Texas will hold its 2024 primary elections on March 5. Here are all of the candidates who have filed for the Democratic and Republican primary elections, according to the Secretary of State. Voters in each primary will choose their candidates for U.S. president, U.S. Senate, congressional and legislative offices, the State Board of Education, the Railroad Commission and judicial seats.
Early voting begins Feb. 20. If no candidate receives a majority of the vote in the primary, the top two vote-getters will compete in a runoff on May 28. Texas is an open-primary state, meaning voters can decide every two years whether to pick Republican or Democratic nominees (or hold out and go to third-party conventions).
Of note: whichever primary you decide to vote in, you can vote only in that same party’s runoff. You can, however, vote for either party’s candidates in the general election.
Candidates are listed in alphabetical order in this ballot guide. Elections in Texas are run by 254 different counties, and each county determines the order of candidate names on the ballots printed there. To see each county’s ballot order for the primary, visit the Texas Secretary of State’s site.
You’ll also see county and local elections on your ballot. Sample ballots for specific counties can be found through the list of county websites maintained by the Texas Association of Counties.
President
Texas will hold its primary on Super Tuesday and will be an important state for both Republican and Democratic presidential candidates in 2024. There are 161 Republican and 244 Democratic delegates up for grabs which can be awarded proportionally, meaning more than one candidate can secure some of them. President Joe Biden is seeking reelection and has no serious competition in the Democratic primary. Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump has a commanding lead among Republican candidates.
At least some of the candidates on the ballot will likely drop out by primary election day, however. Texas follows Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina on the primary calendar.
Disclosure: The Texas secretary of state, Theresa Boisseau, Santos Limon, Sylvia R. Garcia, Stuart Whitlow, Julie Johnson, Dayna Steele, Jan McDowell, Katherine Culbert, Pam Little, Merrie Fox, Gary VanDeaver, Jill Dutton, Kyle Biedermann, Erin Shank, Michelle Beckley, Walter Coppage, Stan Lambert, Norma Chávez, Yvonne Davis, Donna Howard, Terry Canales, Senfronia Thompson, Brooks Landgraf, Vikki Goodwin and Todd Hunter have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
Illustrations by Emily Albracht and Reagan Hicks.
