Texans head to vote over two versions of U.S. as midterm elections roll out nationwide

HOUSTON, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- Across the U.S. biggest Republican-led state, Texans are heading to cast their ballots over two versions of the United States as the midterm elections are rolling out in the country on Tuesday.

Incumbent Republican governor Greg Abbott is seeking his third term, challenged by Democrat Beto O'Rourke, a former congressman. Their campaigns spent over 200 million U.S. dollars combined, making it one of the most expensive midterm races in U.S. history.

In the lead-up to the Election Day, Abbott focused on Texans' economic anxieties, especially the high inflation which is raising the cost of living, as well as the record migration influx from the U.S.-Mexico border, two-thirds of which is in Texas.

Meanwhile, O'Rourke has kept abortion and gun violence as key topics in the aftermath of the Uvalde school mass shooting which killed 21 in May and a harsh statewide abortion ban taking effect last year. The Supreme Court's rule overturning Roe v. Wade in June has also animated the outrage of many Texas voters.

Similar with the Abbott-O'Rourke face-off, GOP candidates across Texas and the country blame the Joe Biden administration and Democrats for inflation, border security and crime, but largely avoid abortion and gun issues, while their Democratic rivals go in the exactly opposite direction.

"There is a lot of polarization," Noreen Choudhury, a 25-year-old college student, told Xinhua near a polling station in Dallas on Tuesday. "I feel like they (Americans) are more divided."

Salvador Garcia, 66, an architect living in San Antonio, said he voted for Democrats since the abortion and gun issues are his top concerns.

The abortion ban "has really turned away a lot of doctors that provide health services to low-income people, making people afraid. It's very dangerous," Garcia told Xinhua. "Also guns ... I hate to see these gun sales in the back lots of Costco and Sams in the dark of night."

But for Candy Noble, a 61-year-old Republican state lawmaker from Dallas, the top concern of midterm elections is "definitely the economy, uh, the inflation that we are dealing with as a nation."

"It's very concerning and I don't think the Biden administration is handling it correctly to help us have a better future," said Noble in an interview with Xinhua on Tuesday, adding that border security is also "really, really important to me."

Noble said she hopes that Republicans can take over the U.S. Capitol so as to get "a better checks and balance in Washington, D.C.," while Choudhury, who puts women's abortion right as her top concern, said she believes if the midterm results tend to be more in favor of Democrats, "then they would help ease worries."

However, Aron Smith, a veteran aged 50, told Xinhua he doesn't believe the election results can ease anxieties for Texas and the whole country.

"Usually they don't in America. It's the same until it's completely broken," said Smith in Dallas. "America's been divided for a long time and even more now. You see a lot more extremists out now and violence, and parties are just taking a little too far."

Besides the governor, the lieutenant governor, attorney general, comptroller, as well as many other major positions with the state administration, are also up for election. Recent statewide polls showed that almost all GOP candidates led their Democrat rivals in two digits. Republicans are also poised to keep a commanding majority in the state legislature.

However, voters' apathy took hold of Texas 14-day early voting ending on Friday, with a turnout of some 31 percent, much lower than expected from both Republicans and Democrats, according to the unofficial counting from the Texas secretary of state's office.

Turnout rates are based on the proportion of people who voted among all registered voters. In 2018 midterm elections, Texas saw nearly 40 percent of early voting turnout and 53 percent of registered voters showed up to the polls by the end of the Election Day.