Posted: 10:51 p.m.
In his third contested race for Texas House District 28 since November, Republican Gary Gates finds yet another win in the primaries.
Gates received 14,909 votes, or 95.66%, with 97.22% of voting centers reporting in Fort Bend County.
His opponent, Schell Hammel—who said she dropped out of the race due to health issues but her name remained on the ballot—received 676 votes or 4.34%.
Gates will proceed to the Nov. 3 general election against Democrat Eliz Markowitz, who ran unopposed in the Democratic primaries.
Gates and Markowitz previously campaigned in the November 2019 special election after former Rep. John Zerwas resigned from the seat. Gates and Markowitz both advanced to the January special runoff election when none of the seven November 2019 candidates received more than 50% of the vote.
“The victory tonight was the result of all the hard work from the first two rounds [of elections],” Gates said.
He added he has been meeting with representatives from the Texas House appropriations and pensions committee, which have meetings on March 31 and March 9, respectively. The Appropriations Committee performs much of the budget work during the interim before the regular legislative session, he said.
Gates knocked on more than 17,000 homes, he said, adding he will knock on more constituents' homes in the next month or two to prepare for the November election.
“I don’t know how hard the opposition is going to fight, but I’m not going to take the win for granted."
