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
|