Eye on Politics: Candidates spring to the political finish line in Texas
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - With early voting underway across Texas, the latest episode of Eye on Politics (original air date: Oct. 27) focuses on turnout so far and the candidates' last-minute pushes to get out the vote.
Every week, CBS 11 political reporter Jack Fink breaks down some of the biggest political stories grabbing headlines in North Texas and beyond. Watch the latest episode of Eye on Politics in the video player above and stream new episodes live every Thursday and Friday at 7 p.m. on CBS News DFW.
Reaching the political finish line
This week, the two leading candidates for Texas Governor campaigned in North Texas in an effort to urge their supporters to go to the polls.
Democrat Beto O'Rourke visited nearly a dozen polling locations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area over two days this week.
Standing in the rain, Democrat Beto O'Rourke addressed supporters at the Renner Frankford Library in North Dallas to spread the word and help him get out the vote.
"Y'all ready to win?" he asked. "Supporting those teachers, ensuring every woman makes her own decisions about her own body and prioritizing the lives of our kids over the NRA, we're going to come through and we're going to win."
For his part, Gov. Abbott made an appearance in Addison, where he addressed his supporters at the Cavanaugh Flight Museum. The two-term Republican told supporters he wants to keep Texas No. 1 for job growth and return half of the state's $27 billion surplus to property owners.
"I want to provide you with the largest property tax cut in the history of the state of Texas," he said.
Watch Jack's one-on-one with Gov. Abbott here and his one-on-one with O'Rourke here.
Digging deeper into the top three statewide races
When it comes to the issues Texans are focusing on this November, a political analyst says national issues are overshadowing local ones.
"People's attitudes towards the economy, both nationally and in Texas, are some of the most negative evaluations we've ever seen," said Joshua Blank, research director at the Texas Politics Project.
A poll released by The Texas Politics Project this month showed Republicans leading in the race for Texas Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General.
"What you find is the national agenda, given the consistency of it and the centrality of it to voters, especially the economy, and in Texas, the immigration and border security issue is winning out," Blank said. "We also find in the same exact poll that gives Greg Abbott an 11 point lead over Beto O'Rourke, that 55% want to see gun control laws maybe more strict in Texas, that a majority want to see the abortion laws in the state made less strict."
Blank said Republicans have been accruing advantages over the course of the election cycle, and they're combining at just the right time. Concerns about the economy are central to voters, and their opinion of Democratic President Joe Biden on this issue is very negative. He also said polls show the majority of Texans are happy staying with the status quo in a state in which Republicans have won every statewide election for the last 20 years. This is making it difficult for Democrats to gain ground.
"It's a very big state, it's very expensive to campaign in and it's really hard to break in and be known to enough of the right kind of people with the right degree of enthusiasm to really shake the overall fundamentals of the race, which are giving Republicans a pretty comfortable lead right now," he said.
Voter turnout
For the first three days of early voting, records show fewer people voted in the four largest counties this year than in 2018.
As of the close of business Wednesday, Oct. 26, more than 355,000 voters in North Texas' four largest counties had case early ballots, both by mail and in-person. Early voting continues through Friday of next week.
WATCH BELOW: CBS News Political correspondent Caitlin Huey-Burns breaks down early voting across the U.S.