The recount filed by Republican Adam Hinojosa for the three Rio Grande Valley counties in Texas Senate District 27 has failed to change the Election Day outcome that lifted Democrat Morgan LaMantia to the seat in Austin.
On Monday, Cameron County Elections Administrator Remi Garza said in an email that the recount committee there conducted its recount between Dec. 6 and 10.
The recount resulted in Hinojosa having 33,876 votes to LaMantia’s 41,715.
The unofficial results submitted to the Texas Secretary of State’s Office on election night had Hinojosa at 33,822 votes to LaMantia’s 41,643.
In Hidalgo County, interim Elections Administrator Hilda Salinas said Hinojosa actually suspended his request for a full recount and instead asked that only the mail-in ballots be counted.
Salinas said that recount was done last Thursday and resulted in no change in the results.
Hinojosa lost in Hidalgo County with a total of 16,078 votes to LaMantia’s 26,465 votes.
The Republican candidate had also asked for a recount in Willacy County.
A call to the Willacy County elections department on Tuesday went unanswered and The Monitor was unable to leave a message because the voicemail box was full.
An email sent to Elections Administrator Cristina Rodriguez asking about the status of the recount has not been answered.
However, there are simply not enough votes in Willacy County that even if there was a drastic change there, the outcome would not help Hinojosa.
On Election Day, LaMantia took Willacy County with 2,175 votes to Hinojosa’s 1,551 votes.
These three counties lifted LaMantia over Hinojosa, who won in San Patricio, Nueces, Kleberg, Kenedy and Bee counties.
The vote differential in LaMantia’s favor in Hidalgo and Cameron counties is 19,208 so even if all of LaMantia’s votes in Willacy County were recounted in Hinojosa’s favor, it wouldn’t be enough to change the outcome.
Hinojosa did not request a recount in the counties he won.
On Election Day, LaMantia beat Hinojosa in the total vote by 659 votes.
The Texas Secretary of State’s Office reported a total of 175,415 votes cast in Senate District 27 with LaMantia receiving 88,037 votes, or 50.19%, to Hinojosa’s 87,378 votes for 49.81%.
LaMantia did not respond to an email sent Tuesday afternoon requesting comment on the recount, but on Wednesday afternoon she took to Twitter to declare victory.
“The ballot recount in Cameron, Hidalgo, and Willacy counties had concluded and I am pleased to confirm what we already knew: we won the race for Senate District 27,” she said. “I commend all the county officials, election workers, and volunteers who oversaw and operated the process in a transparent and expeditious manner.
“They have proven once again that the integrity of our electoral system is secure. I will continue to focus on preparing for the 88th Legislative Session and getting to work for the people of South Texas.”
Hinojosa also did not respond to a request for comment on whether he was conceding sent to his email on Tuesday afternoon.
As of early Wednesday afternoon, he had not made a public statement on social media.
