2022 midterm, when 5.5 million voted early, capping a 31% turnout rate among registered voters then.

The highest turnout rate in the last election was in 2020 when 57% of registered voters — 9.7 million people — cast a ballot.

Election Day is Tuesday. For more details on how to vote, visit our voter guide here.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Disclosure: Rice University has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune within the past five years. The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in our journalism. Find a complete list of them and more information about our financial and disclosure policies here.