Nov. 6, 2018 is one of the biggest political days for the United States in recent history. This year’s midterm elections “could shape the nation for years” since this will be the election that determines how the United States is currently feeling towards Donald Trump’s presidency and the Republican majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Across the nation, there are thousands of seats up for grabs at local and state levels, and whether or not the “Blue Wave”, a term meant to represent the success of the Democratic party in regaining seats in the political sphere, will sweep the country as predicted by some or whether the Republican elephant will reign supreme has yet to be seen.

But one thing is certain: Americans seem to recognize the importance of this election and are voting more than ever in recent history.

In Texas alone, 4,884,528 people have early voted, a number which comprises approximately 40 percent of registered voters in the state. While this number is not a majority, it is equal to the percentage of people who voted early in the 2012 presidential election and 20 percent higher than those who voted early in the last midterm election in 2014.

In fact, the number of early votes cast in Texas has surpassed the total number of votes in the 2014 midterm election.

The number of Texans who voted this election cycle is also bound to rise greatly once all the votes are counted by early in the morning on Nov. 7.

Over the course of this election cycle, each party has presented the issues it finds important and has pushed rhetoric encouraging voters to make their decision based on their views on particular problems facing the country. While tactics have been varied, Democrats set their focus mainly on healthcare while Republicans highlighted immigration into the United States as one of their greatest concerns.

It seems, however, that closing out the night in Texas at least, Republicans maintain power. Greg Abbott remains Governor of Texas, Dan Patrick keeps his seat as Lieutenant Governor, Ken Paxton holds onto his post as Attorney General, and in the race that has seen the most advertising over the course of the campaign, Ted Cruz defeats Beto O’Rourke as Senator for Texas.

On a national scale, Republicans are also predicted to maintain control in the Senate and the Governor’s seats currently up for grabs. However, the race for majority in the House of Representatives is extremely close so far, though it is possible Democrats could edge Republicans out of the majority. While all of the results will not be in until early in the morning on Nov. 7, it seems, as of now, that the “Blue Wave” Democrats hoped for has turned not turned out to be as torrential as previously thought.