November 4, 2008 8:37PM CST

Editor's Note: This story has been corrected to fix a reporting error in the HD 149 race.

A little more than an hour after the closing of the polls, the expected Democratic strength in Dallas County is showing in some key House races but it remains to be seen whether that momentum will extend to Harris County.

With the first early votes now counted, Democrat Carol Kent is beating incumbent Tony Goolsby with 53.5 percent of the vote in HD 102. In the open HD 101 seat, Democrat Robert Miklos is beating Mike Anderson with 54.4 percent of the vote. And Democrat Bob Romano leads Linda Harper-Brown in the early going with 50.2 percent of the vote in HD 105.

In some of the closely watched Harris County contests, GOP incumbents John Davis and Dwayne Bohac are leading after the initial votes have been cast but GOP incumbent Jim Murphy is losing to Kristi Thibaut.

Meanwhile, Ken Legler carries a slim lead in the open HD 144 seat and Democratic incumbent Hubert Vo has jumped to a big early lead against Greg Meyers in HD 149.

In SD 17, it appears that Chris Bell (38.9 percent) and Joan Huffman (32.1 percent) are heading to a runoff with the earliest votes now tallied. The stalking horse candidate Stephanie Simmons is pulling a strong 12.3 percent in early voting, more than the 6.4 percent being tallied by Austen Furse.

At the state level, incumbent Senator John Cornyn holds a roughly six-point edge on Rick Noriega and some tight Supreme Court races seem to be shaping up. The closest race is for Place 7 where GOP incumbent Dale Wainwright is holding a narrow lead over Democratic challenger Sam Houston, 49 percent to 48.4 percent.

ã Copyright November 4, 2008 by Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved