DEMS/POLITICS/TEXAS: “The 2018 fight for control of Congress began Tuesday [3-6-18], as Texas Democrats flooded the polls for the year’s first primary election and showed that the national wave of Democratic enthusiasm will buffet even traditionally Republican states.
Statewide turnout in the Senate Democratic primary race provided a measure of the party’s energy: More than 1 million voted in the primary, almost double the number in 2014. But Democrats still lagged behind the 1.5 million who voted in the GOP Senate primary.
Democrats were encouraged by the record number of their party’s candidates running for Congress across the state. For the first time in a quarter-century, they have fielded at least one candidate in each of the state’s congressional districts.
Voters had to sort through crowded primary fields—and some testy intraparty fights—in the districts that are Democrats’ top targets. Key races weren’t settled Tuesday, because Texas requires a winning candidate to garner at least 50% of the vote. Failing that, the top two candidates will enter a May 22 runoff.”
-Janet Hook, “High Turnout in Texas Primaries Shows Democratic Enthusiasm,” The Wall Street Journal online, Mar. 7, 2018 08:53am