Strong GOP presence at these Tarrant sites marks first day of runoff voting
With the U.S. Senate race at the top of the runoff ballot, Republicans were outpacing Democrats at two voting sites visited by the Star-Telegram on Monday, the first day of early voting.
Republicans are split in the Republican primary Senate runoff between 23-year-incumbent John Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. The two got the most votes of the eight March 3 candidates, but neither had more than half the votes.
Most Republican voters at the Tarrant County Southwest Subcourthouse in Fort Worth said Cornyn was their candidate of choice. He has seniority, more experience and is more qualified, said the voters in his camp.
Virginia Williams was the odd voter out at the Southwest Fort Worth polling location. For her, Cornyn has been in office too long and Paxton is a worthy replacement. Williams said Cornyn has done a great job as Texas attorney general, proving his sincerity and that he’s a godly man.
Paxton was more popular among Republicans voting at the Bedford Public Library. They said Cornyn had done too much flip-flopping instead of keeping his votes on the Hill conservative.
But Carolyn Williamson said she couldn’t vote for Paxton. “I’ve heard too many bad things about him,” she said.
Both polling locations had a steady stream of voters, the majority of whom were Republicans. Most of the early voting sites had no wait time throughout the day.
Early voting in the primary runoff elections continues through Friday, May 22. Election Day is May 26.