The candidate filing period for next March's primary election closed Dec. 13, and Central Austinites have several races to watch heading into next spring.
Primary contests for both state and federal offices will be decided March 1 with winners advancing to the Nov. 8 general election. Ahead of election day, voter registration will close Jan. 31, and early voting will run from Feb. 14-25.
The primaries will be held under new district boundaries approved by the state leaders this year and set to be in effect through the 2020s, which shuffled some representation in Central Texas. The new maps are also being challenged by the U.S. Department of Justice over the alleged disenfranchisement of minority voters.
Below are the primary races for the state House, state Senate and congressional districts representing the Austin area with candidates and parties listed in alphabetical order. More information on the March primary and individual candidates is available through the Texas secretary of state's elections division.
State House
District 46
Democrat:
- Sheryl Cole (incumbent)
Republican:
- Sam Strasser
District 48
Democrat:
- Donna Howard (incumbent)
District 49
Democrat:
- Gina Hinojosa (incumbent)
Republican:
- Katherine Griffin
District 50
Democrat:
- David Alcorta
- James Talarico
Republican:
- Victor Johnson
District 51
Democrat:
- Cody Arn
- Albino Bino Cadenas
- Maria Luisa "Lulu" Flores
- Mike Hendrix
- Claire Campos-O'Neal
- Cynthia Valadez-Mata
- Matt Worthington
Republican:
- Robert Reynolds
State Senate
District 14
Democrat:
- Sarah Eckhardt (incumbent)
District 21
Democrat:
- Judith Zaffirini (incumbent)
Republican:
- Julie Dahlberg
Congress
District 35
Democrat:
- Greg Casar
- Eddie Rodriguez
- Carla Joy Sisco
- Rebecca Viagran
Republican:
- Jenai Aragona
- Bill Condict
- Marilyn Jackson
- Alejandro Ledezma
- Dan McQueen
- Sam Montoya
- Michael Rodriguez
- Asa George Kent Palagi
- Dan Sawatzki
- Jennifer Sundt
District 37
Democrat:
- Quinton "Q" Beaubouef
- Lloyd Doggett
- Donna Imam
- Chris Jones
Republican:
- Jeremiah Diacogiannis
- Rod Lingsch
- Jenny Garcia Sharon
