Alvarado wins in District 6
State Rep. Carol Alvarado defeats three other candidates in the special election for Sylvia Garcia’s Senate District 6 seat.
State Rep. Carol Alvarado, DHouston, won the Senate District 6 special election Tuesday, finishing far ahead of a four-candidate field and grabbing a narrow majority of the votes needed to avoid a runoff.
She received 50.4 percent of the vote in unofficial returns, which showed turnout at less than 5 percent of eligible voters.
It was unclear until the final precincts reported whether Alvarado, who hovered around 50 percent the entire night, would reach enough votes to avoid a runoff. She attributed her win to a much stronger ground game than in 2013, when she lost the special election for this seat by about 1,000 votes.
Still, heading into Election Day, Alvarado said she was unsure if her efforts would be enough to win outright.
“I had some expectations, but I wasn’t sure,” she said, sounding upbeat. “I knew I was doing everything possible, staying in campaign mode (during the summer), constantly being in civic clubs.”
Trailing far behind were state Rep. Ana Hernandez, DHouston, and Republican Martha Fierro, a precinct chair for the Harris County GOP. They each received less than half Alvarado’s share of the vote in the low-turnout election.
‘Compromised values’
Alvarado will face re-election in November 2020 and hold the seat through January 2021, finishing out the term of U.S. Rep.-elect Sylvia Garcia, DHouston.
Garcia resigned Nov. 9, three days after winning the race for Texas’ 29th Congressional District. U.S. Rep. Gene Green, DHouston, did not seek re-election.
Though Alvarado and Hernandez launched their candidacies several months ago, the race began in earnest only recently, when the candidates had a certain election date.
During the campaign, Hernandez and Alvarado had not made much of an effort to distinguish themselves ideologically, instead clashing over Alvarado’s chairmanships under Republican leadership and whether it meant she had “compromised her values,” as Hernandez suggested at a debate.
Alvarado said she had never done so, contending she instead gained “the trust and the confidence” of “moderate” Republican Speaker Joe Straus, naming examples of other Democrats who had done so as well.
Meanwhile, Fierro gained the support of the Texas Republican Party.
Benefit of experience
Alvarado entered the race with several advantages, notably a large cash-on-hand edge and the residual name recognition from running in a 2013 special election in the district. Her House district also overlapped a greater portion of Senate District 6 than Hernandez’s, and she previously represented a Houston City Council district that covered some different areas.
In the 2013 election, Alvarado lost a 2013 special election to Garcia in the district, which covers the east end, north Houston, unincorporated Harris County and several municipalities.