Primary Election Runoff Results
High Republican Turnout and High Campaign Spending
The primary runoff election was this past Tuesday.
Turnout was low: 1.38 million Republicans and 470,000 Democrats; approximately 9.5% total turnout, a bit higher than the 2022 runoff, but much lower than the March 3 primary, which had a record 24% turnout.
The driver of Republican turnout was the US Senate race — John Cornyn versus Ken Paxton — which was the most expensive primary in US history. Over $29 million was blown just on the runoff, over $20 per vote, with the total amount spent on the primary topping $165 million, or $46 per vote.
Yikes!
Cornyn outspent Paxton 2.5 to 1 but still got trounced by him, 63-36%.
Cornyn had served 23 years in the Senate and was running to become Senate majority leader in 2024. To go from that to getting beaten so badly … it reminds one of 2018 when Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — whose name had never once graced the pages of The New York Times, and did not have a Wikipedia page — beating Rep. Joe Crowley, a Democrat who was likely to succeed Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House, or four years before when the House Majority Leader Eric Cantor lost to an unknown college professor, David Brat, by 11 points.
That 2014 upset was of course on the heals of two wins by another professor and community organizer to the highest office in the land, which started with an upset against the Clinton juggernaut, and it foreshadowed the drain-the-swamp campaigns of Donald Trump.
What is going on with these wild upsets? The answer is an upset public and the civilizational-altering communications technology of the internet. See Martin Gurri’s The Revolt of the Public.
Here’s the results of the other races.
Statewides
Lieutenant Governor. On the Democratic side, Vikki Goodwin, a State Representative representing Austin, won the runoff decisively, defeating George Soros-backed Houston labor leader Marcos Velez 67-32%. Goodwin will face incumbent Dan Patrick in November, who won the Republican primary with 84% although it felt like he was unopposed.
Attorney General. Money played a big role in these races. On the Republican side, Mayes Middleton spent a ton of his own cash (he inherited the family’s oil business), upped his name recognition against Chip Roy, and beat him 55-44%. This was the most expensive Attorney General primary in U.S. history, at $15 per vote. On the Democratic side, State Senator Nathan Johnson — who represented a portion of Irving — won the runoff election, defeating former Galveston Mayor and aggressive progressive Joe Jaworski 60-39%, despite Jaworski having a massive lead in the March primary, almost winning outright at 48-26%. Johnson had deep-pocketed Dallas donors and Miriam Adelson, and was able to outspend Jaworski 2.5 to 1.
Railroad Commissioner. In the race for Railroad Commissioner on the Republican side, Bo French narrowly beat incumbent Jim Wright, 50-49%. This was another win for the activist base of the Republican party. He will face mainstream Democrat Jon Rosenthal, a Texas state representative from Houston, in November.
Court of Criminal Appeals Place 3. In the race for a seat on what is Texas’s supreme court for criminal cases, Thomas Smith (who is aligned with the Paxton wing of the Republican Party) beat Allison Fox 58-41%. Smith will face defense attorney Okey Anyiam, the Democratic nominee, in November.
Congress
Our breakdown of the Congressional primary race is here.
The results:
CD-24
March 3 Primary
Democratic Primary: (Runoff Triggered)
Kevin Burge: 48.0% (28,968 votes) — Advanced to Runoff
TJ Ware: 26.1% (15,774 votes) — Advanced to Runoff
Jon Buchwald: 25.9% (15,612 votes)
Republican Primary: (Won Outright)
Beth Van Duyne (Incumbent): 100.0% (71,351 votes)
May 26 Runoff
Democratic Primary Runoff:
Kevin Burge: 79.7% (7,260 votes) — WINNER
TJ Ware: 20.3% (1,845 votes)
CD-33
March 3 Primary
Democratic Primary: (Runoff Triggered)
Colin Allred: 45.5% (21,374 votes) — Advanced to Runoff
Julie Johnson (Incumbent): 34.0% (15,942 votes) — Advanced to Runoff
Carlos Quintanilla: 12.1% (5,677 votes)
Zeeshan Hafeez: 8.4% (3,950 votes)
Republican Primary: (Runoff Triggered)
Patrick Gillespie: 35.5% (4,654 votes) — Advanced to Runoff
John Sims: 22.3% (2,922 votes) — Advanced to Runoff
Monte Mitchell: 21.7% (2,850 votes)
Kurt L. Schwab: 20.5% (2,692 votes)
May 26 Runoff
Democratic Primary Runoff:
Colin Allred: 54.8% (7,782 votes) — WINNER
Julie Johnson (Incumbent): 45.2% (6,413 votes)
Republican Primary Runoff:
Patrick Gillespie: 57.2% (3,786 votes) — WINNER
John Sims: 42.8% (2,836 votes)
CD-6
March 3 Primary
(Both fields were settled in March; no runoffs were required for this district.)
Democratic Primary: (Won Outright)
Danny Minton: 100.0% (41,790 votes) — WINNER
Republican Primary: (Won Outright)
Jake Ellzey (Incumbent): 68.4% (36,175 votes) — WINNER
James Buford: 19.1% (10,092 votes)
Brian Stahl: 12.6% (6,648 votes)
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