Cloud wins Texas congressional race without runoff

AUSTIN, Texas — Former Republican Party county chairman Michael Cloud topped a crowded, bipartisan special election field Saturday to succeed disgraced ex-Texas Congressman Blake Farenthold.

Farenthold, a Republican, resigned in April amid allegations of sexual harassment and word that he used $84,000 from a special House fund to settle a 2014 lawsuit stemming from them.

It was the district’s third election of the year after Texas’ March 6 primary and May 22 runoff. Cloud managed to capture a majority of the votes cast — meaning a fourth election, a runoff between Saturday’s top-two finishers, won’t be necessary.

Cloud now heads to Washington but might only get to stay for a few months.

Cloud, the former head of the Republican Party in Victoria County near the Gulf Coast, will only serve the remainder of Farenthold’s term expiring Jan. 3. That means much of his time on Capitol Hill could be as part of a lame-duck Congress after November.

And voters will still again see Cloud’s name on the ballot soon. He won the primary runoff last month to capture the Republican nomination for the general election and is favored against Democrat Eric Holguin, who won his party’s runoff. Cloud now gets to enter that race as the incumbent.

Farenthold’s district is anchored in conservative Corpus Christi and spreads northwest to rural communities near Austin. Farenthold captured almost two-thirds of its 2016 votes.

Republican Gov. Greg Abbott declared that replacing Farenthold required an “emergency” special election, allowing him to suspend electoral law when setting its date. He argued that Farenthold’s replacement is critical because the district needs a voice in Congress to fight for federal storm relief funding after Hurricane Harvey hammered the area last August.

Blake Farenthold