Texas primary turnout breaks records

HOUSTON—More than 1 million Texas Democrats turned out to vote in Tuesday’s primaries, the nation’s first in this year’s midterm election cycle. The Democratic turnout surged to its highest level since 2002, raising hopes of loosening the Republicans’ decades-long grip on the state. But Republicans also went to the polls in record numbers, suggesting Democrats still have a long way to go before turning the deep red Lone Star state blue, or even purple. More than 1.5 million GOP voters cast ballots in the U.S. Senate primary won by incumbent Ted Cruz, besting the previous record of 1.48 million set in 2010. Cruz won 85 percent of the vote, easily beating out four challengers. In November, he’ll face Democrat Beto O’Rourke, the U.S. representative from El Paso who won 65 percent of votes in his party’s primary. Democrats believe O’Rourke has the best chance of winning a statewide election, but analysts still consider him a long shot. Cruz doesn’t seem worried. “Left-wing rage may raise a bunch of money from people online, but I don’t believe it reflects the views of a majority of Texans,” he told reporters Tuesday night. Tuesday’s ballot included more than 50 women running for Congress, and more than half won their primaries or advanced to runoffs. In three of those contests, scheduled for May, both candidates are women.