Texas 2020 Primary Election Results

McGuireWoods Consulting
Contact

The 2020 Super Tuesday primary was as exciting as expected. It is expected that this primary experienced the highest voter turnout in recent years.  The races in Texas brought a few surprises, but for the most part, challenged incumbents easily won their respected primaries. 

Presidential Race

In a Republican state, all eyes were on the Democratic presidential primary this year.  Polling leading up to Super Tuesday had U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders slightly ahead of Vice President Joe Biden for who would get the most votes in Texas.  Ultimately, Biden won with thirty-three percent of the vote with Sanders coming in second and Mike Bloomberg coming in third. Tom Steyer, Pete Buttigieg, and Amy Klobuchar exited the primary after the early voting period ended in Texas, but before Super Tuesday ballots were cast. 

At a rally in Dallas on Monday night, Vice President Biden received endorsements from numerous local and state officials, as well as endorsements from former Presidential candidates Buttigieg, Klobuchar and Beto O’Rourke.  Recent polling in Texas showed that having Vice President Biden at the top of the ticket was better for Democrats in down-ballot races in November.  The Democrats are nine seats short of flipping the Texas House of Representatives, so Democratic leaders made a late push for Vice President Biden to win, which ultimately pushed him over the edge with Election Day voters. 

In the Texas Republican primary, Donald Trump easily defeated his six challengers with 94 percent of the vote. 

U.S. Senate Race

Senator John Cornyn easily won his Republican primary with over 76 percent of the vote.  The Democratic primary had 12 candidates vying to challenge Senator Cornyn in the November.  No candidate was able to secure a majority in the Democratic primary.  MJ Hegar came ahead with almost 23 percent of the vote.  At this time, it is still too soon to tell who will face her in a runoff election. Cristina Tzintzun Ramirez currently has 13.7 percent of the vote and Texas Senator Royce West has 13.6 percent of the vote.  This one may be determined by mail-in and provisional ballots. 

As you may remember, MJ Hegar, a former air force helicopter pilot, narrowly lost to Congressman John Carter last election cycle.  Cristina Tzintzun Ramirez, co-founder of the Workers Defense Project, received endorsements from numerous progressive organizations and PACs.  Texas Senator Royce West currently represents Dallas-based Senate District 23 and is highly respected by the Democratic establishment.  

Congressional Races

Six Texas Republican Congressmen have decided to retire and thus there will be six open seats to fill in November.  The Republican primary had a crowded primary with 103 candidates in thirteen Congressional races.  The Democrats had thirty-eight candidates in seven congressional races. 

Each primary had races to watch.  The senior-most Republican woman in Congress, Kay Granger (R-Fort Worth) faced a tough opponent in the Republican primary.  Ultimately, Congresswoman Granger was able to prevail over Tea Party-backed Chris Putnam with over 58 percent of the vote. 

In the twelve-person race to replace Congressman Bill Flores (R-Bryan) in the Republican primary, former Congressman Pete Sessions will face Renee Swann in a runoff.  By way of background, Sessions represented Dallas-based Congressional District 32 for eleven terms. In 2018, he lost to now-Congressman Collin Allred.  Instead of challenging Congressman Allred in the upcoming November election, Sessions relocated and decided to run in Congressional District 17.

In the race to replace Congressman Kenny Marchant (R-Coppell) in Congressional District 24, former Irving Mayor Beth Van Duyne won with over 60 percent of the vote in the Republican primary. 

All eyes were on South Texas Congressman Henry Cuellar’s (D-Laredo) race in the Democrat primary. Congressman Cuellar was challenged by Jessica Cisneros, who received numerous endorsements from Democratic-leaning organizations and even current Democratic members of Congress.  Ultimately, Congressman Cuellar won the primary with 51.8 percent of the vote.

In San Antonio, Gina Ortiz Jones won her five person democratic primary to move on to the general election in Congressional District 23.  If you remember, Ortiz Jones narrowly lost to Congressman Will Hurd in this district in 2018.  With Congressman Hurd’s retirement, all eyes are on Ortiz Jones to flip this seat from red to blue in November. 

It is projected when all of the mail-in ballots are counted that there will be seven Democratic Congressional runoffs and eight Republican run-offs in May.  These are noted in red below.  The outright winners in each primary are notated in bold. 

DISTRICT

PRIMARY

CANDIDATES

TX Congressional District 2

Democratic

Elisa Cardnell vs. Sima Ladjevardian vs. Travis Olsen

TX Congressional District 3

Democratic

Tanner Do vs. Sean McCaffity vs. Lulu Seikaly

TX Congressional District 8

Democratic

Elizabeth Hernandez vs. Laura Jones

TX Congressional District 9

Democratic

Al Green. (i) vs. Melissa Wilson

TX Congressional District 10

Democratic

Pritesh Gandhi vs. Shannon Hutcheson vs. Mike Siegel

TX Congressional District 12

Democratic

Lisa Welch vs. Danny Anderson

TX Congressional District 13*

Democratic

Timothy W. Gassaway vs. Greg Sagan vs. Gus Truillo

TX Congressional District 14

Democratic

Sanjaetta Barnes vs. Adrienne Bell vs. Eddie Fischer vs. Robert "Puga" Thomas vs. Mikal Williams

TX Congressional District 17*

Democratic

William Foster III vs. David Anthony Jaramillo vs. Rick Kennedy

TX Congressional District 18

Democratic

Sheila Jackson Lee (i) vs. Michael Allen vs.Donovan Boson vs. Marc Flores vs. Jerry Ford Sr. vs. Stevens Orozco vs. Bimal Patel

TX Congressional District 20

Democratic

Joaquin Castro (i) vs. Rob Hostetler vs. Justin Lecea

TX Congressional District 21

Democratic

Wendy R. Davis vs. Jenni Lou Leeder

TX Congressional District 22*

Democratic

Sri Preston Kulkarni vs. Nyanza Davis Moore vs.

Carmine Petrillo III vs. Derrick A. Reed

TX Congressional District 23*

Democratic

Rosalinda "Rosey" Ramos Abuabara vs. Jaime Escudervs. Gina Ortiz Jones vs. Ricardo R. Madrid vs. Efrain V. Valdez

TX Congressional District 24*

Democratic

John Biggan vs. Richard Fleming vs. Crystal Fletcher vs. Jan McDowell vs. Kim Olson vs. Candace Valenzuela vs. Sam Vega

TX Congressional District 25

Democratic

Julie Oliver vs. Heidi Sloan

TX Congressional District 26

Democratic

Neil Durrance vs. Carol H. Iannuzzi vs. Mat Pruneda

TX Congressional District 27

Democratic

Ricardo “Rick” De La Fuente vs Charlie Jackson

TX Congressional District 28

Democratic

Henry Cuellar (i) vs. Jessica Cisneros

TX Congressional District 30

Democratic

Eddie Bernice Johnson (i) vs. Hasani Burton vs.

Barbara Mallory Caraway vs. Shenita "Shae" Cleveland

TX Congressional District 31

Democratic

Michael Edward Grimes  vs. Eric Hanke vs. Donna Imam vs. Dan Janjigian vs. Christine Eady Mann vs. Tammy Young

TX Congressional District 33

Democratic

Marc Veasey (i) vs. Sean Paul Segura

TX Congressional District 34

Democratic

Filemon Vela (i) vs. Osbert Rodriguez Haro III vsl Diego Zavala

TX Congressional District 35

Democratic

Lloyd Doggett (i) vs. Rafael Alcoser III

TX Congressional District 1

Republican

Louie Gohmert (i) vs. Johnathan Kyle Davidson

TX Congressional District 5

Republican

Lance Gooden (i) vs. Don Hill

TX Congressional District 7

Republican

Maria espinoza vs. Wesley Hunt vs. Jim Noteware vs. Kyle Preston vs. Laique Rehman vs. Cindy Siegel

TX Congressional District 8

Republican

Kevin Brady (i) vs. Melissa Esparza-Mathis vs. Kirk Osborn

TX Congressional District 9

Republican

Julian A Martinez vs. Jon Menefee vs. Johnny Teague

TX Congressional District 11*

Republican

Gene Barber vs. Brandon Batch vs. Jamie Berryhill vs. J.D. Faircloth vs. Casey Gray vs. J. Ross Lacy vs. Ned Luscombe vs. August Pfluger vs. Robert Tucker vs. Wesley W. Virdell

TX Congressional District 12

Republican

Kay Granger (i) vs. Chris Putnam

TX Congressional District 13*

Republican

Catherine “I Swear” Carr vs. Jamie Culley vs. Chris Ekstrom vs. Jason Foglesong vs. Lee Harvey vs. Elaine Hays vs. Richard Herman vs. Ronny Jackson vs. Diane Knowlton vs. Matt McArthur vs.

Mark Neese vs. Asusena Reséndiz vs.Vance Snider vs. Josh Winegarner vs. Monique Worthy

TX Congressional District 14

Republican

Randy Weber (i) vs. Joshua Foxworth

TX Congressional District 15

Republican

Monica De La Cruz-Hernandez vs. Ryan Krause vs. Tim Westley

TX Congressional District 16

Republican

Anthony Aguero vs. Irene Armendariz-Jackson vs. Jaime Arriola Jr. vs. Patrick Hernandez-Cigarruista vs. Blanca Ortiz Trout vs. Sam Williams

TX Congressional District 17*

Republican

Ahmad Adnan vs. Scott Bland vs. George W. Hindman vs. Todd Kent vs. Laurie Godfrey McReynolds vs. Jeff Oppenheim vs. Kristen Alamo Rowin vs. David Saucedo vs. Pete Sessions vs. Trent Sutton vs. Renee Swann vs. Elianor Vessali

TX Congressional District 18

Republican

Robert M. Cadena vs. Wendell Champion vs.

Nellie "Truly" Heiskell vs. T.C. Manning vs.

Nathan J. Milliron vs. Ava Reynero Pate

TX Congressional District 19

Republican

Jodey Arrington (i) vs. Vance W. Boyd

TX Congressional District 20

Republican

Gary Allen vs. Dominick Dina vs. Mauro Garza   vs. Anita Kegley vs. Tammy K. Orta

TX Congressional District 22*

Republican

Pierce Bush vs. Jon Camarillo vs.             Douglas Haggard vs. Aaron Hermes vs. Greg Hill vs. Matt Hinton vs. Dan Mathews vs. Diana Miller vs. Troy Nehls vs. Brandon T. Penko vs. Shandon Phan vs. Bangar Reddy vs. Howard Steele vs. Kathaleen Wall vs. Joe Walz

TX Congressional District 23*

Republican

Alma Arredondo-Lynch vs. Darwin Boedeker vs. Alia Garcia-Ureste vs. Tony Gonzales vs. Cecil B. "Burt" Jones vs. Jeff McFarlin vs. Raul Reyes vs.

Sharon Breckenridge Thomas vs. Ben Van Winkle

TX Congressional District 24*

Republican

Sunny Chaparala vs. Beth Van Duyne vs. David Feganv vs. Jeron Liverman vs. Desi Maes

TX Congressional District 25

Republican

Roger Williams (i) vs. Keith Neuendorff

TX Congressional District 26

Republican

Michael C. Burgess (i) vs. Michael Armstrong vs. Jason Mrochek vs. Jack Wyman

TX Congressional District 29

Republican

Jaimy Z Blanco vs. Robert Schafranek

TX Congressional District 31

Republican

John Carter (i) vs. Abhiram Garapati vs. Christopher Wall vs. Mike Williams

TX Congressional District 32

Republican

Genevieve Collins vs. Jon Hollis vs. Floyd McLendon

TX Congressional District 34

Republican

Rey Gonzalez vs. Rod Lingsch

TX Congressional District 35

Republican

Guillermo William Hayward vs. Nick Moutos vs. Jenny Garcia Sharon

TX Congressional District 36

Republican

Brian Babin (i) vs. RJ Boatman

Statewide Races

While there were not many statewide races on the ballot this primary, there was one surprising upset. Current Railroad Commissioner Ryan Sitton was defeated in the Republican primary by James “Jim” Wright with 56 percent of the vote. Commissioner Sitton was first elected to the Railroad Commission in 2014. Jim Wright, the owner of an oilfield waste services company, ran a relatively quiet campaign with little funding. On the Democrat side for Railroad Commissioner, Chrysta Castaneda will face former Texas House Representative Roberto Alonzo in the runoff.

Legislative Races

Thirty-eight House members and three Senators did not have a primary opponent nor will they have general election opponents and thus will be returning to the Texas Capitol. 

On the Republican side of the Texas House, there was a total of twenty-seven contested primary races with eleven incumbents being challenged. No house incumbent lost his/her primary election, however, two highly-respected House Republicans will be heading to runoff elections. 

Representative Dan Flynn (R-Van), who chairs the Defense and Veterans Affairs Committee, and Representative J.D. Sheffield (R-Gatesville), Vice Chair of Public Health and a member of the Appropriations Committee, did not garner more than 50% of the vote during the primary.  In a three-person primary, Chairman Flynn came in first place with 45 percent of the vote, but will be forced into a run-off against businessman Bryan Slaton, who has run for the seat twice before in House District 2.  Slaton narrowly lost to Chairman Flynn in 2018’s primary.  In House District 59, Representative Sheffield came in second place with 30.4 percent of the vote to Shelby Slawson who received over 45 percent of the vote. 

In the Democratic primary, thirty-six contested House seats were up for grabs with nineteen incumbent members facing opponents.  Seventeen incumbent Democrats won their primaries, however one race was forced into a run-off and one race is still too soon to call. 

Representative Lorraine Birabil (D-Dallas), who won a special election in late January to represent House District 100, will have to face Jasmine Felicia Crockett in a run-off. 

Representative Harold Dutton (D-Houston) perhaps pulled off a victory in House District 147.  Rep. Dutton has served in the legislature for 35 years, but faced three primary opponents.  Rep. Dutton received 50 percent of the vote and we are still waiting for the final election numbers to conclude if Rep. Dutton will have to face Houston City Council member Jerry Davis in a run-off. 

In another closely watched race, Representative Alex Dominguez (D-Brownsville) was able to defeat former Cameron County Democratic Party Chair Amber Medina in House District 37.  Representative Dominguez won with 51.4% of the vote. 

The Texas Senate also had a few keys races to watch.  There were no open seats in this election cycle and none of the Republican Senators that were up for re-election had primary opponents.  In fact, there was only one Senate Republican primary and that was in heavily democratic Senate District 13 currently represented by Senator Borris Miles (D-Houston). 

There were two major races to watch in the Democratic primary.  Senator Eddie Lucio, Jr. (D-Brownsville), who has long represented the Rio Grande Valley in the Texas Legislature, faced two challengers, Brownsville attorney Sara Stapleton Barrera former State Board of Education member Ruben Cortez.  Barrera and Cortez both received some big endorsements and forced Senator Lucio into a run-off election.  Senator Lucio fell 137 votes shy of winning his primary outright.  He received 49.8 percent of the vote while Stapleton Barrera received 36 percent of the vote and Cortez received 14 % of the vote. Senator Lucio will face Stapleton Barrera in the May runoff. 

Democrats are fighting to take back Senate District 19, which stretches from the south side of San Antonio out west to Ft. Stockton.  Republican Senator Pete Flores (R- Pleasanton) currently represents this district after winning a special election after Democrat Senator Carlos Uresti was convicted of 11 felonies and sentenced to 12 years in prison. Democrats are trying to take back this Senate seat this November.  They had three candidates in their primary.  The front-runners leading up to Tuesday’s election were Representative Roland Gutierrez (D-San Antonio) and Xochil Rodriguez, daughter of former Congressman Ciro Rodriguez.  Ultimately, neither received 50% of the vote and they will have to go to a runoff election. 

The primary runoffs will be held May 26, 2020 and Texas’s general election will take place Tuesday, November 3rd. For a complete list of election results, please visit the Secretary of State’s website at http://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/.

DISTRICT

PRIMARY

CANDIDATES

Texas House

Texas House District 14

Democratic

Janet Dudding vs. Raza Rahman

Texas House District 26*

Democratic

Lawrence Allen Jr., vs. L. Sarah DeMerchant vs. Suleman Lalani vs. Rish Oberoi

Texas House District 27

Democratic

Ron Reynolds (i) vs. Byron Ross

Texas House District 36

Democratic

Sergio Muñoz Jr. (i) vs. Abraham Padron

Texas House District 37

Democratic

Alex Dominguez (i) vs. Amber Medina

Texas House District 38

Democratic

Eddie Lucio III (i) vs. Erin Gamez

Texas House District 41

Democratic

Bobby Guerra (i) vs. Richard Gonzales

Texas House District 45

Democratic

Erin Zwiener (i) vs. Liliana Posada

Texas House District 51

Democratic

Eddie Rodriguez (i) vs. Joshua Sanchez

Texas House District 65

Democratic

Michelle Beckley (i) vs. Paige Dixon

Texas House District 66

Democratic

Sharon Hirsch vs. Aimee Garza Lopez

Texas House District 67

Democratic

Tom Adair vs. Rocio Gosewehr Hernandez vs. Anthony Lo vs. Lorenzo Sanchez

Texas House District 74*

Democratic

Ramsey Cantu vs. Rowland Garza vs. Eddie Morales Jr.

Texas House District 76*

Democratic

Claudia Ordaz Perez vs. Elisa Tamayo

Texas House District 80

Democratic

Tracy King (i) vs. Danny Valdez

Texas House District 83

Democratic

James Barrick vs. Addison Perry-Franks

Texas House District 89

Democratic

Sugar Ray Ash vs. Jon Cocks

Texas House District 92*

Democratic

Steve Riddell vs. Jeff Whitfield

Texas House District 97

Democratic

Elizabeth Beck vs. Dan Willis

Texas House District 100

Democratic

Lorraine Birabil (i) vs. James Armstrong III vs. Daniel Davis Clayton vs. Sandra Jonelle Crenshaw vs. Jasmine Felicia Crockett vs. Paul K. Stafford

Texas House District 108

Democratic

Joanna Cattanach vs. Tom Ervin vs. Shawn Terry

Texas House District 109

Democratic

Carl Sherman (i) vs. Christopher Graham

Texas House District 116

Democratic

Trey Martinez Fischer (i) vs. Evan Bohl

Texas House District 119

Democratic

Liz Campos vs. Jennifer Ramos vs. Sean Villasana

Texas House District 121

Democratic

Becca Moyer DeFelice vs. Jack Guerra vs. Celina Montoya

Texas House District 126

Democratic

Undrai F. Fizer vs. Natali Hurtado

Texas House District 128

Democratic

Josh Markle vs. Mary E. Williams

Texas House District 131

Democratic

Alma Allen (i) vs. Carey Lashley vs. Elvonte Patton

Texas House District 134

Democratic

Lanny Bose vs. Ann Johnson vs. Ruby Powers

Texas House District 138*

Democratic

Akilah Bacy vs. Jenifer Rene Pool vs. Josh Wallenstein

Texas House District 139

Democratic

Jarvis Johnson (i) vs. Angeanette Thibodeaux

Texas House District 141

Democratic

Senfronia Thompson (i) vs. Willie Roaches Franklyn

Texas House District 142

Democratic

Harold Dutton (i) vs. Richard Bonton vs. Jerry Davis vs. Natasha Ruiz

Texas House District 146

Democratic

Shawn Thierry (i) vs. Ashton P. Woods

Texas House District 147

Democratic

Garnett Coleman (i) vs. Colin Ross vs. Aurelia Wagner

Texas House District 148

Democratic

Anna Eastman (i) vs. Adrian Garcia vs. Cynthia Reyes-Revilla vs. Penny Morales Shaw vs. Emily Wolf

Texas Senate

Texas Senate District 11

Democratic

Susan Criss vs. Margarita Ruiz Johnson

Texas Senate District 12

Democratic

Randy Daniels vs. Shadi Zitoon

Texas Senate District 13

Democratic

Borris Miles (i) vs. Richard Andrews vs. Melissa Morris

Texas Senate District 19

Democratic

Roland Gutierrez vs. Xochil Peña Rodriguez vs. Belinda Shvetz

Texas Senate District 27

Democratic

Eddie Lucio, Jr. (i) vs. Ruben Cortez vs. Sara Stapleton-Barrera

Texas House

Texas House District 2

Republican

Dan Flynn (i) vs. Dwayne "Doc" Collins vs. Bryan Slaton

Texas House District 9

Republican

Chris Paddie (i) vs. Mark Williams

Texas House District 10*

Republican

Jake Ellzey vs. Ryan Pitts vs. Robert "Zack" Rader

Texas House District 25*

Republican

Troy Brimage vs. Ro'Vin Garrett vs. Rhonda Seth vs. Mitch Thames vs. Cody Vasut

Texas House District 26*

Republican

Leonard Chan vs. Jacey Jetton vs. Matt Morgan

Texas House District 27

Republican

Manish Seth vs. Tom Virippan

Texas House District 26*

Republican

Gary Gates (i) vs. Schell Hammel

Texas House District 30

Republican

Geanie Morrison (i) vs. Vanessa Hicks Callaway

Texas House District 45

Republican

Carrie Isaac vs. Austin Talley vs. Kent “Bud” Wymore

Texas House District 47

Republican

Justin Berry vs. Jennifer Fleck vs. Jenny Roan Forgey vs. Aaron Reitz vs. Don Zimmerman

Texas House District 49

Republican

Jenai Aragona-Hales vs. Charles Allan Meyer

Texas House District 59

Republican

JD Sheffield (i) vs. Shelby Slawson vs. Cody Johnson

Texas House District 60*

Republican

Jon Francis vs. Christopher Perricone vs. vs. Glenn Rogers vs. Kellye SoRelle

Texas House District 65

Republican

Kronda Thimesch vs. Nancy Cline

Texas House District 72

Republican

Drew Darby (i) vs. Lynette Lucas

Texas House District 74*

Republican

Ruben Falcon vs. Robert Garza

Texas House District 85

Republican

Phil Stephenson (i) vs. Abolaji Tijani Ayobami vs. Robert Boettcher

Texas House District 92*

Republican

Jeff Cason vs. Taylor Gillig vs. Jim Griffin

Texas House District 102

Republican

Linda Koop vs. Rick Walker

Texas House District 103

Republican

Jerry Fortenberry II vs. Sherry Lee Mecom

Texas House District 106

Republican

Jared Patterson (i) vs. James Trombley

Texas House District 116

Republican

Robert Litoff vs. Fernando Padron

Texas House District 120

Republican

Ronald Payne vs. Andrew Fernandez Vicencio

Texas House District 127

Republican

Dan Huberty (i) vs. Dwight Ford

Texas House District 128

Republican

Briscoe Cain (i) vs. Robert Hoskins

Texas House District 129

Republican

Dennis Paul (i) vs. Ryan Lee

Texas House District 132

Republican

Angelica Garcia vs. Mike Schofield

Texas House District 135

Republican

Marrilee Rose Beazley vs. Justin Ray

Texas House District 138*

Republican

Josh Flynn vs. Lacey Hull vs. Claver T. Kamau-Imani

Texas Senate

Texas Senate District 13

Republican

William J. Booher vs. Milinda Morris

DISCLAIMER: Because of the generality of this update, the information provided herein may not be applicable in all situations and should not be acted upon without specific legal advice based on particular situations.

© McGuireWoods Consulting | Attorney Advertising

Written by:

McGuireWoods Consulting
Contact
more
less

PUBLISH YOUR CONTENT ON JD SUPRA NOW

  • Increased visibility
  • Actionable analytics
  • Ongoing guidance

McGuireWoods Consulting on:

Reporters on Deadline

"My best business intelligence, in one easy email…"

Your first step to building a free, personalized, morning email brief covering pertinent authors and topics on JD Supra:
*By using the service, you signify your acceptance of JD Supra's Privacy Policy.
Custom Email Digest
- hide
- hide