Polls close at 8 PM ET throughout most of Texas for tonight's Democratic and Republican primaries, the first of the cycle. The small portion of the state located in the Mountain timezone around El Paso will be voting until 9 PM ET. Our
guide to tonight's key races can be found here. Remember that if no one clears 50 percent in any given race, the top two vote-getters will advance to a May 27 runoff.
We'll be liveblogging all the results starting here, but if things get jam-packed and we need more threads, head over to Daily Kos Elections to continue following the action.
Results: Statewide | By County | SoS (R) | SoS (D)
6:14 PM PT: TX-LG: It continues to look like we're in for a runoff, but David Dewhurst will be lucky to win a plurality tonight. Patrick continues to lead 45-26. Despite both being statewide electeds, Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples and Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson are languishing in the teens.
6:18 PM PT: TX-36: Babin edges Streusand 31-26 in the dress rehearsal for their May runoff. In most of the district Babin has at least a plurality, but in Harris County Streusand leads, with former Pasadena Mayor John Manlove in second. The runoff looks like it will be a fight between Babin's rural East Texas supporters and Streusand's suburban Houston base.
6:24 PM PT: Looks like the big questions remaining tonight are: Does Hall avoid a runoff in TX-04 (probably not), can Alameel stop LaRouche Rogers from even making it into the Democratic runoff for Senate (too early to say), is there a GOP runoff in TX-23 (probably), how bad is it for David Dewhurst, and can Smitherman edge out Branch for a GOP runoff spot in the Attorney General's race.
6:31 PM PT: Oklahoma City Mayor: With about half of precincts counted, looks like there's nothing to see here. Incumbent Republican Mick Cornett leads independent challenger Ed Shadid 61-38.
6:35 PM PT: TX-04: With early votes in and a lot of election day votes left to count, Hall is at 46 percent, Ratcliffe at 29 percent. In 2010 69,000 votes were cast in this race: So far, 25,000 have been counted tonight.
6:43 PM PT: Hard to say what proportion of ballots have been counted. In 2010's contested gubernatorial GOP primary, 1,485,000 votes were cast. Right now in the barely contested gubernatorial primary we're at 580,000. So probably about a third of ballots have been counted.
6:49 PM PT: TX-LG: The David Dewhurst Pain Train continues: Patrick leads 45-27. Dewhurst may want to think long and hard if he wants to lose another runoff.
6:51 PM PT: TX-36: There's no question that we're in for a Babin-Streusand runoff, but Babin is reopening the gap a bit. He leads 34-25, with no one else in double digits.
6:55 PM PT: TX AG: Looks like we're in for a Paxton-Branch runoff. Third place contender Smitherman trails Branch 32-24 in his bid to get a runoff spot. Paxton is in first with 43.
6:58 PM PT: TX-04: The Associated Press projects a runoff between Hall and Ratcliffe. Hall currently leads 45-30, but even if that gap remains by the end of the night, he shouldn't be too comfortable. The other candidate's supporters are likely to break against the incumbent, and runoffs are often very unpredictable. Just ask David Dewhurst.
7:05 PM PT (Steve Singiser): TX-Sen: The good news for LaRouche devotee Kesha Rogers: she'd make the runoff if it all ended right now. The bad news: she'd basically need to shoot the moon to have a shot. David Alameel is at 48.9 percent, which is well ahead of Rogers (21 percent). Often, runoff participants that far behind take the classy route and don't contest the runoff. I will take a wild guess that Rogers will not be quite that magnanimous.
7:06 PM PT: TX-23: Looks like we have a Canseco-Hurd GOP runoff here. Canseco leads 42-40, far below the 50 percent either would need tonight to win outright. Not complaining is Democratic Rep. Pete Gallego, who sits in a 51-48 Romney seat.
7:17 PM PT (Steve Singiser): TX-Sen: Democrats busy watching David Alameel's battle with the runoff line (he is now down to 48 percent) may have missed something else: Kesha Rogers is far from a lock to take a prospective second runoff slot. Rogers is down to just 20 percent, with a raft of early votes propelling Maxey Scherr to 18 percent of the vote. In terms of raw vote, the margin is just 4700 votes according to the Texas Sec. of State's office. AP is getting their tallies elsewhere, and they have it wider, with Rogers +12,000 or so.
7:22 PM PT: TX AG: Smitherman's hopes to get into the runoff look worse and worse. All night he's been about six points behind second-place candidate Branch, and currently trails 32-25. Paxton continues to lead with 43 percent.
7:34 PM PT: TX-36: Good reminder from Greg Giroux: Both Babin and Streusand ran for the House in the past. Babin was the GOP nominee against Jim Tunrer in 1996 and 1998. In the former open seat race Babin lost by a close 51-46. Their rematch didn't go well, with Babin losing by a larger 58-41. Streusand made the runoff against Michael McCall in 2004's open seat race, but fell 64-37.
7:34 PM PT (Steve Singiser): TX-Comptroller: Here is a mild surprise on a fairly predictable night. One could make the argument that tea-flavored Republican Debra Medina was the most hyped of the generally unknown candidates running statewide for Comptroller on the GOP side. That hype clearly has not translated to votes—Medina is a distant third in the GOP primary, garnering just 19 percent of the vote.
7:39 PM PT: TX-AG: Not getting better for Smitherman. He trails Branch 33-24 for second.
7:43 PM PT: TX-AG: The AP has called a Paxton-Branch runoff.
7:44 PM PT: TX LG: We also have a Patrick-Dewhurst runoff called.
8:03 PM PT: TX-23: No surprise, but the AP has called a Canseco-Hurd runoff.
8:05 PM PT (Steve Singiser): TX-House: There is a potentially intriguing story developing downballot. In the battle for the balance of power in the state House, two Republican incumbents in potentially vulnerable districts are currently trailing in primary challenges. They are Stefani Carter (HD-102: Romney 53-45) and Linda Harper-Brown (HD-105: Romney 52-46). Unlike many GOP-held legislative seats, Democrats have fielded candidates in both of these seats.
8:08 PM PT: Texas State Senate: A few incumbents look like they're in danger of being unseated tonight. In SD-02, incumbent Republican Bob Deuell leads with 48 percent, a little below the runoff threshold. In SD-16, GOP incumbent Don Huffines trails challenger John Carona by 152 votes: No one else is running, so this one will be resolved tonight. Finally, in SD 31, incumbent Republican Kel Seliger leads former Midland Mayor Mike Canon 52-48. All three seats are heavily Republican.
8:21 PM PT: Looks like we won't know for sure for a long time, but an Alameel-Rogers runoff looks likely. We're calling it a night here: Thanks for reading and see you back next Tuesday for the FL-13 general!
8:55 PM PT (Steve Singiser): TX-SEN (D): One (final?) update: the AP has called the Democratic Senate primary for David Alameel, who they say is leading LaRouchite Kesha Rogers by a 54-19 margin. The problem? That is nowhere near what the Texas Sec. of State's office has, and it is nowhere near what the AP had themselves for most of the night. About 30 minutes ago, their totals for Alameel jumped markedly. Best guess? A tabulation error, which will be corrected eventually, and return the race to a likely runoff (the SoS has Alameel at 48, and Rogers at 21).