The Texas primaries are in the books, and we had a big surprise in one of the local races for Congress.
The race to replace Ted Poe goes to a runoff on May 22nd between Kevin Roberts and Dan Crenshaw. This is seen as a stunning loss for Kathaleen Wall.
“Wall spent six million dollars of her own money to try and capture the Republican nomination,” said Mark Jones of Rice University.
Elsewhere locally Sylvia Garcia takes the next step to replacing gene Green in Congress by winning her race handily. On the state legislature level, West University’s Sarah Davis defeated Susanna Dokupill despite Dokupill getting Governor Greg Abbott's endorsement. Lizzie Fletcher and Laura Moser go to a runoff to decide Congressman John Culberson's challenger.
Statewide, Democrats Andrew White and Lupe Valdez will go to a runoff to decide Governor Greg Abbott's challenger in November. George P. Bush and Sid Miller handle their challenges despite the fact some experts thought it would be a tough road for both incumbents.
And in the race for senate, Democrat Beto O'Rourke seals the deal and will face Ted Cruz in November. But, while there is a lot of excitement surrounding O’Rourke, UT Arlington political scientist Allan Saxe says Democrats should keep that in check.
“A lot of people don’t know who he is. But he will have the summer and fall to get his name out there,” Saxe stated.
But the bigger news statewide is democratic turnout, which was the largest in a midterm primary here in Texas in 16 years. Strategist Michael Kolenc telling KTRH that is reason for optimism.
“One in five people were brand new voters. That’s really encouraging for Democrats up and down the ballot,” Kolenc explained.
Keep in mind no Democrat has won a statewide election in Texas in 24 years. That’s a fact that analyst Chris Begala knows all too well, and tells KTRH Republicans know that, too.
“When you are a Republican and you see a large turnout, it gets you more data. You know where those votes are. You know who has voted. That is an advantage,” Begala explained.