Record early votes prove Greg Abbott cannot ignore the people
By Alma Cordero · Reporting from El Paso ·
Voters across urban Texas are turning out in record early numbers, confronting Greg Abbott and Ken Paxton with the very working communities their border theater has long ignored.
On October 21, voters waited in line at the Como Community Center polling site in Fort Worth. They were not just names on a ledger. They were the people who scrub the hotel floors and pick the chile. They are the ones who carry the weight of this state on their backs while the men in Austin treat their lives like a campaign prop.
Governor Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton are wrong to believe they can keep the border as a theater of fear while ignoring the people who actually live there. They have spent years building a security state that treats our neighbors like enemies. Now, the people are answering.
The weight of the wait
The numbers are not just high; they are a demand to be seen. According to CBS News, early votes were cast in person and via mail. The Texas Tribune reports this is a 40% turnout rate.
This surge mirrors the 2020 United States presidential election. That cycle brought a systemic shift toward early voting that helped diverse populations access the ballot. For a worker in a garment plant or a housekeeper in a high-rise, the early vote is the only way to beat the clock of a boss who does not care about their citizenship.
The ghost of 2018
This moment shares a heartbeat with the 2018 United States Senate election in Texas. That race saw Beto O’Rourke challenge Ted Cruz and wake up a sleeping giant. The mechanism is the same: a diverse, urban coalition is mobilizing to challenge a political establishment that has long ignored the periphery.
We see it in the cities. Harris, Dallas, and Tarrant counties are seeing higher turnout than previous midterms.
This is the strategic mobilization we saw in the 2012 United States presidential election. It is the sound of el pueblo realizing that the fence the politicians love to photograph is the same fence that keeps them from the table.
The theater of the fence
While the people wait in line, the politicians play their games. Governor Greg Abbott is seeking a fourth term against Gina Hinojosa. Attorney General Ken Paxton is fighting James Talarico for a U.S. Senate seat.
They love the drama of the border. Donald Trump visited Texas, according to The Guardian. They treat the river like a stage for a play about "security." But I remember the Blockade. I remember when the Border Patrol parked bumper-to-bumper and my father's crew stopped getting picked up.
For the people in the Como Community Center, the border is not a talking point. It is a shared economy.
The establishment will not take this lying down. They will look at the registered voters and see a threat to their power. They will likely use the courts to challenge urban ballots in Harris and Tarrant counties, just as they have done before.
The record shows that high turnout does not always equal a change in law. But it does equal a change in the air. We do not need more photographs at the fence. We need an immigration system that runs on visas instead of cages. We need a wage floor a housekeeper can raise three kids on. The people have spoken early; now the state must stop the theater and start the work.