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Early voting begins October 24 for November 8 election in Texas

Native Vote SA Early Voting Rall election

Early voting begins October 24 and ends November 4.

Courtesy photo

Election day is November 8, 2022, but early voting starts Monday, October 24 and runs through November 4.

Texans will be voting for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, agricultural commissioner, and land commissioner, among other slots.

In the race for Governor between incumbent Greg Abbott and challenger Beto O'Rourke, Abbott has so far led in polls, but an October poll by Beacon Research shows the gap narrowing to 2 percent.

O'Rourke has received endorsements from top Texas newspapers like the Houston Chronicle, as well as Willie Nelson, Kacey Musgraves, and Harry Styles. Abbott received an endorsement from bottom Texas newspaper Dallas Morning News.

In the Lieutenant Governor race, candidate Mike Collier, running as a Democrat against incumbent Dan Patrick, has earned a number of high-profile endorsements from Republicans including State Rep. Lyle Larson and former Texas Lt. Gov. Bill Ratliff. Collier is a former Republican who ran against Patrick in 2018.

In the Attorney General race, Democratic challenger Rochelle Garza is running against incumbent Ken Paxton.

Paxton was most recently in the news for fleeing his home to avoid a subpoena in a lawsuit from nonprofits that want to help Texans pay for abortions out of state. KVUE in Austin has a list of all of Paxton's various legal woes over the years including charges of bribery, intimidation, extramarital affairs, and his involvement in the January 6 insurrection.

Information on early voting can be found at votetexas.gov.

Registered voters can go to any polling location in the county. A list of 50 early voting locations is available on the county website. Registered voters should bring one acceptable form of photo identification to the polls such as Texas Driver License, Texas Election ID card, Military ID card, U.S. Citizenship Certificate, or U.S. Passport.

Registered voters without a photo ID can sign a Reasonable Impediment Declaration and present a supporting form of ID such as a voter registration certificate, a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, or a birth certificate.

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income analysis

This is the family income needed for one parent to stay home in Texas

Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash

With costs to raise a child soaring over $20,000 a year in Texas, some households might decide to have one parent work while the other stays at home to raise their child.

The cost of raising a child has ballooned in major metros like Dallas-Fort Worth, forcing many families to weight the choice between paying for child care or having one parent stay home full-time.

A recent analysis from SmartAsset determined the minimum income one parent needs to earn to support their partner staying at home to raise one child in all 50 states. In Texas, that amount is just under $75,000.

The study used the MIT Living Wage Calculator to compare the annual living wages needed for a household with two working adults and one child, and a household with one working adult, a stay-at-home parent, and one child. The study also calculated how much it would cost to raise a child with two working parents based on factors such as "food, housing, childcare, healthcare, transportation, incremental income taxes and other necessities."

A Texas household with one working parent would need to earn $74,734 a year to support their stay-at-home partner and their child, the report found. If both parents worked in the household, it would require an additional $10,504 in annual income to raise their child.

SmartAsset said the cost to raise a child in Texas in a two-working-parent household adds up to $23,587. Raising a child in North Texas, however, is slightly more affordable. A separate SmartAsset study from June 2025 determined it costs $22,337 to raise a child in Dallas-Fort Worth.

In the report's ranking of states with the highest minimum income needed to support a family with one working adult, a stay-at-home parent, and one child, Texas ranked 32nd on the list.

In other states like Massachusetts where raising a child can cost more than $40,000 a year, the report's author says families will look for ways to reduce any financial burdens.

"This often includes considerations around who’s going to work in the household, and whether young children will require paid daycare services while parents are occupied," the report said. "With tradeoffs abound, many parents might seek to understand the minimum income needed to keep the family afloat while allowing the other parent to stay home to raise a young child."

The top 10 states with the lowest minimum income threshold to support a three-person family on one income are:

West Virginia – $68,099
Arkansas – $68,141
Mississippi – $70,242
Kentucky – $70,408
North Dakota – $70,949
Oklahoma – $71,718
Ohio – $72,114
South Dakota – $72,218
Alabama – $72,238
Nebraska – $72,966

texas income smartasset family