Austin Price / The Texas Tribune
Several Texas House Republicans locked in tight re-election bids are trailing their Democratic challengers, early voting returns show.
Only one Republican in the dozen state House races widely considered the most competitive is leading — an early trend that, if it continues, could narrow the lower chamber’s 95-55 split between the GOP and Democrats.
Most of the tightest races are in Dallas County, where shifting demographics, along with Democratic enthusiasm for the top of their party’s ticket, have placed some GOP incumbents up and down the ballot this year on the defense — particularly those representing districts that Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton won in 2016.
In one high-profile North Texas battle, state Rep. Matt Rinaldi, an Irving Republican running for a third term, is trailing his Democratic opponent Julie Johnson, 44 percent to Johnson’s 56 percent.
Rinaldi, a member of the hardline conservative Texas House Freedom Caucus, has been cast by Johnson as an extremist who has, among other things, failed the state’s public education community. Rinaldi, for his part, says Johnson is an out-of-touch liberal and has dismissed her attacks against him on public education by touting an endorsement from the chair of the House Committee on Public Education.
Other GOP incumbents in the area, Rodney Anderson of Grand Prairie, Linda Koop of Dallas and Morgan Meyer of Dallas, are also trailing their Democratic challengers. State Rep. Angie Chen Button of Richardson, meanwhile, is narrowly ahead of Democrat Brandy Chambers, 51 to 49 percent, early voting returns show.
In another nearby contest, state Rep. Victoria Neave, a Dallas Democrat running for a second term, leads Republican Deanna Metzger, 57 percent to 43 percent, according to early voting results. Republican-aligned groups have heavily targeted Neave this cycle; it’s one of a handful of House districts that the GOP believes could flip back in its favor.
Meanwhile, both parties are fighting for open House seats in races that are close or showing signs of a potential flip from the GOP to Democrats:
- In the race to replace state Rep. Jason Villalba, R-Dallas, Democrat John Turner has a 12 percentage point lead over Republican Lisa Luby Ryan, who ousted Villalba in the March primaries.
- Democrat Rhetta Bowers leads Republican Jonathan Boos, 53 percent to 46 percent, in the race for the seat being vacated by outgoing state Rep. Cindy Burkett, R-Sunnyvale.
- In the race to succeed former state Rep. Larry Gonzales, R-Round Rock, who resigned earlier this year, Democrat James Talarico is leading Republican Cynthia Flores, 52 percent to 48 percent.
Democrats also lead in two Central Texas state House races that are also among the most competitive: John Bucy III leads state Rep. Tony Dale, R-Cedar Park, 55 percent to 43 percent, while state Rep. Paul Workman, R-Austin, is trailing his Democratic opponent, Vikki Goodwin, by nearly 8 percentage points.
The early returns come with an important caveat: They do not yet include nearly a million votes cast early in the state’s largest and eighth-largest counties — Harris and El Paso, respectively. In Harris County, nine polling places are remaining open an extra hour because of problems voters faced there earlier Tuesday, delaying the release of the county’s 855,711 early votes until 8 p.m. Central time.
El Paso County’s early voting results are always released an hour after the rest of the state because it is in a different time zone; those results will also land at 8 p.m. Central.
Source: Texas Tribune Blue Government News
