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    • The Republican Party wins two seats in the House and increases its majority
    patheur

    The Republican Party wins two seats in the House and increases its majority

    Sakege Posted on

    This story has been updated to correct an inaccuracy. Texas Republicans gained two seats in the state House.

    In a disappointing night for Texas Democrats and a success for Gov. Greg Abbott, Republicans gained two seats in the state House on Tuesday, shifting the Republican-majority House even further to the right and forging a path forward for a school voucher program next year. .

    Republican candidates won two seats currently held by outgoing Democrats in districts such as Corpus Christi and Uvalde. Republicans successfully defended all of their seats in the state Capitol, including with victories in the San Antonio and Dallas suburbs.

    The party took advantage of President-elect Donald Trump to score additional victories, as several large counties that voted for Democratic President Joe Biden in 2020 went for the Republican candidate, including the purple Williamson County, north of Austin. Latino-majority regions and border regions in particular significantly increased the president-elect’s margins of victory in Texas.

    Abbott, taking a victory lap on social media Tuesday night, attributed Republicans’ success in Texas to their positions on immigration, transgender issues and “school choice,” a program also known as vouchers that would put public money available for private education.

    “It seems that Texans don’t like open borders and boys participating in girls’ sports after all,” Abbott. he wrote in a social media post. around 10 p.m. on Tuesday night. “Thank you Texans for KEEPING Texas, Texas!”

    The third-term governor also boasted that he now has “more than enough votes” to get a school voucher bill passed in the next legislative session.

    Democrats and a coalition of 21 mostly rural Republicans defeated the measure in the 2023 session, but Abbott campaigned hard and used a huge campaign war chest, including $10 million of Pennsylvania billionaire Jeff Yass – to oust GOP opponents of vouchers in the primaries and oppose Democrats in the general election.

    Democratic state Rep. Vikki Goodwin learned she had won re-election in her western Travis County district early Tuesday, but lamented that statewide results showed “we’re not going to get our way” in the Legislature.

    She said Democrats fell short in their messaging about women’s reproductive rights and the harms of Abbott’s school voucher proposal. Democrats had a less straightforward argument to make, he said: “Republicans will publicly say they support public schools,” and voters may have taken that at face value.

    “’Choice’ sounds good, but they really had to understand that (the voucher proposal) was going to defund our public schools,” he said. The next session “will be a great challenge. We will push as hard as we can (against school vouchers). … We certainly won’t bow to that.”

    That will be the same strategy for women’s reproductive rights, she said. “Bring out the stories of women who were harmed” by not being able to access health care when they were most vulnerable. “I’m not sure that message has gotten through to everyone.”

    Here is a summary of the competitive races and their complete, although not yet official, results:

    austin area

    House District 52: Round Rock Republican Caroline Harris Davila handily wins re-election

    State Rep. Caroline Harris Davila, R-Round Rock, will return to the Capitol for a second term after securing a comfortable 12-point victory over rival Jennie Birkholz.

    Harris Dávila worked as a legislative aide in the Senate for several years, while Birkholz is a health care consultant and president of Access Education Round Rock ISD.

    san antonio area

    In close and tremendously costly races, Republicans maintained control of two San Antonio seats that Democrats had tried to flip in the Texas House of Representatives.

    House District 118: Rep. John Luján secures re-election, defeating Democrat Kristian Carranza

    In a 52-48 victory, Republican state Rep. John Luján, a former deputy sheriff and firefighter, won a third term representing House District 118. Luján defeated Kristian Carranza, a Democratic legislative staffer who made abortion rights and public school funding a priority of hers. Campaign.

    House District 121: Marc LaHood, favored by Abbott and Tim Dunn, defeats Laurel Jordan Swift

    Criminal defense attorney Marc LaHood had a 6-point margin of victory against Laurel Jordan Swift. a moderate democrat, for House District 121.

    LaHood won the Republican nomination after Abbott helped him unseat incumbent Rep. Steve Allison, R-San Antonio, in the primary. Allison, who earned Abbott’s ire for opposing school vouchers, crossed party lines to endorse Swift.

    LaHood He also received more than $75,000 in donations. of Texans for a United Conservative Majority, a political action committee funded by West Texas oil billionaires Tim Dunn and Ferris Wilks. Dunn and Wilks are associated with the Christian nationalist movement.

    dallas area

    House District 108: Rep. Morgan Meyer wins by landslide

    State Rep. Morgan Meyer, R-University Park, won in a landslide, even though the state Democratic Party was targeting his Dallas County seat for a possible flip. The moderate Republican won 58% of the vote, while his opponent, progressive Democrat Elizabeth Ginsberg, won 42%. In 2022 they lost by a smaller margin: 12 points.

    Meyer, a lawyer who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, will return to Capitol Hill for a seventh term. He also participated in the impeachment of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, which led to a primary challenge earlier this year. Paxton and then-presidential candidate Donald Trump endorsed Meyer’s primary opponent.

    House District 112: Republican State Rep. Angie Chen Button defeats Averie Bishop

    In Dallas County, State Representative Angie Chen ButtonRepublican of Richardson, won re-election 54% to 46% against his Democratic rival averi bishop. Chen Button, who will begin a ninth term in January, won by 2 points less than his margin of victory in 2022, potentially reflecting demographic shifts in fast-growing suburbs. The Republican is a certified public accountant, while Bishop recently graduated from law school and was Miss Texas.

    House District 70: Democratic state Rep. Mihaela Plesa defeats Abbott-backed challenger

    State Rep. Mihaela Plesa survived a challenge from Republican Steve Kinard in a 52-48 race, becoming one of the only Democrats with an Abbott-backed opponent who lived to tell the tale this election cycle.

    Abbott saw Plesa’s race as an opportunity to get even more of the votes he needs to pass a school voucher bill, which was rejected last year by Democratic lawmakers and some rural Republicans over fears the proposal would drain education funding. much needed in public schools. .

    South Texas

    House District 34: Denise Villalobos defeats Solomon Ortiz Jr. and flips seat to the GOP

    In Nueces County, oil and gas engineer and project manager Denise Villalobos, a Republican, won 55% of the unofficial vote to flip the seat held by outgoing state Rep. Abel Herrero, a conservative Democrat from Corpus Christi. With Abbott’s backing, he defeated former Democratic state Rep. Solomon Ortiz Jr., a criminal defense attorney.

    The defeat was one of the most painful for Democrats: in 2022, Herrero won re-election by 15 points. This time, a Republican won by 10 points.

    House District 37: Rep. Janie Lopez wins with Abbott’s endorsement

    In another 55-45 race, state Rep. Janie Lopez, R-San Benito, fended off a challenge from Democrat Jonathan Gracia by a much larger margin than she defeated her opponent in 2022. She won by 10 points. margin on Tuesday compared to a 3.6-point margin of victory in 2022. Lopez is a former school counselor and San Benito school board member who voted to impeach Paxton.

    House District 80: Former Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin flips seat held by retired Democrat

    In another landslide race for Republicans, former Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin defeated a seat previously held by conservative Democratic Rep. Tracy King in the 80th state House District. He beat his Democratic opponent Cecilia Castellano by 20 points in a 60-40 race that was expected to favor Republicans.

    Statesman editor Emiliano Gómez contributed reporting.

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