HARRIS COUNTY, Texas — It's a major year in politics, not just for the U.S., but statewide and locally.
Harris County democrats are facing an internal battle with District Attorney Kim Ogg, who is being challenged by Sean Teare.
"This is going to be one of the hottest races in Harris County," KHOU 11 political analyst Brandon Rottinghaus said. "The district attorney is under fire because people think she's not been progressive enough and not delivered on some of those more left-leaning promises."
2024 is also the year for Ted Cruz's bid for a third term in the U.S. Senate.
"He's in a pretty good spot in terms of reelection," Rottinghaus said. "He's in a better spot now than he was in 2018."
While Cruz remains popular among his base, the contest being held in a presidential election year may factor into the race with democrats looking to unseat Cruz, according to experts.
"You're going to have turnout juiced up among the key groups that really do drive the democratic coalition," Rottinghaus said. "Trying to appease all the coalitions, you need in your base but also for them to get crossover voters is really something that democrats have tried to figure out for a long time and have gotten the recipe figured out for it."
Also on the ballot is an internal battle within the Texas GOP. This after the Ken Paxton trial and blocking of Governor Greg Abbott's school choice legislation, which pitted Republicans against each other.
Primaries for the state legislature will determine which party will keep their ground.
Rottinghaus said it's an uphill battle for former president Donald Trump's primary opponents to reach the nomination.
"It's really Donald Trump's race to lose," he said.
Through the primary and into the general election, Texas is likely to remain in the national conversation, with court battles over the state's abortion ban staying in the spotlight, and as the crisis at the border continues.
"That's creating a lot of pressure on Joe Biden to be able to act and so congress is using that as leverage and the contenders for the GOP presidential nod are also trying to use that against Biden," Rottinghaus said.