Predictions of record-breaking turnout in midterm election in Texas fall flat
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) — Some predictions of record-breaking turnout in the midterm election in Texas fell flat.
Governor Greg Abbott's campaign at one point said there could be ten million people statewide who would cast their ballots this year, but the actual numbers were much lower.
The Texas Secretary of State reports 8,076,672 ballots were cast, which is 46% turnout.
This is not a final number.
That's a drop of just under 295,000 votes from the 2018 midterm when there were 8,371,655 Texans who cast ballots, a turnout of 53 percent.
Here in North Texas, Dallas County saw its voter turnout drop from four years ago.
Records show in 2018, 731,583 voted, a 55% turnout while this year, 621,508 ballots were cast, a 44 percent turnout.
Dallas County's Democratic Party Chair Kristy Noble said she believes voters may be fatigued.
She also said four years ago, there were more contested elections at the top of the ticket and in Dallas County. "In 2018, we had I believe, six house districts that were very, very competitive. We had a top of the ticket run of Beto against Ted Cruz. That was the first election after Trump was elected. There was a lot more engagement, and that was really a referendum on that Trump election."
Even though voter turnout fell in Dallas County, Democrats gained some seats from Republicans.
They include on the Commissioners Court, where the lone Republican, J.J. Koch lost to Democrat Andrew Sommerman.
As a result, all of the commissioners will be Democrats in January.
Incumbent Democrats Clay Jenkins, the County Judge, and John Creuzot, the District Attorney retained their seats by large margins.
In Tarrant County, there were 42,143 fewer voters this year than in 2018.
That year, there were 632,587 ballots cast, about a 56% turnout.
This week, there were 590,444 ballots cast, about a 47% turnout.
Tarrant County's Republican Party Chair Rick Barnes said Republicans were motivated to vote.
But one thing to consider is there are more people registered to vote in the county and state this year. "That's the thing that I think we got to look at whether that those new registrants actually turned out to vote or not. That skews the overall percentages at the end. But there was a whole lot of work done with our people within those particular districts where we had heavy races going on."
Barnes said he and his party are pleased with their results in Tarrant County, which stays mostly Republican.
Both the open seats for County Judge and District Attorney will be filled by Republicans Tim O'Hare and Phil Sorrells, respectively.
Barnes said they didn't pick up some seats as they hoped but didn't lose any unexpectedly.
Voter Registration Numbers
Texas:
- 2022: 17,672,143
- 2018: 15,793,257
Dallas County:
- 2022: 1,420,223
- 2018: 1,335,313
Tarrant County
- 2022: 1,260,870
- 2018: 1,122,597
Source: Texas Secretary of State
