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HOUSTON Texas Democrats surged to the polls on Tuesday in the first primary of 2018, demonstrating a wave of Trump-inspired energy, but also showcasing party divisions that have emerged at the outset of an otherwise promising midterm campaign.

Nearly 886,000 Texans cast ballots early in the states 15 most populous counties, the highest early-vote turnout in a nonpresidential election year in state history. And more Democrats statewide voted early this year than even in 2016, the year that Donald J. Trump, a Republican, was elected to the White House.

Yet even as Democrats in the states biggest cities came out in large numbers, Republicans still cast more ballots over all thanks to their rural strength.

The most heavily anticipated contests were in three racially diverse House districts that Hillary Clinton, the Democratic presidential candidate, won in 2016, but where incumbent Republican lawmakers are seeking re-election.

And none was more closely watched than the Democratic primary race in Houston to take on Representative John Culberson.

The progressive Laura Moser made the May 22 runoff despite a late attempt by the House Democratic campaign arm to derail her candidacy. Ms. Moser, an author and an organizer, trailed Lizzie Pannill Fletcher, a lawyer, but Ms. Fletcher failed to garner 50 percent of the vote, so they will face off again in a race that will be something of a proxy battle between the moderate and more liberal wings of the Democratic Party.

Fearing that Ms. Moser is too liberal to defeat Mr. Culberson in an affluent and historically Republican district, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee took the rare step last month of publicly attacking her as a Washington insider who begrudgingly moved to Houston to run for Congress.

However, the broadside may have only lifted Ms. Moser who grew up in Houston but lived in Washington while her husband worked in Democratic politics there in a primary that featured seven candidates capturing votes.

In an even more Democratic-leaning seat, Gina Ortiz Jones, a lesbian and Iraq war veteran who would be the first openly gay member of Congress from Texas, was the top vote-getter in a district that stretches south from San Antonio to the Rio Grande and west to El Paso. The seat is held by Representative Will Hurd, a Republican who has narrowly won twice, but Democrats argue that Mr. Hurd will have a more difficult time surviving the backlash to Mr. Trump.

The excitement you can feel it, said Ms. Jones, a former Air Force officer who moved to San Antonio after serving in President Barack Obamas administration. Folks are hungry for a win in this district.

Ms. Jones is part of a wave of Democratic women, African-American and Hispanic people, gays, lesbians and even journalists who are running for office for the first time in Texas, in large part in reaction to the Trump administration.

She will face either Judy Canales, who served in Mr. Obamas Agriculture Department, or Rick Trevio, a high school teacher, in the May runoff.

And in a Dallas-area district, Representative Pete Sessions, a veteran Republican, is facing an energized left. Colin Allred, a former Obama Housing and Urban Development Department official and an N.F.L. veteran, advanced to the runoff and will compete against either Lillian Salerno, another official in Mr. Obamas Agriculture Department, or a former television reporter, Brett Shipp, for the nomination.

In statewide races, George P. Bush, the state land commissioner and a son of former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida, averted a runoff after a somewhat difficult primary campaign against Jerry Patterson, who previously held the job and accused Mr. Bush of mismanaging the General Land Office so badly that it brought him out of retirement.

Mr. Bush, one of the few members of his family to back Mr. Trump, was scared enough about the challenge that he produced fliers noting that he was standing beside our president. And he offered Mr. Trump a MAGA post last week on Twitter invoking the presidents campaign slogan, Make America Great Again after Mr. Trump offered his support via tweet and noted that Mr. Bush had supported him when it wasnt the politically correct thing to do.

Senator Ted Cruz faced minimal opposition in the Republican primary, but his Democratic opponent, Representative Beto ORourke, won the nomination while losing a substantial number of votes to two little-known opponents, demonstrating that he is not well known yet among many of the states voters.

Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican with a $43 million war chest, was renominated and will face either Lupe Valdez, the former Dallas County sheriff, or Andrew White, the son of former Gov. Mark White, in the general election.

Yet even while Mr. Abbott is an overwhelming favorite for re-election, he proved that he did not have an iron grip on his party: Two of the three Republican state representatives he opposed as part of an unusual intervention against incumbents still managed to win.

Manny Fernandez reported from Houston, and Jonathan Martin from Moon, Pa.

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Texas Democrats Surge to Polls, in Show of Anti-Trump ...