Texas went to the polls Tuesday in what may be the most consequential — and certainly the most expensive — primary election the state has seen in years. With the U.S. Senate seat, the governor’s mansion, and a freshly redrawn congressional map all on the line, voters across the Lone Star State faced a ballot stuffed with high-stakes choices.
The March 3, 2026 primary opened polling locations statewide from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. CT, capping an early voting window that ran from February 17 through 27. It’s Election Day in the traditional sense — but by the time most Texans sat down for breakfast, millions of their neighbors had already cast their ballots.
Early Turnout Tells a Story
Roughly 2.5 million Texans voted early statewide, and the numbers broke in a way that surprised some observers: Democrats outpaced Republicans heading into Election Day. In Dallas County alone, Democratic early votes came in at nearly 188,000 — a figure that draws comparisons to the Obama wave of 2008, a benchmark that no Texas Democrat has seriously approached since. Whether that enthusiasm translates into wins is another question entirely, but the raw numbers are hard to dismiss.
Still, primaries are funny things. Turnout surges don’t always predict outcomes, and Texas Republicans have proven time and again they know how to close.
What’s Actually on the Ballot
Voters in both parties are selecting nominees for the November general election across a wide slate of offices — U.S. Senate, Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, and every U.S. House seat in the state. That last category carries extra weight this cycle, since Texas is operating under newly redrawn congressional maps that took effect in 2025. The lines are different. The math is different. Some incumbents are suddenly running in districts that barely resemble their old ones.
The Senate Race: A Three-Way Brawl — and a Historic Price Tag
The marquee contest? It’s not even close. The Republican U.S. Senate primary has turned into a full-on civil war within the Texas GOP. Sen. John Cornyn, the longtime incumbent, finds himself in the fight of his political life against Attorney General Ken Paxton — a combustible figure who survived his own impeachment — and Rep. Wesley Hunt of TX-38, a younger conservative who’s been making noise in Washington. Most analysts expect the race to end without a majority winner, meaning a runoff is likely. Texas requires a candidate to clear 50 percent. Nobody’s betting on that happening tonight.
On the Democratic side, it’s a different kind of contrast. Rep. Jasmine Crockett of TX-30 — sharp, outspoken, and increasingly a national profile — is squaring off against state Rep. James Talarico, a progressive legislator who’s built a following of his own. It’s a race between two rising stars, which makes it genuinely interesting regardless of how long-shot the general election remains for Texas Democrats.
How much does it cost to run the most watched Senate primary in the country? Try $110 million in advertising spend — and that figure was recorded before Election Day even arrived. It’s the most expensive U.S. Senate primary in American history, full stop. That kind of money doesn’t just buy ads; it buys saturation — the kind where Texans have been drowning in mailers, TV spots, and digital ads for months.
When Will We Know?
Polls close at 7 p.m. CT, and the results pipeline works roughly as you’d expect: early votes and mail ballots get reported first in the larger counties, which tend to process things faster. But it’s not that simple everywhere. In smaller, rural counties — Eastland and Gillespie among them — Republican officials have adopted hand-counting procedures that will almost certainly push results well into the night. Maybe longer. Anyone expecting a clean 10 p.m. call on the Senate race should probably pour a second cup of coffee.
Texas has always done things at its own pace. Tonight, with $110 million spent, records broken, and a Senate seat up for grabs, the rest of the country will just have to wait along with the rest of us.
