WASHINGTON—The border. Health care. The Trump administration. Christianity.

During early voting for primaries in Texas and North Carolina, politically engaged locals weighed in on those and other top issues in interviews with The Epoch Times.

People across the Lone Star State shared their perspectives in the midst of the U.S. Senate primaries—now the most expensive on record, according to AdImpact. The interviews were conducted the week before the primary election on March 3, and before the United States and Israel attacked Iran.

On the Republican side, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) is defending his seat against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt (R-Texas). Meanwhile, Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) is sparring with state Rep. James Talarico for the Democratic nomination.

Voters in North Carolina’s First Congressional District offered their thoughts to The Epoch Times as Rep. Don Davis (D-N.C.) prepares to defend his seat in the territory, which is more Republican-friendly after redistricting.

The GOP primary contenders include former Trump Pentagon official Laurie Buckhout, Carteret County Sheriff Asa Buck, state Sen. Bobby Hanig, Lenoir County Commissioner Eric Rouse, and family law attorney Ashley Nicole-Russell.

Davis is not facing a primary challenger.

Huntsville

Huntsville, Texas, population 49,500, is nicknamed Prison City, USA.

The Walls Unit, located near the center of the city, hosts the country’s most active execution chamber. Other penal facilities dot the East Texas landscape.

On Feb. 19, early voters were few and far between at a voting site next door to the Texas Prison Museum. The grounds of the HEARTS Veterans Museum, part of the same complex as the voting site, were lined with military aircraft.

Joan Baxter was sitting and reading a book in the parking lot outside, next to a pickup truck advertising a Walker County commissioner candidate, Troy Walker. She was campaigning, albeit quietly, for Walker.

Baxter said she taught at a prison for 12 years.

“I got the cream of the crop—and they took care of me,” she said.

As a voter, her top concerns are agricultural issues, property taxes, and the effect of gender ideology on children.

“It’s just awful,” she said of the latter. “I don’t know where to draw the line. Parents are not always on top of the situation.”

Baxter said she ruled out voting for Paxton early on, based on his personal life as well as a whistleblower lawsuit against the attorney general. A district court judge in 2025 awarded four former Paxton aides $6.6 million; the aides said they were fired after they reported the politician to the FBI.

She acknowledged that many Texans seem weary of Cornyn.

“I think they’re probably looking for a change, but who’re you going to change to?” she asked.

In the same parking lot, Brandon Decker weighed up a slate of GOP Senate primary candidates he doesn’t much like.

Decker, who is a Walker County commissioner, spoke in his capacity as a private citizen.

“I don’t like the way Cornyn has been voting,” he said. “Don’t trust Paxton. Sure as hell don’t trust Hunt.”

He said he ended up voting for Paxton, citing the fact that the attorney general spoke at a local Reagan Dinner.

One Democratic candidate, Talarico, has made his Christian faith a centerpiece of his campaign. Yet, Decker does not think the Presbyterian seminarian’s appeals to faith will sway the people of Huntsville.

“We’re still a strong Republican holdout,” he said.

Decker said partisan politics matter less when it comes to local races.

“When you get state, federal level, and all that crap, where they vote down party lines, it doesn’t matter. On our local elections, we still have just people, and it doesn’t matter, Republican or Democrat—we help them all,” he said.

“We’re still just people.”

Austin

In the afternoon on Feb. 18, the second day of early voting, the pavement outside Austin City Hall in Austin, Texas, wasn’t quite bustling. Yet, more than a few Texans stepped inside to cast their ballots.

“I’m a Democrat, and so I want more people to show up to vote,” Michelle Fisher said when asked about her top issues.

“I’m just hoping that people vote for strong representatives who will be able to beat the Republicans without sounding too ‘us against them.’”

Fisher acknowledged the challenge of electing a Democratic senator or any other statewide Democrat in Texas.

“When I come out for rallies and protests, there are young people out there, but I see a lot of older people, and I know that they’re not going to be here forever,” she said.

One younger Democrat, Emerie Guerra, said that Talarico helped motivate her to come out early.

“He seems a man of his word, a man of God, a true Christian,” she said.

Guerra, whose forehead was marked with ash for Ash Wednesday, said it is a mistake for people to associate Christianity with the GOP.

Her top issues include “women’s reproductive rights, LGBTQ—also, immigration and stuff, and what’s going on with ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement].”

It wasn’t easy for her to choose.

“As a woman and minority and stuff, I was just like, ‘Oh my god, we need Crockett,’—but at the same time, I don’t think we’re ready for that yet,” Guerra said.

Bradley Paris, another early voter, said he had “a million issues” and “one candidate”—Talarico.

“I found myself really upset and angry about how religion has been used for the right,” he said, adding that his grandfather was a Baptist preacher.

Although he grew up a libertarian-leaning Republican in rural north Texas, he has moved to the left as an adult.

Paris also views ICE operations as a concern. He accused pro-Second Amendment conservatives of hypocrisy over the Alex Pretti incident in Minneapolis in which Pretti while carrying a firearm was shot and killed by federal agents.

He thinks Talarico’s Democratic opponent would be less effective in the general election.

“I think a Crockett debate would be very entertaining, but I think it would be divisive,” Paris said.

The game designer hopes Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.)—sometimes discussed as a presidential contender­—can eventually fix what he sees as a deeply broken system.

“Maybe AOC is our Princess Leia,” he said.

Bee Cave

Later that same day, cars streamed past an artificial fountain near the city hall in Bee Cave, a suburb of Austin.

The early voters included Madeline Brower.

She told The Epoch Times her top issues included reproductive rights and the rule of law.

Brower supported Talarico over Crockett in the Democratic primary.

“I think he probably has a likelier shot of winning over more Texans,” she said, saying that his criticism of the ultra-wealthy is more palatable than Crockett’s more forceful rhetoric against the Trump administration.

Like Fisher in Austin, she knows how hard it would be for a Democrat to make it into the Senate from Texas.

“Maybe the tide has turned with how bad the Trump administration has been,” she said.

Two other early voters in Bee Cave, Zach and Maggie Coyle, declined to share who they supported.

“Seemed like most of the people were just kind of running unopposed,” Zach said.

“I just do it as a habit ... just to be consistently exercising your right,” Maggie said of her decision to cast a ballot.

Magnolia

Attendees of a Feb. 19 Paxton rally in Magnolia, Texas, north of Houston, also named some of their biggest priorities.

“The economy, taxes, and, of course, we’ve got the border secured, [and we] want to make sure that maintains, so building on what Trump did on the border,” David Lanoue said.

He credits Gov. Greg Abbott, who is running for reelection, for helping to secure the southern border, which he said was far more porous under the Biden administration.

Prior to Trump’s reelection in 2024, Abbott made and extended a disaster declaration based on the inflow of illegal immigrants.

“I think we have good leadership,” Lanoue said.

Dawn Bednarz said her top issues include the possible enforcement of Sharia law in her state.

The development of EPIC City, a Muslim-friendly, master-planned community in North Texas, has sparked fears of such a future. In 2025, the state passed a bill preventing communities from enforcing Islamic law and discriminating against non-Muslims on Texas soil.

“The border, of course, is always there, but that’s better now,” she added.

Bednarz is also concerned about federal overreach.

John Groh, another attendee, described cryptocurrency as a driving concern.

“I want pro-crypto candidates,” he said.

On mass immigration, another top issue, Groh said, “I don’t like our borders being wide open.”

“I don’t agree 100 percent with the way ICE is doing things right now, but for the most part, I mean, they have to do what they have to do,” he added, saying he would like to see ICE vet people it targets and give softer punishments to illegal aliens who are economic contributors.

A third top issue for Groh is world politics. He lauded Trump’s performance leading the United States among nations.

“I hate to see someone who doesn’t know anything about it get in and just totally mess everything up again the way it was,” he said.

Greenville

Greenville, North Carolina, is a fast-growing city along the Tar River and the home of East Carolina University.

Early voters spoke with The Epoch Times at several sites throughout the community.

Shawn McLawhorn described crime, taxes, and health care as the top issues affecting his vote.

He said Trump’s policies are influencing his vote “a lot.”

“I feel like as a business owner, his policies are helping with my business in the long run,” he said, including tariffs in that assessment. He said he anticipates benefits from last year’s tax law, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, though he expects to see them over time.

McLawhorn said he would vote for Trump again and dismissed the possibility of impeachment if Democrats retake the House, calling past efforts “hogwash.” He supports voter ID laws, arguing most Americans already have forms of identification.

The Trump supporter—unaffiliated but “Republican at heart"—voted in the Democratic primary to support a friend running for sheriff, casting no other Democratic votes. He said he plans to vote Republican in November.

A voter named Len Stancill said health care, immigration enforcement, and taxes are the biggest issues for him this election, with health care at the top.

“I wish the government would pass universal health care,” he said, adding that he thinks the United States can afford it.

Stancill strongly criticized Trump, calling his policies ineffective and accusing him of lying about securing the border. He also criticized ICE, saying enforcement actions are targeting Americans rather than illegal immigrants, and objected to the use and conditions of the agency’s detention centers.

He said Trump’s performance has directly influenced his vote in the midterms and that he does not plan to vote for any Republican candidates this year. He hopes Democrats impeach Trump if they regain control of the House.

Stancill accused Trump of wanting “to be a dictator.”

Janae Battle said she opposes Trump’s major initiatives, saying they benefit the rich at the expense of the poor.

“It’s not with the people,” she said.

She was especially critical of his moves on immigration, calling them harsh and unfair, particularly toward families and children. She said immigrants help shape America and should be treated with dignity.

She also raised concerns about foreign policy, including his actions on Venezuela, as well as with unrest over ICE in Minnesota and the handling of the Epstein files, saying these issues contribute to division and instability. She believes Trump’s actions are turning Americans against one another.

Battle said she voted Democrat and hopes electing different candidates will help counteract Trump’s agenda. Like Stancill, she would like to see him impeached.

East Carolina University students Kaylee Nowik, Brooke Benedetti, and McKenna Lawler are also voting in large part against Trump.

Their top priorities included empathy in leadership, diversity, and increasing women’s representation in politics.

“I think it’s especially important in, like, southern states. I’m from the north, from Connecticut,” Nowik said of women in politics, noting that she was registered to vote in the swing state.

The trio were particularly critical of Trump’s approach to immigration enforcement, calling it harsh, racist, and rooted in intimidation, and argued that immigrants are foundational to the country. They criticized how tariffs are being used, saying they ultimately hurt Americans.

“I just don’t think they’re necessary,” Benedetti said of tariffs.

They, too, support impeachment if Democrats retake the House, describing the president as a criminal and referencing the Epstein files. They view the midterms as both a reflection of Trump’s presidency and a choice of individual candidates.

Nowik emphasized the importance of voting.

“I think every little bit counts. I think every single voice matters,” she said.