Early voting in March primary races begins today, Tuesday, and includes everything from Dallas County commissioners to the president of the United States. Early voting will continue through March 1, and primary election day is March 5.
Texas offers open primaries—to a point. Voters can vote in any party primary they choose without registering a party affiliation, but they may only vote in one each election. If a race goes to a May 28 runoff, you must vote with the same party you voted with in the primary.
You can check to ensure your registration is correct by visiting the Texas Secretary of State’s website. It’s too late to vote in the primaries if you have not registered. (But if you find out that you’re not registered, this is an excellent time to go ahead and do that.) If you moved and forgot to change your voter registration, you can go to your old precinct if you still live in the county you’re registered to vote in. If not, you can ask for a limited ballot, allowing you to vote in some races. This option is only available during early voting.
When you vote, you will need an ID, which can include a Texas driver’s license or identification card, state handgun license, military ID with a photo, U.S. citizenship certification with a photo, or a U.S. passport. Student IDs are not accepted.
In Dallas County, voters can cast ballots at any voting center in the county. You can find all 64 here, along with indicators that show how busy each location is. Polling locations will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. through Friday, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on February 24 and February 26 through March 1, and from noon to 6 p.m. on February 25.
Here are some of the contested local primary races that you could see on your ballot:
Dallas County Sheriff. Incumbent Marian Brown has drawn several Democratic challengers, including former sheriff Lupe Valdez, Sam Mohamad, Rodney Thomas, and Roy Williams Jr.
Dallas County Commissioner. District 1 commissioner Theresa Daniel will face a Democratic challenger in Andre Turner. District 3 commissioner John Wiley Price will face Derek Avery.
Dallas County Tax Assessor-Collector. Democratic incumbent John Ames will face Elaine Campbell.
State Senate District 16, Dallas. Nathan Johnson (incumbent) and state Rep. Victoria Neave Criado will face off in the Democratic primary. There are no Republican candidates for this seat.
State Representative District 33, Rockwall. Justin Holland (incumbent) will face two challengers in the Republican primary: Dennis London and former Donald Trump spokeswoman Katrina Pierson.
State Representative District 61, McKinney. Incumbent Frederick Frazier will face two Republican primary challengers: Keresa Richardson and Chuck Branch.
State Representative District 62, Allen. Incumbent Jeff Leach will face Daren Meis in the Republican primary. Jefferson Nunn and Makala Washington appear on the Democratic primary ballot.
State Representative District 100, Dallas. Incumbent Venton Jones will face three challengers in the Democratic primary: former state Rep. Barbara Mallory Caraway, former Dallas City Councilwoman Sandra Crenshaw, and Justice McFarlane.
State Representative District 108, Park Cities and Dallas. Incumbent Morgan Meyer will face Barry Wernick, who lost a bid for Dallas City Council in 2021. Democrats Elizabeth Ginsberg and Yasmin Simon will vie to be the Democratic candidate in the general election.
State Representative District 109, southern Dallas. State Board of Education member Aicha Davis and Victoria Walton will face off in the Democratic primary for the seat currently held by Carl Sherman (D-DeSoto), who is running for the U.S. Senate seat held by Republican Ted Cruz.
State Representative District 112, Richardson. Incumbent Angie Chen Button faces Chad Carnahan in the Republican primary. The winner will be on the ballot opposite former Miss Texas Averie Bishop, who is running as a Democrat.
State Representative District 115, Far North Dallas, Coppell, Irving. Democrats Cassandra Hernandez, Kate Rumsey, and Scarlett Cornwallis are vying to replace current state Rep. Julie Johnson, who is running to fill the congressional seat held by U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, who is running for Senate.
Congressional District 24. Sam Eppler and Francine Ly are running in the Democratic primary. The winner will face incumbent Beth Van Duyne in the general election in November.
Congressional District 26. Luisa del Rosal, Vlad De Franceschi, Brandon Gill, John Huffman, Jason Kergosian, Joel Krause, Doug Robison, Mark Rutledge, and Burt Thakur are running in the GOP primary to replace U.S. Rep. Michael Burgess, who is not running for reelection.
Congressional District 30. Incumbent Jasmine Crockett will face Jarred Davis and Jrmar Jefferson on the Democratic primary ballot.
Congressional District 32. The ballot is stacked for both parties as candidates vie to replace U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, who is running against Ted Cruz for Senate. Democratic candidates include Callie Butcher, Raja Chaudhry, Alex Cornwallis, former Dallas City Councilman Kevin Felder, state Rep. Julie Johnson, Zachariah Manning, Jan McDowell, Justin A. Moore, Christopher Panayiotou, and Brian Williams. Republican candidates include former Dallas City Councilman David Blewett, Darrell Day, Juan Feria, and Gulrez Khan.
Congressional District 33. Democratic incumbent Marc Veasey faces Carlos Quintanilla, while Patrick David Gillespie and Kurt Schwab face off on the Republican ballot.
U.S. Senate. Republican incumbent Ted Cruz will face two challengers from his party: Houston’s Holland Gibson and San Antonio’s Rufus Lopez. Several Democrats are competing to appear opposite Cruz on the November ballot, including Dallas’ Colin Allred, San Antonio state Rep. Roland Gutierrez, Mission’s Meri Gomez, Corpus Christi’s Mark Gonzalez, Katy’s Robert Hassan, Humble’s Steven Keogh, Fort Worth’s Heli Rodriguez Prilliman, DeSoto state Rep. Carl Sherman, and Houston’s Theirry Tchenko.
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