On July 14, the Republican and Democratic primary runoffs and a special election were held across Texas. Four Texas House incumbents lost their runoff elections – Rep. J.D. Sheffield, Rep. Dan Flynn, Rep. Anna Eastman and Rep. Lorraine Birabil.
In the Democratic runoff for U.S. Senator, Mary “MJ” Hegar took 52.13% of votes in a close race against Sen. Royce West. Hegar will face Republican U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in November. Rep. Roland Gutierrez bested Xochil Pena Rodriguez, to win the democratic nomination for Senate District 19, which is largely based in San Antonio. Rep. Gutierrez will face sitting Sen. Pete Flores in November. Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr. held on to his seat in close battle, winning with 53.58% of the vote.
In the Republican runoff, there were a few upsets. Incumbent Rep. Dan Flynn lost to Bryan Slaton and Rep. J.D. Sheffield lost to Shelby Slawson. In open seats, Dr. Glenn Rogers won the runoff for the seat formerly held by Rep. Mike Lang, Jacey Jetton won the runoff for the seat formerly held by Rep. Rick Miller, and Cody Vasut won the runoff for the seat formerly held by Speaker Dennis Bonnen. Looking at the swing seats going into November, Republican Carrie Isaac, wife of former Rep. Jason Isaac, will take on Rep. Erin Zwiner for the Hays County House seat formerly held by her husband. Republican Justin Berry, a 12 year police officer, will take on Rep. Vikki Goodwin in the House seat that includes the southwest Travis County.
In Senate District 14, which includes certain portions of Austin and all of Bastrop County, there was an open seat that previously belonged to Senator Kirk Watson. In the six-person race, for this traditionally held Democratic seat, former Travis County Judge Sarah Eckhardt and Rep. Eddie Rodriguez head to a run-off with 49.66% and 33.84% of votes respectively.
The below tables list the vote totals and winners (bolded) for each race:
