Texas Republicans believe they will buck the trend of low turnout in primary runoff elections, thanks to the high-profile contests on the ballot for Attorney General and U.S. Senate, and the better-late-than-never endorsement of President Donald Trump in the U.S. Senate race. "When the president gets in the race and endorses a candidate, that reminds people I've got to go cast my ballot," says Abraham George, Texas GOP Chairman. "It just brings in some excitement, and I think it's good for Texas."
George tells KTRH that turnout has already been solid during early voting, but they expect a strong finish on Election Day. "I've looked at the numbers, and comparing to '22 and '24 we are at a much higher rate," he says. "It's a higher turnout primary runoff for sure...and I've talked to precinct chairs, county chairs, grassroots activists, and a lot of Republicans tend to show up on the day of the election instead of voting early."
In fact, George projects that 35-40% of all ballots cast in the runoff will come on Election Day. Many of those voters simply have to be reminded to show up. "A lot of people forget that there is a runoff election," he says. "We're sending texts and mailers, and running ads, but still there is a voter apathy, where people just get tired of having to go to polling locations so many times in a year."
The best reminder for Texas GOP voters came from the commander-in-chief last week. "With the president's involvement in the election, we're gonna get a lot of grassroots people who are very excited one way or the other," says George. "So yeah, we think they are gonna show up."
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