It’s after 2 a.m., and another primary election is now in the record books, or will be when those last 97 boxes are counted. We wanted to highlight a few facts and observations about the election tonight. We will go into more detail in the coming days. For now, here are the stats and points you’ll want to tell your friends and clients:
- Lupe Valdez and Andrew White are in the first runoff for governor since 1990 (Ann Richards vs. Jim Mattox).
- First time since 2008 there will not be a Republican statewide runoff.
- George P. Bush (58%) and Sid Miller (56%) win outright.
- All other Republican non-judicial statewide incumbents top 75%.
- Angela Paxton wins bruising open-seat contest against Phillip Huffines for SD8. Sen. Bob Hall (R-Edgewood) defeats Rep. Cindy Burkett (R-Sunnyvale) in SD2. Sen. Kel Seliger (R-Amarillo) wins three-way race outright.
- Seven incumbent legislators defeated:
- Sen. Craig Estes (R-Wichita Falls) lost to Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Frisco) by nearly 40 points
- Rep. Roberto Alonzo (D-Dallas) lost to Jessica Gonzalez
- Rep. Diana Arévalo (D-San Antonio) lost to former Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer (D-San Antonio)
- Rep. Dawnna Dukes (D-Austin) failed to make a runoff when she received just 10% of the vote
- Rep. Wayne Faircloth (R-Dickinson) lost to Mayes Middleton
- Rep. Tomas Uresti (D-San Antonio) lost to Leo Pacheco
- Rep. Jason Villalba (R-Dallas) lost to Lisa Luby Ryan
- Two incumbent legislators forced into runoffs: Reps. Scott Cosper (R-Killeen) and Rene Oliveira (D-Brownsville). Just five of the last 25 incumbents forced into runoffs have prevailed.
- 12 other House races are going to runoffs.
- In HD107, Joe Ruzicka appears to make a runoff by 6 votes over Brad Perry. He would face Deanna Metzger for the right to face Rep. Victoria Neave (D-Dallas).
- Martinez Fischer and former Rep. Steve Toth (R-The Woodlands) won their comeback primaries and are heavily favored to return to the House. Former Rep. Stuart Spitzer (R-Kaufman) is in a runoff. Former Reps. Ted Kamel (R-Tyler) and Gilbert Peña (R-Pasadena) lost their primary races.
- Sen. Sylvia Garcia (D-Houston) and former El Paso County Judge Veronica Escobar are poised to become the first Latinas ever elected to Congress from Texas.
- A record 17 congressional nominations will be decided by runoffs.
- In CD2, Kathaleen Wall’s self-funded $6M campaign comes up 145 votes short of runoff. Rep. Kevin Roberts (R-Houston) to face Dan Crenshaw.
- In CD5, Rep. Lance Gooden (R-Terrell) faces Bunni Pounds.
- In CD21, Chip Roy and Matt McCall emerge from 18-way primary. Rep. Jason Isaac finishes in fourth place.
- In CD32, U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Dallas) will face either Collin Allred or Lillian Salerno.
- More than 2.5M Texans voted in the primaries, the most ever for a gubernatorial election, but fewer than 17% of registered voters cast ballots, which is about even with 2010.
- A record 1.5M people voted in the Republican primary for a gubernatorial election year, and it’s the second-highest number of Republican primary voters in state history.
- More than 1M people voted in the Democratic primary in a gubernatorial election year for the first time since 2002 and just the second time since 1994.
- For the second straight gubernatorial primary election, more votes were cast early than on Election Day.
Finally, just a bit of bragging: @TXElects was trending, ever so briefly, on Twitter last night.
