AUSTIN (Nexstar) — The number of early Republican voters who cast a ballot last week in the runoff election far outpaces any runoff election data from this decade.

Data from the Texas Secretary of State’s office shows there were 829,119 mail-in and in-person votes cast in the Republican primary during the week of early voting. That reflects a 103 percent increase from the Republican primary runoff in 2020; a 77 percent increase from 2022; and a 230 percent increase from 2024.

While it’s a greater turnout than prior May runoffs, it was also a 61 percent decrease compared to the March Republican primary, which saw 1,342,995 early voters. The Democratic primary had 1,493,355 votes cast during early voting in March.

The comparatively higher turnout this May could be due to the battle between Sen. John Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for the GOP’s Senate nomination. While Cornyn edged out Paxton in the March primary by less than 20,000 votes, neither secured a majority of the vote.

President Trump had stayed out of the race until last week when he decided to endorse Paxton for the seat. On Sunday, Trump took his endorsement even further by not only praising Paxton, but criticizing Cornyn.

“Ken’s opponent was VERY disloyal to me, as President, and didn’t fight hard enough for the desperately needed SAVE AMERICA ACT,” Trump wrote on social media.

Cornyn told Nexstar on Saturday he was surprised by the endorsement but still felt he had a chance to win the runoff. He believes he is the best chance for the Republican Party to win in November and thinks Paxton would be a liability.

“Were we to nominate somebody with the baggage that he brings into a general election, I think all that would be at risk,” Cornyn said.

Paxton told his supporters at a campaign event in San Antonio last week that he thinks it is time for Cornyn to step down from public office.

“Can you name one good accomplishment of John Cornyn in those 42 years,” Paxton asked the crowd of Cornyn’s decades of public service. The crowd responded with an emphatic, “No.”

The winner of the runoff election will face State Rep. James Talarico (D) in November. Talarico defeated Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett in the March primary. Both candidates received more than one million votes but Talarico got the majority.

After Trump endorsed Paxton, Talarico released a statement in which he said, “We already know who we’re running against: the billionaire mega-donors and their corrupt political system.”

Texans can still vote on Tuesday even if they did not vote in the March primary. The voters who did cast a ballot in March can only vote in the primary they originally voted in.

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