Quick favor, before we get started, if you enjoy listening to us on Spotify, take a second

and hit follow on what next show page. That'll make sure new episodes are front and center

in your feed. And if you found us through Spotify's Your Daily Drive Mix, note that this Spotify

mix is going away on March 15th.

So you're going to want to follow us to keep getting our episodes all year long.

If you're staring down a Texas ballot today, I hope you've set aside some time to read the whole thing.

Today is primary day. This ballot is about as big as Texas itself. You've got congressional races on here, a Senate seat, the governor, the lieutenant governor, the state legislature, some court of appeals

justices for members of the state Supreme Court. The Board of Education, you get the idea.

It's a lot. It's been a chaotic primary, to say the least, Mary. It's been, I mean, if you have

cable, all you're seeing are attack ads.

Bayless Wagner is a state politics reporter at the San Antonio Express News.

She says there are so many races.

It's hard to focus on just one or two, especially because the legislative map is totally new.

Remember, Texas redrew it last fall.

The main thing you need to know is that a whole lot of people are just going for it.

Like the governor, Greg Abbott, he is running for a fourth term. That would be unprecedented if he clinched it. The incumbent Republican Senator John Cornyn, he's facing a

stiff challenge from the state's attorney general, also a Republican, Ken Paxton. If Cornyn loses,

it'll be the first time in history that a Texas GOP senator lost a primary. And then there are the Democrats.

They're hoping to oust the senator too, eventually.

But right now, they are battling amongst themselves.

The fight's gotten particularly heated because there are these intriguing signals that maybe, just maybe, a Democrat could win come November if conditions are just right.

Good morning. It is Sunday, February 1st. Today, could it be a preview of the midterms?

...