BELL COUNTY, Texas — As the night progressed on Election Night in Central Texas, incumbent Republicans asserted their control over positions in local, state and national races.
In the presidential race, President Donald Trump was projected to win Texas by the Associated Press shortly after midnight. The win shattered hopes of turning Texas blue this election cycle as some considered the state a battleground.
The Republican hold on local U.S. House Districts was also a blow to Democratic challengers hoping to flip the districts this election. Specifically, Texas Democrats were targeting seats in House District 31, District 25 and District 17. However, as the night progressed, the results showed Central Texas voters chose to side with Republican incumbents.
One notable local race was that for Falls County Sheriff between incumbent Ricky Scaman and challenger Joe Lopez. Lopez won the majority vote with 3,267 votes compared to 2,314 for Scaman.
The win, with a margin of nearly 1,000 votes, came after the Fall County Commissioners handed control of the sheriff's office to Scaman's chief deputy. The move came in response to charges of sexual assaults and assault on a public servant brought against Scaman.
Polls opened Tuesday morning for the 2020 General Election with little to no problems at polling locations in Central Texas.
6 News found very few people in lines at multiple locations in McLennan and Bell Counties.
"It was a lot quicker than I thought it would be," said voter Matthew Bulls in Bell County. "After seeing all the long lines in early voting, I was kind of expecting it today, also. So, I was happily surprised to get out and not have a line to stand in."
Texas saw record early voting numbers with 9.6 million people casting their vote. That was 735,000 more than the total number of voters in the 2016 presidential election.
"Everyone's opinion matters no matter who you are voting for," said voter Denikca Simmons in McLennan County. "This is your chance to use your voice and say what you need to say instead of sitting back and doing nothing."
We have results of several key races in this article. All of the results are at kcentv.com/elections.
KEY RACES:
President
The 2020 race for President was one of the most contentious in recent memory. President Donald Trump hopes to remain in office with a victory of former Vice President Joe Biden.
The President did not visit Texas while on the campaign trail, saying Texas was not a battleground state. However, some polls suggested Texas was a toss up with Biden closer than Democratic presidential candidates have been in the past.
U.S. Senate
Democrat M.J. Hegar conceded the race to Sen. John Cornyn her press office confirmed Tuesday night.
The democrat tweeted to her supporters she was "proud and incredibly grateful for all of your support."
Cornyn held an edge in polls and fundraising for most of the race but was still forced into mounting an unusually aggressive defense of his 18 years in the Senate.
Gov. Greg Abbott released a statement about Cornyn's victory.
“John Cornyn is an institution in the United States Senate and in Texas," said Abbott. "His tireless advocacy for Texas families is unmatched and I’m grateful voters chose to reward his service on their behalf with a strong re-election.”
Democrats poured millions of dollars behind Hegar, a former Air Force helicopter pilot who narrowly lost a U.S. House race two years ago.
Cornyn was elected to the Senate in 2002. Back in 1984, at the age of 32, the young attorney won a state district judge seat in Bexar County. Six years later, he was elected to the Texas Supreme Court, where he served until 1997 – that year he ran for Texas attorney general and won.
U.S. Representatives
Three of the four U.S. Representative seats that include the Central Texas area featured female democrats.
- District 8: Incumbent Republican Kevin Brady easily defeated democrat Elizabeth Hernandez.
- District 17: Republican Pete Sessions won the race for District 17. The Associated Press called the race in his favor a little after 9 p.m. Sessions fills a seat vacated by republican Bill Flores.
- District 25: Long time Republican Representative Roger Williams faced Democrat Julie Oliver for a second time. Oliver challenged Williams in 2018 in a race that was closer than many expected. The Libertarian candidate was Bill Kelsey.
- District 31: Republican John Carter was named the winner in the race for U.S. House District 31 by the Associated Press Tuesday night. Carter defeated democrat Donna Imam and Libertarian Clark Patterson.
Two state senate seats and four state representative seats were on the ballot. Each of those seats featured a republican incumbent.
All your live election results can be found here on election day.
POLLING LOCATIONS:
Before you head out to a voting location, you can to see if your county participates in the Countywide Polling Place Program first. If it does participate in the program, you can vote at any polling place in the county.
6 News has confirmed you can vote at any polling location in the following counties: Bell, McLennan, Coryell, Milam, Lampasas and Navarro.
Voters will need to go to a specific precinct in these counties: Falls, Limestone, Bosque, Leon, Hill and Hamilton.
ABSENTEE BALLOTS:
Currently, there are four situations in which a Texas resident can vote absentee. Those include:
- The resident is 65 or older.
- The resident has a disability.
- The resident will be out of town during the election, in which case the ballot must be mailed to a location outside the county.
- The resident is in jail.
COUNTING MAIL-IN BALLOTS:
According to the Texas Secretary of State, 470,288 Texans requested applications for ballots by mail in 2020 compared to 63,178 in 2018.
Director of the Elections Division at the Texas Secretary of State, Keith Ingram, said counting mail-in ballots can’t start until after early voting ends in counties over 100,000 residents, so likely the Saturday or Sunday after Oct. 30, according to Ingram. Counties with populations less than 100,000 can’t begin counting mail-in ballots until Election Day. Election Day ballots will be counted Election Night.
“The first batch of results from the counties that we get pretty close to 7 p.m. will be the early votes by mail and the early votes in-person that they have counted throughout Election Day,” Ingram said.
EARLY VOTING TURNOUT:
Texas officially surpassed its total 2016 votes cast during the 2020 early voting period.
According to the Texas Secretary of State website, as of Thursday, Oct. 29, Texas had cast a total of 9,009,850 votes so far in the 2020 presidential election. In the 2016 presidential election, 8,969,226 votes were cast through early voting and Election Day across the state of Texas.
In Bell County, there was a similar boom in voters who turned out early. In 2020, early voter numbers as of October 30 had 102,961 votes cast, according to Bell County Elections. This number also includes mail-in ballots received. For the 2016 election in its entirety, 94,551 votes were cast according to the Secretary of State's office.
6 NEWS COVERAGE:
The 6 News team will have coverage around Central Texas from the moment the polls open at 7 a.m.
The election results will be on a continuous stream throughout the night on the bottom of your TV screens. You'll also be able to find the results at kcentv.com/elections or on the 6 News app.
Maria Aguilera will be at a polling location when Texas Today begins at 5 a.m. Kurtis Quillin and Niki Lattarulo will be at the polls throughout the day.
Jasmin Caldwell will be with Bell County republicans at the Bell County Expo Center. Bary Roy will cover the District 17 Representative race from Waco, where both candidates will watch the numbers come in.
Andrew Moore will be on top of the vote totals. How they're counted, and what the process is to add the early votes with the election day votes.
Cole Johnson will have an interactive look at how Texas is voting in the Presidential and U.S. Senate race, along with a breakdown of how the nation is voting for President and the balance of power in the senate.