Early voting continues in jurisdictions holding runoff elections on June 22. We will have live coverage of Saturday’s runoff elections beginning at 7 p.m. CDT. We will focus primarily on:
- Abilene – P5 runoff between incumbent Kyle McAlister and challenger Cory Clements
- Mount Pleasant – mayoral runoff between former State Board of Education member Thomas Ratliff (R) and Tracy Craig, who received 6 more votes than Ratliff in the May 4 election; and
- Orange – P5 (at large) runoff between incumbent Bill Mello and Caroline Mazzola Hennigan and the D4 runoff between incumbent Annette Pernell and Mary McKenna.
We will also check into the Wichita Falls ISD tax ratification bond election, which has drawn the interest of the Arlington-based Texans for Freedom PAC, which also opposed the city of Wichita Falls’s bond proposals in 2018. Supporting the TRE It is opposed by Building the Falls Future PAC, whose treasurer is former Rep. David Farabee (D-Wichita Falls).
HD26: Richmond resident Matthew Morgan established a campaign committee for a potential challenge of Rep. Rick Miller (R-Sugar Land). We were unable to identify him conclusively.
HD49: Austin resident Charles Meyer established a campaign committee for a potential challenge of Rep. Gina Hinojosa (D-Austin). We were unable to identify him conclusively.
CD28: Laredo immigration attorney Jessica Cisneros established a campaign committee for a potential primary challenge of U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Laredo). Cisneros was recruited by Justice Democrats, the progressive group who recruit Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who went on to defeat a longtime incumbent in the primary and is now a member of Congress from New York. The group announced in January that it would target Cuellar, whose sole primary challenger since 2008 was William Hayward in 2016. Hayward received just 10% of the vote. Cuellar’s last serious primary contest was 2006, when he defeated former U.S. Rep. Ciro Rodriguez (D-San Antonio), 53%-40%, in a rematch of the 2004 Democratic primary won by Cuellar, then a challenger, by 203 votes over Rodriguez.
PRES: Corpus Christi resident and former city council, mayoral and gubernatorial candidate Ray Madrigal de Pancho Villa established a campaign committee to challenge President Trump (R) as a Democrat. As Reynaldo “Ray” Madrigal, he received 22% of the vote against then-Sen. Wendy Davis (D-Fort Worth) in the 2014 Democratic primary election for governor.
Port Arthur: The Port Arthur News endorsed Mayor Derrick Freeman for re-election in the June 22 runoff over Thurman Bartie.
Rockport: The city council appointed businessowner Michael Saski to the open W1 council seat. The former incumbent, Rusty Day, did not seek re-election and no one filed for the seat prior to the May 4 election.
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