AJC poll shows nearly tied GA governor race

Well, we are exactly two weeks out from the midterm elections. Kind of crazy. Two weeks. Early voting got off to a record start here in Georgia, to the tune of about a million people who cast their votes early ahead of the November 3rd election, with voters 65 and older making up the largest share of those who voted. But according to GeorgiaVotes.com, almost all of them, 980,000 plus coming from in-person early voting locations, the other more than 46,000. Well, those were from absentee ballots. So in all, 13.6 percent of Georgia's seven and a half million registered voters have already cast a ballot. So the voter interest, not a surprise to outgoing Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. Governor, Attorney General, you know, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary, like up and down the ballot. Plus, you have a U.S. Senate seat, so there's an awful lot on the table. While both parties argue over who the wave of early voting actually favors. Election officials say they're focused solely on making sure casting a ballot is both easy and secure. So GeorgiaVotes.com cautions early voting patterns don't reliably predict election results. And with so much at stake, both parties are working hard to try to drive their voters to the polls. That is certainly what we are seeing. So a new Atlanta Journal Constitution poll finds that the Georgia governor's race at this point is nearly tied with independents still up for grabs, independent voters still having a large say in this. So Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms and Republican Rick Jackson nearly even among voters, according again to the AJC. Eight percent of voters, though, undecided. So the poll was conducted by the University of Georgia School of Public and International Affairs. Both candidates have strong support from their parties. Ninety four percent of Republicans back Jackson. Ninety three percent of Democrats support Bottoms. Independents, though, favor Bottoms. The poll found differences among age and racial groups. Jackson leads among white voters with 66 percent of support and among voters 65 and older. Let's talk about Bottoms. She's backed by 88 percent of black voters and 63 percent of voters younger than 30. Jackson, a billionaire health care executive, spent at least one hundred eight million dollars of his own money to win the Republican nomination. He's also received the backing of outgoing Governor Brian Kemp. So Bottoms is the former Atlanta mayor. She's campaigning as President Trump's approval rating stands at 41 percent. If you're asking who they polled to come up with these numbers, AJC surveyed 1,000 likely Georgia voters by telephone from October 7th through the 15th, and the poll's margin of error is about 3.1 percentage points. But very interesting to see just how tight this race truly is. So moving to Texas now, it's where the battle for Congress continues at this point. I mean, it is boiling over. Early voting kicked off in the Lone Star State yesterday, and this year a record 19 million Texans are registered to vote in November's midterm election. So Fox's Asher Redd is joining us now. He's in Denton, Texas. The clock is ticking when we talk about these undecided voters that have to make up their minds, Asher. Yeah, Elyse, here in Texas, the races could really hinge on those undecided voters. And this is already a record-breaking first day of early voting that we saw. Of course, that was yesterday, but we're seeing those numbers start to trickle in now. Let's just take Harris County, for example. That's where Houston is. And they had more than 100,000 ballots cast yesterday. That nearly doubled the previous record that was set back in 2018 during the midterm elections. and president trump's first term in office now i've been crisscrossing this state up down left right center all over the place trying to talk with as many voters as i can and they're all telling me what they're looking for in a candidate and of course republicans and democrats have generally the same idea of what they're looking for lower cost of living integrity and honesty and character but who they think is best fitted for the role to hold especially the texas senate Well, that's up for debate. Take a listen. I believe in the values of the Republican Party. It is very much associated with the Hispanics. We see the mistakes that are happening. We're hardworking people, and we strive for more. I strive for more so my kids can strive for more. I feel like James is really strong, and he's for the people. Democrats think James Tallarico has a chance to pull off something that the party hasn't done in decades, turn a Texas Senate seat blue. President Trump won Texas by nearly 14 points just two years ago. But let's fast forward to 2026, and now a Fox News power ranking is calling this race a toss-up. Tallarico is courting independents and moderate Republicans as his opponents, Republican Ken Paxton and national GOP leaders, are painting him out to be some far-left Democrat who's out of step with everyday Texans. And if Tallarico pulls out a victory in November, it could give Democrats a shot at securing the Senate majority. But Tallarico rallied Democratic voters yesterday at the University of North Texas here in Denton. Here's what he said. In the final days of this election, they're coming at us with everything they've got. They are scared. They are terrified. They see what we see, that we're about to win this election. Meanwhile, Paxton is continuing a more than 30-stop statewide bus tour. At a rally in San Antonio on Sunday, Paxton leaned into his record as Texas Attorney General and even attacked Tallarico's stance on transgender issues. Here's Paxton. When corrupt Joe Biden came for the Lone Star State, I went after him. I took him to court and sued him 107 times. And I won. But when asked what he loves most outside of his family, he says trans kids. I mean, this guy is really obsessed with transitions. How about we transition him and his crazy ideas right out of Texas? Democratic Socialist Bernie Sanders will be in Texas this week for two of his own events. And Tallarico is not campaigning with Sanders. Now, this is already an extremely expensive race for both sides. We're talking both candidates and the outside group supporting them spending upwards of half a billion dollars so far on just ads and reservations. And until midterms come around, that number is definitely expected to increase. Elyse? Yeah, seeing the impacts of this election there in Texas. Fox's Asher Redd, live in Denton, Texas for us. Asher, thank you so much for showing us what's happening there. We appreciate it.