AUSTIN, Texas -- Democratic voters showed up in force in Texas on Tuesday for the nation's first primary of the year, providing fresh evidence of liberal enthusiasm in even that deeply Republican state.
From Houston to the border with Mexico, Democrats voted in numbers far greater than in 2014 primaries, motivated by a surplus of candidates, concern over one-party control of Washington and dissatisfaction with President Donald Trump.
Republicans continued to have a clear advantage in the state, with more Texans voting in their primary than in Democrats'. But party leaders sent out a warning call to their own supporters about the growing Democratic engagement.
"They are mobilizing in a powerful way," warned Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, after the polls closed in an interview with the CBS affiliate in Dallas.
Cruz began criticizing his likely Democratic challenger, U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke, before the polls closed. "Congressman O'Rourke's campaign is benefiting from left-wing rage," Cruz said in a conference call with reporters. "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."
Later that night, he released a radio ad telling voters that O'Rourke "wants to take our guns."
Cruz won the Republican primary with 85 percent of the vote -- compared with 6 percent for his closest challenger, Mary Miller -- with 6,703 of 7,687 precincts reporting.
O'Rourke held a strong lead among the Democrats, winning 62 percent of the vote with 6,522 of 7,694 precincts reporting, compared with 24 percent for Selma Hernandez and 15 percent for Edward Kimbrough.
For many contested House primary races, Tuesday's contests provided no resolution, only a narrowing of the field as the top two finishers head to a runoff election May 22.
Democrats have their sights on flipping three GOP-controlled congressional seats in Texas that backed Hillary Clinton over Trump in 2016, including a Houston district where two women were the top vote-getters in early returns in a race likely to go to a runoff. Another is a sprawling district that runs along the Texas-Mexico border, where Gina Ortiz Jones appeared set to advance to a May runoff and another woman, Judy Canales, was battling to join her.
"I think that a Congress that is only 20 percent women is not where we need to be," Ortiz Jones said on Tuesday night. "This is not a spectator sport, we've got to participate, all of us and that's what's important."
It was also a big night for two Hispanic women, Veronica Escobar and Sylvia Garcia, who took wide leads in their Democratic primaries and are poised to become the first two female Hispanic congressmen in a state where a population boom has been driven by Hispanic growth.
The race for the Democratic nomination for governor appeared set to go to a runoff between Lupe Valdez, the former Dallas County sheriff, and Andrew White, the son of former Gov. Mark White. The winner of that race will face Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who won his party's nomination to run for re-election.
Information for this article was contributed by Will Weissert, Paul J. Weber, Jamie Stengle and John L. Mone of The Associated Press; and by Mike DeBonis and Michael Scherer of The Washington Post.
A Section on 03/07/2018