Whether it's a presidential visit, the "mobile mob" of migrants making its way through Mexico, or package bombs sent to high-profile targets, voter turnout is at an all-time high and both sides are essentially holding onto the reins with white knuckles.
Harris County GOP Chair Paul Simpson feels confident about his party's turnout in early voting, but admits anything is possible over the next week-and-a-half.
“You never know what could happen in the last two weeks, and we think the president's visit here was a big boost and got a lot of folks out and realize how important this election is. So, if Republicans keep turning out we'll win this thing.”
“What you find is the folks who are really fired up and most partisan-energized come out in the early parts of early voting,” he says. “As we closer to Election Day, you have the voters who are more independent and a little less engaged will be coming out.”
A spokesman for the Harris County Democratic Party says this is the time of the election when polls and trends don't apply.
“The saying 'October Surprise,' well October is not over,” says Odus Evbagharu. “Election Day is not over until November 6 at 7 pm when polls close.”
Some political observers say early voting is a wash with turnout strong on both sides, however, younger voters under 35 have nearly doubled their average turnout.
“Anybody who is working in this sphere, especially if you're looking from a party's point of view where you're in the trenches right now, you worry about everything,” says Evbagharu.
“You're just studying the numbers and seeing that turnout is high over here,but it's high here, so what does that mean? At this point it's all speculation, it's all guessing.”