DALLAS — Updated at 10:37 a.m. Saturday with early vote totals from Dallas County.
The long lines of voters, from Richardson to Fort Worth, on the last day of early voting served as a continuing illustration of the Lone Star state swiftly setting a voting record.
By the end of Friday, with elections officials still tallying the early votes, more Texans had voted in the 18-day early voting period than voted in the entire 2016 presidential election.
The appearance of Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris was somewhat record setting too. With Texas traditionally a solid set of Republican electoral votes, it's been three decades since a member of the Democratic ticket spoke in Texas this close to Election Day.
"You all have been doing your thing," Harris told a socially-distanced crowd in a 30-minute appearance on an outdoor stage near First Saint John Baptist Church in southern Fort Worth.
In Tarrant County, 673,674 votes have been cast in early voting.
Collin County had 289,561 in-person votes cast in early voting in 2016. As of Friday, that number was obliterated: 419,809 votes cast in early voting in the 2020 election.
Denton County reports the same trend with 380,907 votes recorded in early and mail-in voting, with a higher percentage of voters already compared to the final vote totals of 2016.
"You have power, and at election time that power will be through your vote," said Sen. Harris at her Fort Worth campaign stop.
In a tweet featuring a massive blue wave, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins praised voters for the turnout with Dallas County early voting nearing 800,000.
By Saturday morning, he reported a total of 802,972 votes cast early.
In Houston, Harris County, with the help of eight 24-hour polling locations, has shattered it's 2016 voting totals too.
But at the White House Friday, before heading to a campaign rally in Michigan, President Trump was asked specifically about Texas and he said he wasn't concerned.
"Texas we're doing very well. It's going to be the same thing as last year. In fact, I think, last term, I think you asked the question last time, too. Texas is looking very close. And I won it by many, many points. Texas is looking very strong," said President Trump.
History is on his side. But next Tuesday, we find out what that record turnout actually means and whether Texas is, for the first time in decades, truly in play during this presidential election.