Observations

Overall, the Texas House remains business friendly body, although the so-called Freedom Caucus potentially earned five new representatives: Mayes Middleton (def. Rep. Wayne Faircloth), Steve Toth (replacing Rep. Mark Keough), Candy Noble (replacing Rep. Jodie Laubenberg), Jared Patterson (replacing Rep. Pat Fallon), and Jonathon Boos (replacing Rep. Cindy Burkett).

It’s also worth noting that, although Gov. Greg Abbott sailed to the Republican nomination (90.3%) he lost two of the three races where he challenged incumbent Republican representatives (HD 134 Davis and HD 122 Larson).

There were six incumbents who lost:

  • Republicans: Sen. Craig Estes and Reps. Wayne Faircloth and Jason Villalba
  • Democrats: Reps. Tomas Uresti, Diana Arevalo, and Roberto Alonzo.

 

TREPAC-supported candidates

TREPAC supported 55 candidates and won 41 wins, 10 losses, and four runoffs. Excluding runoffs, TREPAC’s win percentage was 80.3%

TREPAC supported 39 Republicans and 16 Democrats. (71% R, 29% D)

Biggest wins:

  • REALTOR® Cody Harris heading to a runoff in HD 8 (top-vote getter)
  • Ken King narrowly avoiding a runoff (by about 90 votes out of 20,636)
  • Kel Seliger avoiding a runoff (by about 350 votes out of 80,636)

Notable losses, including REALTOR® Cindy Burkett falling to incumbent Sen. Bob Hall, Rep. Jason Villalba losing to Lisa Luby Ryan, and Rep. Roberto Alonzo losing to Jessica Gonzalez.

 

TREPAC supported 39 Republicans (two statewide, seven Senate, 30 House)

For the GOP, we had 28 wins, eight losses, one runoff. Eliminating runoffs, TREPAC  had a 73.7% win rate in the Republican primary.

  • Of the 28 wins:
    • 5 were in the Senate
      • 4 incumbents (Sens. Charles Schwertner, Joan Huffman, Donna Campbell, and Kel Seliger)
      • 1 open seat (Angela Paxton)
    • 23 in the House
      • 20 incumbents Dan Flynn, Chris Paddie, Travis Clardy, John Raney, Ernest Bailes, Dennis Bonnen, Paul Workman, Hugh Shine, JD Sheffield, Lynn Stucky, Ron Simmons, Four Price, Ken King, Giovanni Capriglione, Charlie Geren, Linda Koop, Rodney Anderson, Lyle Larson, Dan Huberty, Sarah Davis)
      • 3 open seats (Sam Harless,, Cynthia Flores, Jared Patterson).
  • Of the eight losses, two were in the Senate (incumbent Sen. Craig Estes), one challenger (Rep. Cindy Burkett) and six were in the House (two incumbents (Rep. Wayne Faircloth, Rep. Jason Villalba), three open (Ashley McKee, John Payton, Jim Phaup), and one challenger (Dave Campbell).
  • The race going to a runoff is an open seat. The TREPAC-supported candidate was the top vote-getter (REALTOR® Cody Harris).

 

TREPAC supported 16 Democrats (One Senate, 15 House)

In the Democratic primary, we had 11 wins, two losses, and three runoffs. Eliminating runoffs, TREPAC had a 84.6% win rate in the Democratic primary.

  • Of the 11 wins, one was in the Senate (Sen. John Whitmire), 10 in the House (Reps. Ryan Guillen, Bobby Guerra, Mary Gonzalez, E. Johnson, Phillip Cortez, Ina Minjarez, Jarvis Johnson, Harold Dutton, Shawn Thierry, and challenger Leo Pacheco).
  • Of the two losses, both were incumbents (Reps. Roberto Alonzo & Diana Arévalo).
  • In the races going to a runoff, one is an open seat (Carl Sherman), in one we supported the incumbent (Rep. Rene Oliveira), and in one we supported the challenger (Sheryl Cole). Two of three TREPAC supported candidates going to a runoff were the second-place vote-getter (Sherman, Cole).

  

Biggest surprises

  • Republican side: The margin of victory in the SD 30. TREPAC-supported Sen. Craig Estes lost big to Rep. Pat Fallon … 24,000 votes (nearly a 40 point differential) in a three-way race. Rep. Jason Villalba losing to Lisa Luby Ryan by nearly 6 points, including losing his home precinct.
  • Democratic side: Roberto Alonzo lost by nearly 25 points to Jessica Gonzalez and Chairman René Oliveira is headed to a runoff (turnout was VERY low in both races).

 

U.S. Congress

The 18 RPAC-supported candidates all won, including three open seats (Van Taylor, Sylvia Garcia, Veronica Escobar).

Of special note, former REALTOR® Marc Veasey handily defeated his challenger with 70% of the vote. Veasey was a President’s Circle target and the beneficiary of an NAR Opportunity Race.

With Congressional races added, TREPAC and RPAC supported 73 total candidates (52 R and 21 D) and had a win percentage of 85.5% (excluding runoffs).