AUSTIN, Texas – The Latest on primary day in Texas (all times local):
1:15 p.m.
A congressman who has launched a longshot bid to unseat Republican Sen. Ted Cruz is generating excitement for Democrats voting in the Texas primary election.
Voting Tuesday morning in Dallas, 64-year-old Bonnie Kobilansky said she thinks Beto O’Rourke is “a good guy” and was excited to cast her vote for him.
She says she wants to see change in the government, adding “that starts at the local level, the state level.”
Twenty-seven-year-old Katie Newsome, a United Methodist pastor, says she’s excited for the “freshness” and “vision” O’Rourke brings. She says she wants to see change both in the U.S. and in Texas, too.
She says she’d love to see Texas “turn blue.” She says, “I don’t know if that will happen but that would be exciting.”
O’Rourke has generated national buzz in his challenge to Cruz. Neither faces serious primary challengers but O’Rourke recently has outraised Cruz and the senator has warned conservatives against complacency.
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12:30 p.m.
Some Republicans voting in the Texas Republican primary say they’re concerned about proposals calling for restrictions on firearms sales.
Jynelle Mikula, who voted in the GOP primary Tuesday at a Houston elementary school, says assault-style weapons and bump stocks shouldn’t be sold to the public. But she’s concerned the debate in the aftermath of the deadly shooting at a Florida high school could lead to the confiscation of weapons from law-abiding citizens such as herself.
Robert Coghlan, voting at the same school Tuesday, says the ongoing gun debate nationally also has him concerned. He says “we’re kind of on the road to ban all guns.”
Another Republican voter, Rosa Magaña, says the answer to gun violence should be educational outreach and not weapons bans.
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11:45 a.m.
Some Houston-area voters say they’ve encountered problems at the polls that include one site opening more than an hour late, prompting some people to leave.
Teneshia Hudspeth with the elections division of the Harris County clerk’s office said Tuesday that a last-minute change in staffing led to a delay in opening a Katy polling site.
She says local Democratic officials made a late change to the party’s election judge who monitors that site.
Hudspeth says she wasn’t aware of claims that two sites didn’t have ballots for Democratic voters. She says some polling sites may only be for one party to vote, so a voter enrolled in an opposing party may appear expecting to vote only to be told they must go elsewhere.
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11:15 a.m.
President Donald Trump isn’t on the ballot in the Texas primary, but he’s on the minds of voters.
One woman voting in Dallas says she’s a “strong” Republican who supports Trump’s agenda. Sixty-year-old Laura Smith said Tuesday that she backs Trump because he has “guts,” isn’t afraid and is a strong leader.
Smith, who works in a dentist’s office, approves of the president’s handling of immigration, job creation and tough approach to North Korea. She adds that she’s open to new restrictions on people seeking to purchase firearms.
But Democrat Bonnie Kobilansky says she’s alarmed by Trump’s actions.
Kobilansky, a nurse practitioner, wants “to see a complete change in the top of the government.”
She adds that she’s heartened by the number of women running for office, explaining that political leaders need “common sense and practical knowledge — women have that.”
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8 a.m.
Early turnout has been light at some polling stations in Texas, which is holding the country’s first midterm primary.
Texas’ primary on Tuesday follows a relatively busy early-voting period.
Democratic early voting across Texas’ 15 most-populous counties, the only figures available, more than doubled that of the last non-presidential cycle in 2014. Meanwhile, the number of Republican early ballots cast increased only slightly.
Total Democratic early votes exceeded Republican ones roughly 465,000 to 420,000, though those figures combined accounted for less than 9 percent of the state’s total registered voters.
Polls close at 7 p.m. Tuesday, except for some far West Texas locations, such as El Paso, where they close at 8 p.m. Central Standard Time.
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11:10 p.m.
Texas Democrats have turned out in force ahead of their state’s first-in-the-nation primary election Tuesday, even though their party remains a longshot to win much.
Democratic early voting across Texas’ most-populous counties was more than double that of the last non-presidential cycle in 2014.
But Democrats haven’t won a statewide office in Texas since 1994, and that losing streak should continue this year.
A record six Texas Republicans and two Democrats are leaving Congress. Many of the open seats feature so many candidates from both parties that most primary races won’t have anyone winning a majority of Tuesday’s votes, ensuring a second round of voting May 22.
Democrats also hope to flip three other Republican congressional districts, but those races may need runoffs to decide who the party’s nominee will be.
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