Texans will go to the polls to elect hundreds of officials to represent them this year. Up for grabs are the governor鈥檚 mansion, a seat in the U.S. Senate and some of the most powerful statewide offices.
All of Texas鈥� congressmembers are up for election 鈥� same, too, for the entire Texas House of Representatives and half of the Texas Senate. And then a bunch of local, county and judicial posts will be on the ballot.
To help you prepare, here are a handful of key dates and numbers to know.
Dates to know
February 5: The last day to in the Texas primary election.
February 20: The first day of early voting in Texas.
March 6: The primary election to select party nominees.
By the numbers
128: The Dallas County Republican Party filed a lawsuit on Friday to kick 128 Democrats off the primary ballot in the county. The local GOP says Democratic Chair Carol Donovan , including stalwarts like State Sen. Royce West and Rep. Eric Johnson, both Democratic candidates for District Attorney, and contenders in state legislative districts that Democrats think they've got a good chance of flipping. Democrats called the lawsuit shenanigans and said Republicans are resorting to dirty tricks because they can't win outright in most Dallas County races.
$43 million: That鈥檚 how much money Gov. Greg Abbott had in his war chest at the beginning of the year to fund his campaign for re-election. He had a major head start on potential Democratic challengers, and the sum is their fundraising hauls. Andrew White, a Houston businessman and the son of a former governor, raised more than $219,000, including a sizable loan he gave to his campaign. Longtime Dallas County sheriff Lupe Valdez raised just $46,000.
8: Eight congressmen . Five planned on retiring at the end of their terms. Two aren鈥檛 running again after scandals: Republican Reps. of Ennis and of Corpus Christi. Democratic Rep. Beto O鈥橰ourke is stepping down to . It鈥檚 rare for this many seats to be open in Texas, and lots of people are jockeying to win them.
48: The number of women running for Congress in Texas. Twenty of those women are running for the eight open seats. That ups the chances that Texas will elect a new woman to Congress for the . Right now, both of our senators are men. Only three of the representing Texas are women.
22: The number of Democrats and Republicans running to replace retiring Rep. Lamar Smith. It鈥檚 the to replace an outgoing congressman, but others, like the district left empty by Joe Barton鈥檚 retirement, aren鈥檛 far behind. There are 18 people vying to win that seat, which represents Arlington, as well as Navarro and Ellis Counties.
14: Just in Texas cast a ballot in the last gubernatorial primary election in 2014. General election turnout that year wasn鈥檛 terribly impressive either: 34 percent of registered voters voted. Texas鈥� anemic turnout is even poorer when factoring in the millions of Texans who are eligible to vote, but not registered.
6: The March primary election is just six weeks away, on March 6. Early voting starts in less than a month. And the deadline to is two weeks away.
