Republican Adam Hinojosa filed a petition for a recount in the three Rio Grande Valley counties that lifted his challenger Democrat Morgan LaMantia to victory on Election Day for Texas Senate District 27.
Hinojosa announced the recount in a statement posted on Facebook on Wednesday evening.
“On November 8th, in one of the closest elections in Texas, I fell just 0.19% away from 50% of the vote in my race for Texas Senate,” Hinojosa said. A total of 175,415 votes were cast in the election, with LaMantia receiving 88,037 votes, or 50.19%, to Hinojosa’s 87,378 votes for 49.81%.
That’s a difference of 659 votes.
“In any election with such a small margin of victory, even very small mistakes in the counting of the vote could have enough impact to change the final result,” Hinojosa said.
Texas Senate District 27 includes portions of San Patricio, Nueces, Kleberg, Kenedy, Bee, Willacy, Hidalgo and Cameron counties.
Hinojosa’s campaign manager, Royce Albrecht, confirmed via text Thursday that Hinojosa is seeking a recount in Cameron, Hidalgo and Willacy counties, all of which LaMantia won.
Hinojosa carried the remaining counties.
In Cameron County, LaMantia received 41,643 votes to Hinojosa’s 33,822 votes, while in Hidalgo County, LaMantia received 26,465 votes to Hinojosa’s 16,078 votes. In Willacy County, LaMantia received 2,175 votes to Hinojosa’s 1,551 votes.
Hinojosa said he decided to ask for the recount after consulting with his supporters.
“So, after consultation with my supporters, I have decided to call for a recount in three counties in which there were large numbers of paper or mail-in ballots,” he said. “If honest mistakes were made in the counting, it would only be significant in a place where large numbers of paper or mail-in ballots were cast. These counties are the logical place to double-check.”
LaMantia said in a statement in response to Hinojosa’s recount that she is proud of her campaign’s “hard-earned victory” to represent the residents of South Texas in Austin.
“We look forward to this process taking place. It is democracy taking its course,” LaMantia said. “We are confident our victory will be reaffirmed and that the process will instill in a watchful public even greater confidence in the strength of our electoral systems.”
