North Texans prepare for election day | Dallas News Live

That finish line is inside, all this speculation will end, and we will see if history is made in Texas. Joining me live, SMU political science professor Matthew Wilson. Matt, you're going to join us all night tomorrow for our coverage of this night. What do you make of now that the early vote totals are in, everyone's breaking down the demographics, what stands out to you? Well, the first thing is it's clear that there's a high level of interest and excitement surrounding this election. Thank you. Numbers suggest very, very high voter turnout, closer to what we would see in a presidential election year than what has in the past been typical for midterms. We'll, of course, get a lot more votes tomorrow on election day. And so I think there is very, very robust turnout, which, by the way, was suggested all the way back in March in the primaries, where we got strong turnout in both the Democratic and Republican primaries. So clearly, there's a lot of interest here. I think there's been strong turnout in the urban. 10 counties, Dallas County, Harris County, etc. That is something that has given some encouragement to Democrats. But I would just caution people about not reading too much into the tea leaves of the early voting totals, other than to say they clearly do suggest a high level of voter engagement. A high level of voter interest in this. You've been seeing all the ads, you're getting all the text messages, Matt. I've been seeing, especially over the weekend, some Republicans like Don Huffines and Ted Cruz and others who have been saying, yes, Republican, registered Republicans have closed the gap in the final days of early voting. But it seems like Democrats still have that momentum. Rain is in the forecast statewide, but might not be a factor depending on where you live. I mean, could it still come down to Republicans in rural areas showing up on election day to offset that big turnout that we saw from Democrats in early voting? I think that is very important. I think Republican voters in rural Texas, in small-town Texas, and in the ex-urban counties need to turn out in significant numbers on Election Day if they're gonna close that gap with the Democrats that Democrats banked, particularly in the earliest days of early voting. So it's an open question whether we'll get that or not. But certainly, Republican elected officials, including Governor Abbott, including Dan Patrick, Ted Cruz and others have been urging the Republican base to get out to the polls to match that Democratic turnout and enthusiasm, or else Republican governance up and down the ballot in Texas is really at risk. Is there still a scenario where Jeanne Hinojosa could win if Tallarico wins? Or is there a more, let's just say, expected possible situation of if it happens, it would It would be Tallarico pulling it off, but not Hinojosa. Well, I think it's safe to say that Tallarico is in a stronger position than Hinojosa. He would be a more likely bet to break through for the Democrats, but viable scenarios remain in play where both of them win and where neither of them wins. Those are both possibilities. So we could very plausibly see a situation tomorrow where Democrats fall just short up and down the ballot. We could also see a scenario where we have a real sea change in Texas politics and Democrats narrowly win, not just at the Senate level, but a lot of statewide offices. Or we could see Tallarico leading the way and him winning and breaking through, But Republicans maintaining their control over the state. State level offices, and I know I've just outlined a bunch of different scenarios, but we're that close in the polling right now where you can't rule out the possibility of any of those things happening. We just have to wait and see, just like the old fashioned way, SMU political science professor Matthew Wilson, thank you so much, and we'll see you on Fox 4 tomorrow.