It's Super Tuesday. Voters in Texas and across the country are going to the polls to choose their party's candidates for the November general election.

Locally, just one race is drawing broad interest and campaign dollars. That's the race for the Democratic nomination for Travis County district attorney.

Jose Garza has just one major challenger on the ballot, but there are many others campaigning against him. Garza sailed into office four years ago with nearly 70% of the vote in the general election, but his critics are doing their best to make sure he doesn't even survive the primary vote this time.

Garza is the unapologetic progressive in this race, and last time a coalition of young voters and police reform advocates gave him a solid win in 2020.

This time the primary race is more heated with allegations of pro-police activists harassing campaign workers who support Garza. In a news conference Monday morning, Garza criticized those activists who he claimed were attempting to "intimidate” voters. He says, “These tactics have no place in our Democratic primary, and no one should be surprised that these kinds of tactics are playing out.”

But his opponent, attorney Jeremy Sylestine, is trying to distance himself from these other critics of Garza. Sylestine maintains he's trying to run a clean race. He explains, “What I’m talking about crosses party lines, and it’s about safety and crime and law and order. And that’s resonating with people, and I’m afraid he doesn’t like that.”

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Notedly the group dogging Garza's campaign volunteers have said they are not affiliated with Garza’s opponent though Garza says that was not true. Meanwhile, conservative-leaning voices and donors are making themselves heard joining Sylestine is attempting to paint Garza as soft on crime.

But this debate may mean little to one huge block of voters that the winner will have to sway in November. In 2020, Garza's progressive platform was backed by a coalition of young voters and police reform advocates. Young voters are likely to have his back again if he makes it to November, and they could be in even larger numbers.

Tufts university does an annual poll of civic engagement of young people. For 2024 they find nationwide the Gen Z youth alone will make up more than 40 million potential voters, a jump of eight million since the the midterms, and that together they'll make up about one-fifth of the total electorate.

And while crime and the border are top of mind in general polling, Tufts finds the top issues this year for younger voters focus on their financial future. Inflation and the cost of living are their top concern followed by jobs that pay a living wage. Then there's addressing climate change and gun violence prevention.

So even as voters head to the polls for the Super Tuesday party primaries, the various campaigns are already looking to November and trying to sign up the young people who will turn 18 by then.