More Than 7.7M Texans Voted Early in 2026 Election, Surpassing 2018 Record

More than 7.7 million Texans voted early in the 2026 midterm election, according to preliminary data from the secretary of state’s office as of Sunday morning. This puts turnout at 40.5%, surpassing 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 though, 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.

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