Crenshawre-elected
Other top Texas races see closer margins; Democrats unlikely to gain all seats sought
Texas Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw won a second term Tuesday after Democratic challenger Sima Ladjevardian conceded defeat, and Republicans maintained narrow leads in most of the other Texas congressional districts targeted by Democrats, with all but a small portion of votes reported.
Heading into Election Day, Democratswere expected to retain their 232-197 majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, with at least a few potential pickups coming fromTexas.
Six Republicans from the state’s congressional delegation opted not to seek re- election this year, including three from districts targeted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Democrats had hoped to pick up as many as 10 seats in Texas this cycle while playing defense in two other districts. But while their first-term incumbents were poised to keep their seats, the prospects looked bleak for Democratic candidates in most of the GOPcontrolled districts.
Among the promising early results for RepublicanswasU.S. Rep. Michael McCaul’s narrow lead over Democratic opponent Mike Siegel in a district running from Austin to the Houston suburbs. And Republican Fort Bend County Sheriff Troy Nehls led by a slightly wider margin over Democrat Sri Kulkarni in an open Houston-area district.
In Dallas’ 32nd District, Democratic Rep. Colin Allred handily won against Republican Genevieve Collins. In Central Texas’ 31st District, Republican Rep. John Carter comfortably held onto his seat and fended off a challenge from Democrat Donna Imam. South of Austin, Republican Rep. Chip Roy was out in front of Democrat Wendy Davis.
The 12 battleground races generated more than $127 million in spending, both by the candidates and from outside groups.
In the semicircular District 2 that bends from Kingwood to neighborhoods near Rice University, Democrats thought changing demographics could
work in their favor, but Crenshaw, a former Navy SEAL who has risen to national fame in the past few years, proved too fierce a competitor to overcome.
“Thank you TX-2!!! It’s been an honor to represent you and an honor to continue representing you,” Crenshaw wrote on Twitter.
Crenshaw, 36, and Houston attorney Ladjevardian, 54, had duked it out over issues of COVID-19 and health care. The battle hit its peak in July when more than 100 Houston-area physicians and supporters of Ladjevardian wrote a public letter condemning Crenshaw for “spreading the virus of disinformation,” leading a group of doctors and other supporters of Crenshaw to call his pro-reopening stance “based in science and common sense.”
The race to watch this cycle was the open seat in the gargantuan District 23, which stretches from San Antonio to El Paso, left vacant by retiring moderate Republican Rep. Will Hurd. With 29 counties and the later poll close time in El Paso, the race was too close to call, but Republican Tony Gonzales was ahead of Democrat Gina Ortiz Jones.
Democrat and former foreign service officer Kulkarni, who in 2018 lost by just 5 percentage points to U.S. Rep. Pete Olson, similarly appeared to have missed the mark Tuesday. Nehls, 52, began the race with a name-recognition advantage, having twice been elected countywide.
The once deep-red district covers Brazoria and Harris counties and most of Fort Bend County, one of the most diverse in the nation owing to an immigration wave that began in the 1980s.
Kulkarni outspent Nehls by a 3-to-1 margin throughout the campaign, while outside Democratic groups poured more than $12 million into the race, outpacing the more than $8 million spent by Republican groups.
In District 7, Democratic U.S. Rep. Lizzie Fletcher fended off the challenge by Republican Wesley Hunt. The district that stretches from West University Place through the Galleria to the Energy Corridor then north to Jersey Village seldom saw Democratic challengers. That changed after 2016, when Hillary Clinton’s narrow win emboldened Democrats.