Democratic turnout in Texas up for nation’s first primary

Democrats in Texas are early voting in bigger numbers ahead of the nation’s first primary elections of the 2018 midterms.

Turnout figures released Thursday shows more Democrats casting ballots than Republicans since early voting began this week in the nation’s biggest conservative state.

Turnout in Democratic primaries after two days of early voting is also up 46 percent over the last midterm elections in 2014. For Republicans, turnout is roughly on par with four years ago.

President Donald Trump won Texas by 9 points in 2016. Democrats have pulled off high-profile upsets elsewhere since Trump was elected but Republicans haven’t lost a statewide race in Texas since 1994.

The Texas primary elections are March 6.