LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Dear Editor, Okay, we finally closed out the last of the 2025 elections. They just kept coming at us last year, and with municipal runoffs in San Marcos, Buda, and Kyle – runoffs that took us right to the cusp of Christmas – it seemed like they’d never end. But they did.
At least for a little while.
So sit back, relax, and enjoy the silence; the next cycle doesn’t really begin until – let me check my calendar – late this week! Ai! Ai! Ai! Ai! Ai! How’d that sneak up so fast?
That’s when the Hays County Elections Office starts sending out mail ballots for the March 3 Democratic and Republican Primary Elections. The primary elections are where voters have the chance to pick their party’s candidates for the November General Election.
They’re generally considered something of a snooze by most voters. And, as in the May school board elections, it’s usually only the hardest of the hard-core voters who turn out for party primaries.
But don’t take my word for it, let’s look at the numbers.
In 2024 – a Presidential Election year, when voters of both parties were choosing their standard bearers for the November presidential election, less than one out of five Hays County voters, 18.89%, actually made it to the polls. While there was a slight difference in local turnout for each of the two parties, 10.36% of Republican voters cast ballots, compared to 8.53% for the Democrats, the turnout was so dismal that neither party earned any bragging rights.
Yes, there was a difference of almost two points in the voter turnout between each of the two parties. But the competition on the Democratic side was minimal. While there was a wide field of candidates, eight to be exact, the only name that most Democratic voters were familiar with was Joe Biden’s. And he was the incumbent! So it was just a given at the time that he’d walk away with the nomination. And he did. While, ultimately, that didn’t work out for him, it’s fair to say that the absence of any real competition held Democratic turnout down.
For the Republicans, there were also eight candidates – that included a former incumbent, Donald Trump. This gave him strong name recognition, but so did his failed bid for the Presidency in 2020 – along with his efforts to convince voters that his loss was actually a win.
So, unlike the Democrats, the Republican race drew a stronger field of competitors, each of whom thought they saw an opening. We’re talking a field that included Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Governor and United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. But even a field with that kind of firepower on the right couldn’t bring out but a smidgen above 10 percent of Hays County voters.
Looking back to 2022, the year most comparable to 2026, the top-ofticket Primary races in Hays County were United States Representatives in what were then Congressional Districts 21 and 35, and Governor. It’s easy to think that without the draw of a Presidential race, turnout would have been considerably below that of 2024.
Oddly enough, that wasn’t the case at all. The turnout was startlingly similar to 2024’s: Republicans drew 10.01% and Democrats 8.39%, for a cumulative countywide turnout of 18.40 percent.
And over those two the years from 2022 to 2024, Hays County voter registration grew from 158,155 to 175,737, a jump of 17,582 voters – more than 11 percent. I’d like to be able to say that turnout from 2022 to 2024 mirrored that level of growth. But it didn’t. The turnout increase, a scant 2,105 voters, translated to growth of less than half a percentage point.
Odd, isn’t it? In a county that favors Democrats in the General Election, it’s the Republicans who take the cake when it comes to voting in the primaries.
Based on turnout, it’s fair to say that many voters – and even more nonvoters – think that primary elections are insignificant. But given the political climate over the last several years, it’s easy to see that with such a small turnout, even the shift of a very small number of voters in a primary election can alter the course of history.
What if Joe Biden hadn’t won the 2024 Democratic Primary? What if Donald Trump didn’t grab the brass ring in the Republican Primary? No matter which side you’re on, you’ve got to admit that it’s been a crazy ride over the last several years, and not just on the national scene.
Here at ground level in Hays County, in an unholy alliance between Donald Trump and Governor Greg Abbott – who once touted his independence from Washington, we’ve seen our two Congressional Districts redrawn in a blatant bid to blunt the expected Democratic surge in the 2026 midterm Congressional elections.
Wasn’t it Abbott who said, “I fought for the constitutional principal of federalism, suing an overreaching federal government 27 times. I didn’t invent that phrase, ‘Don’t Mess with Texas,’ but I have applied it more than anyone else ever has.” And he summed it up with these memorable words, describing a typical day in his former job as Texas Attorney General, “I go into the office, I sue the federal government, and then I go home.”
That’s a far cry from Abbott’s current posture, which seems to be, “I go into the office, I wait for a call from Washington, and I do whatever Donald Trump tells me to do.”
And “Don’t mess with Texas”? Well, that’s become more of a suggestion than a command – it all depends on who’s doing the messing.
The position of Texas Governor is on the ballot this year. So are our two seats in the United States House of Representatives, as well as our United States Senate seat. If that’s not enough to get the attention of voters after what we’ve seen over the last few cycles, I don’t know what is.
The job now for voters is to recognize that shaping the electoral future begins with turning up for the March 3 Primary and defining the landscape for the November election. Here are the key dates to remember: February 2 – Last Date to Register to Vote Feb. 17 – First Day of Early Voting Feb. 27 – Last Day of Early Voting March 3 – Election Day We can complain about what’s happening in Washington and Austin until we’re blue in the face. And I’ll admit, that’s something I’ve been guilty of quite a bit over the last few years. But complaining isn’t going to change a thing. It’s voting that makes the difference. Let’s do it!
Sincerely, Jon Leonard San Marcos
