Since many districts in Texas heavily favor one party over the other, the primaries often determine the winner of the General Election! Even if you do not strongly identify with any political party, you can and should carefully consider the candidate choices and participate in one of the primaries or conventions.
The Republican and Democratic Parties each choose their candidates in a primary election.
The Libertarian and Green Parties each choose their candidates in a party convention.
Note: If you do not vote in the Primary Election, you can still vote in the Runoff Election! But, if you voted in one party’s primary or convention, you cannot vote in another party’s runoff primary or convention. So, if you voted in the Primary Election, you can only vote in that same party’s Runoff Election.
General Election: Voting in one party’s primary election, convention or runoff election does NOT commit you to vote for a particular party or candidate in the General Election. You can still vote for any candidate of your choice, regardless of party, in the General Election.