Two quick takeaways from my early-voting exercise are worth sharing with you … so here goes.

One is that Texas Democrats, based on what I witnessed in Princeton at the Deffibaugh Community Center, might get their wish for a big turnout in the 2026 midterm election. I don’t have any numbers, but my visual, visceral sense is that the enthusiasm level is high in Princeton. That’s an unusual thing to observe about this community, in that previous election turnouts have been limited only to the highly motivated voters among is.

We have nearly 30,000 residents eligible to vote in Princeton. The most recent municipal election saw a turnout of about 2,000.

The population here continues to explode. The main highway through the city, US 380, is under heavy reconstruction as TxDOT is widening the highway from four lanes to six. Still, the initial turnout on early voting was more than brisk this morning. I do hope is stays high.

The second takeaway speaks to the animosity that has built in DC between the MAGA morons on the right and the progressive movement on the left. My point is that the hatred hasn’t trickled to the local level in Collin County. This morning I watched known MAGA followers yukking it up with known progressives. They must be friends. They might attend the same church. They might live next door to each other. Their kids might be best friends. Who knows? Frankly, none of that matters to me.

What does matter is that the gut-level animosity between the MAGAn in chief Donald Trump and his “enemies” in Congress hasn’t found its way to the heartland. I feel better already just reporting on what I saw this morning.