GOP wins closely watched Texas special election

[brooklynite]

Source: Houston Chronicle

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Republicans won handily a closely watched special election Tuesday to keep hold of a suburban Houston district that President Donald Trump won easily four years ago, fending off a national blitz by Democrats in a Texas legislative race.

The victory by Republican Gary Gates, who put more than $1.5 million of his own money into his run for state House District 28, is sure to bring a sigh of relief for the GOP in a race that was being tracked far beyond Texas. By the final weeks, the race had escalated into the first big special election of 2020.

In final unofficial results, Gates polled 58% of the vote to 42% for Democrat Eliz Markowitz.

It escalated a normally minor local election into a high-stakes test of Democrats' chances in Texas this November, and whether suburban voters are turning away from the party of an impeached president.

Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/texas/article/GOP-wins-closely-watched-Texas-special-election-15012294.php

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Beto had been campaigning in this race.

Personally, I'l be putting a lot more focus on Arizona and North Carolina than I will Texas.

[Mike 03]

1. Rec'd for your interesting comment at the bottom. nt

[liskddksil]

7. Seemed like more of a cheap-shot at Beto than an interesting comment

I guess Beto's grassroots movement Powered By People has got people triggered for some reason.

[LonePirate]

2. It's odd that Dems pursued this race given that it was 61R/39D in the precious round of voting.

Markowitz closed the gap some but the gulf was too much to overcome.

[liskddksil]

6. If we don't try than we'll keep losing. Better to show up

as Beto has done everywhere and begin to turn Texas blue race by race powered by people.

[Lonestarblue]

3. Texas has a lot of red voters.

I don’t expect any big changes in the red-blue split for this falls’s election (unfortunately), but we can keep chipping away at the edges and maybe turn the tide by 2024. Younger Latinos offer hope if we can get them to register and vote, but we have to remember that older ones are overwhelmingly Catholic and anti-abortion. Cities have been turning blue, though their closest suburbs may not be, but the rural areas of Texas are large and overwhelmingly red. Gun ownership statistics are hard to find because there’s no real national database, but when looking at gun registrations Texas ranks number 1—and many of those people vote red.

It’s hard to overcome the gerrymandering in Texas, so the state legislature has remained in Republican control. Democrats chipped away at their majority in 2018, but it’s an uphill battle. And that will not improve after the 2020 census because Republicans are still in control and will gerrymander the state to their complete advantage.

[hamsterjill]

8. Yep, the gerrymandering.

It's so sad, but all too true. I'm afraid this lifelong Texan is putting her hopes on other potential states turning before my beloved Texas. We must try...but the odds are simply stacked against us.

[AZ8theist]

4. Clown spent $1.5M for a STATE HOUSE RACE????

Good luck with that, Repukes. Keep spending that kind of money on local shit. You will be the Whig party soon enough..

[liskddksil]

5. You seem gleefull about taking Beto down a notch.

Beto is building a movement and you should know that movements don't get built in one election cycle. This was always a reach district and there many legislative races in Texas this Fall that will be in districts more competitive than this.

[dware]

9. You seem to be reading far more into the comment than is warranted.

I didn't take it as gleeful, I took it as just a comment.

[liskddksil]

10. The poster I commented on has had some other anti-Beto posts before nt

[LeftInTX]

11. A Democrat won another special election last night too.

The seat was Democratic, but you know how special elections are:

Unofficial results show Democrat Anna Eastman, a former member of the Houston Independent School District board won by a wide margin over Republican Luis LaRotta, a Navy veteran.

Chair of the Texas House Democratic Caucus, Rep. Chris Turner, issued a statement of congratulations to Eastman Tuesday night.

“It’s a pleasure to welcome Representative-elect Anna Eastman to the House Democratic Caucus,” Turner wrote. “I look forward to working with her on the issues that matter most to the district and to all of Texas — better schools, a stronger healthcare system, and safe communities across our great state.”

https://www.click2houston.com/decision-2020/2020/01/28/voters-to-decide-2-texas-house-races-tuesday/