Winners, runoff races emerge in Central Texas Democratic, Republican US House primary elections

Partial election day votes have been tallied in Texas’ Democratic and Republican primary elections, after early voting results were released the evening of March 3.

Updated vote totals available as of 10:40 p.m. were based on 36% of statewide polling locations reporting, according to the Texas Secretary of State. Results are unofficial until canvassed.

In the 10th congressional district:

• Democrat Caitlin Rourk led two other contenders with 24,569 votes, over 60%
• Chris Gober led the 10-candidate Republican field with 26,224 votes, or almost 56%, and is poised to avoid a runoff

• Democrat Claire Reynolds led Pedro “Pete” Ruiz by 13,409 votes to 10,095, or 57% to 43%
• Incumbent U.S. Rep. August Pfluger, R-San Angelo, is moving on to the November general election after an uncontested primary

• Democrat Milah Flores led with 7,795 votes, or 43%, and was likely heading toward a runoff against either J. Gordon Mitchell, with 5,363 votes and 29%, or Casey Shepard, with 5,086 votes or 28%
• Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Waco, ran unopposed and will face the Democratic winner in November

• Democrat Kristin Hook ran well ahead of two challengers with 28,926 votes, or almost 62%
• Mark Teixeira is running ahead of the rest of the Republican primary field with 39,984 votes, or nearly 62%

• Democrat Tanya Lloyd passed 62% in the party primary with 23,871 votes
• Incumbent U.S. Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Victoria, led Republican challenger Chris Hatley with 36,714 votes to 11,863, a more than three-to-one margin

• Democrat Justin Early led with 11,421 votes, almost 61% of the primary vote share
• Incumbent Rep. John Carter, R-Round Rock, led his party challengers with 18,937 votes, representing a 58% share of the 10-person field

• Four Democrats sat between 21% and 29% of the primary vote share. Maureen Galindo led with 11,610, or 28.6%, followed by Johnny C. Garcia with 10,897 votes, or 26.8%. Whitney Masterson-Moyes and John Lira were each under 10,000 votes, at 23% and 21%, respectively.
• An 11-candidate Republican field was led by John Lujan’s 12,224 votes, representing 34%, and Carlos de la Cruz’s 9,459 votes, or 26%. Only they and Jay Furman, with 4,522 votes and 12.6%, had double-digit shares

• Current District 35 Rep. Greg Casar, D-Austin, led his lone challenger Esther Amalia de Jesus Fleharty with 68,295 votes to her 13,713, or roughly 83% to 17%
• Three Republicans reached around one-third of the vote share each led by Ge’Nell Gary’s 3,333 votes, or 36%, followed by Lauren B. Peña’s 3,096 votes, or 33.5%, and Janet Malzahn’s 2,816 votes, or 30.5%

Early voting results for Democratic and Republican primary elections for the U.S. House of Representatives are being released around Central Texas after most polls statewide closed March 3.

Primary winners will move on to the Nov. 3 general election. Runoff elections—required for any primary races in which no candidate earns at least 50% of the vote—will be held May 26. Candidates are all seeking two-year terms.

A map of all Texas congressional districts is available online.

Community Impact will update this article as additional vote totals are released. All results are unofficial until canvassed. Travis County and Williamson County early voting results are not yet available.

Visit https://communityimpact.com/voter-guide to see results from all local and state elections in your community.

The results

In the 10th congressional district, four Democrats and 10 Republicans are vying for the seat currently held by U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin. Early voting results available as of 9 p.m. showed Chris Gober well ahead of other contenders with 9,766 votes, good for just under 54%. No other contenders reached 3,000 early votes.

On the Democratic side, candidates Caitlin Rourk and Dawn Marshall pulled ahead with 20,081 and 15,905 votes, respectively. Bernie Reyna was a distant third place with 4,067 early votes.

In House District 11, incumbent U.S. Rep. August Pfluger, R-San Angelo, is running uncontested to retain his seat. He faces Democratic candidates Claire Reynolds and Pedro "Pete" Ruiz; Reynolds leads with 8,590 early votes to Ruiz's 5,655.

Incumbent U.S. Rep. Pete Sessions, R-Waco is also running unopposed in his party's House District 17 primary. In the three-candidate Democratic primary, Milah Flores led with 1,012 early votes followed by Casey Shepard with 687 and J. Gordon Mitchell with 477.

Twelve Republicans are in their party primary for House District 21 in the race to succeed U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Austin, who's now running for Texas attorney general. Mark Teixeria took a lead in early voting with 16,731 votes, over 60%, followed by Jason Cahill's 3,359, James "Trey" Trainor III's 1,183 and Mike Wheeler's 1,705. No others passed 1,000 votes.

Three Democrats are also seeking the Congressional seat. Kristin Hook took a lead during early voting with 6,279 votes, followed by Regina Vanburg's 2,594 votes and Gary Taylor's 1,075.

Incumbent U.S. Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Victoria, faces Republican challenger Chris Hatley in his party's House District 27 primary. Cloud led early voting with 19,264 votes to Hatley's 7,427, roughly a 72% to 28% split.

The Democratic District 27 primary features three candidates. Tanya Lloyd took a strong early voting lead with 14,245 votes to 5,754 for "Stock" Castro-Mendoza and 1,638 for Wayne Raasch.

Nine Republicans candidates are seeking to unseat incumbent U.S. Rep. John Carter, R-Round Rock, in their party primary for House District 31. Carter took a strong lead with 15,104 early and initial election day votes, or 59%. Raymond Hamden was next with 2,252, Valentina Gomez followed with 2,160, and no other candidates had more than 2,000.

In the Democratic primary, Justin Early led Stuart Whitlow with 10,532 early votes to 6,814.

Four Democrats are in the race to represent a strip of Central Texas in Congress. The seat is currently held by Rep. Greg Casar, D-Austin, who's instead running for the redrawn District 37.

District 35's Republican primary includes a slate of 11 candidates, with Carlos de la Cruz and John Lujan leading based on early results. Lujan led with 11,162 early votes to de la Cruz's 6,923, or about 38% to 24%, with no other candidate passing 4,000 votes.

Early voting results in the Democratic party showed all four candidates between 20% and 30%. Maureen Galindo led with 7,994 votes followed by Johnny C. Garcia's 7,463, John Lira's 6,294 and Whitney Masterson-Moyes' 5,733.

Casar faces challenger Esther Amalia de Jesus Fleharty in the District 37 Democratic primary, where longtime U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, isn't seeking reelection. And three candidates are contending on the Republican side: Ge'nell Gary, Janet Malzahn and Lauren B. Peña.

No early results for District 37 were available as of press time.