Early voting is running well ahead of the 2022 pace in many of the states likely to decide control of the U.S. And a new poll found that voters in both major parties want the next Congress to spend its energy on prices, with President Donald Trump far down the list. According to an (AP) analysis of advance voting two weeks before Election Day, early voting in Texas is up 74 percent compared with the same point in 2022, and Kansas has more than doubled its total.
Maine, North Carolina and Ohio have seen increases of more than 30 percent in early in-person and mail voting. Democrats are chasing Republican-held Senate seats in all five of those states. Republicans, AP found, account for a smaller slice of advance voters in most of the states than they did four years ago.
Nationally, more than 13 million mail-in and early in-person votes had been cast as of Tuesday, compared with 9 million at the same point in 2022. Part of the increase reflects states that expanded early voting or released more data since the last midterm. What those voters want afterward is fairly clear.
In a new AP-NORC poll, about 80 percent of respondents said lowering prices should rank among the next Congress' highest priorities, and roughly 7 in 10 want lawmakers focused on ending the war with Iran. Investigating the Trump administration drew about 4 in 10. Only about 2 in 10 put supporting the president's agenda near the top.
Texas leads in raw numbers. Close to 1 million ballots were in two weeks before Election Day, November 3, up from about 550,000 at the same point in 2022, and early in-person voting there only opened Monday. The state doesn't break down its ballots by party.
State Representative James Talarico is trying to become the first Democrat to win statewide in Texas since 1994, facing Republican state Attorney General Ken Paxton. Kansas, which Trump carried by 16 points in 2024, has logged more than 55,000 ballots against 27,000 at this stage four years ago. Republicans sent close to $12 million into the race earlier this month to prop up Kansas Senator Roger Marshall, a Republican, against Democrat Adam Hamilton, and Trump rallied there Monday.
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