Over the last month, we’ve been hearing about a special election for the Texas House. The opening was created when the GOP incumbent resigned.
We saw something very familiar to 2018, with Beto O’Rourke and Julian Castro openly campaigning for the Democrat. Money was also flowing from everywhere to fund the Democrat opponent.
It seemed a lot like 2018 except the results. In other words, the GOP won by 18 points.
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.
So what happened?
First of all, it is a GOP district, but it was targeted by Democrats like never before. In this sense, the race was reminiscent of the Cruz-O’Rourke campaign, when the Democrats threw millions of dollars at the state.
Second, the GOP turnout was huge.
To be fair, special elections tend to be blown out of proportion. However, this one was heralded as the first election of 2020. If so, President Trump’s prospects look pretty good.
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