A small number of Texans decided to vote in the primary elections. Final numbers are not yet available but suffice it to say that it is a small percentage of those registered to vote.

Those who did show up to vote seemed to be in a mood as well. Both primaries had some startling results as well as expected outcomes. Texas voters were tumultuous in their decision-making this election.

Republicans outpaced Democrats in numbers but both voters managed to create twists and turns in their primary results. For complete Statewide returns in a digestible format, click here.

The U.S. Senate race was by far the most hotly contested nomination in both party primaries. An open U.S. Senate seat is a very rare opportunity. On the Republican side, the negative campaigners both made it into a run-off – David Dewhurst and Ted Cruz. We can expect another few weeks of warring commercials over their conservative credentials. On the Democratic side, Paul Sadler was expected to lead and many had their eyes on newcomer Sean Hubbard. Alas, Dems, in all their wisdom, voted for a guy named “Yarbrough” who ran virtually no campaign. He heads into a run-off with Sadler to be the party’s standard bearer in November.

Republicans, meanwhile, threw out several of their incumbent state House leaders. They just weren’t conservative enough for this primary crowd. Three Republican House Committee Chairs lost their bids to Tea Party candidates, including Rob Eissler of the Woodlands. He was just too liberal for those Woodlands residents. Eissler had been Chair of the Public Education Committee.

And so it went across much of the State and in Harris County. Republicans defeated incumbent District Attorney Pat Lykos with former Judge Mike Anderson. This was not about conservatism but more about the actions of the incumbent. Anderson is a well-respected former Judge. Meanwhile, the Democrats had a potential star candidate in Zack Fertitta but alas, they nominated perennial candidate Lloyd Wayne Oliver.

Republicans threw out Tax-Assessor Collector Don Sumners in favor of City Council Member Mike Sullivan. Sumners is more in alignment with the Tea Party while Sullivan is a standard conservative. It is also extremely rare for City officials to win County offices.

The Democrats managed to throw out their only openly gay incumbent Judge, Steve Kirkland, in a campaign that involved serious personal attacks and further deepened the rift between African-American voters and the gay community. Elaine Palmer, an African-American candidate, defeated Kirkland.

Overall, Texas Voters lived up to our perennial habit of defying expectations and voting how we “damn well please!”