Tuesday is primary Election Day in Texas as the Lone Star State leads off the 2022 primary election season with the nation’s first primary. Voters in both parties are set to nominate candidates for the gubernatorial or midterm November General Election.
Locally, races to replace two retiring long-term legislators are attracting considerable attention: the contest for U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela’s old District 34 seat in Congress and the race for state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr.’s District 27 seat in the Texas Senate. Both are Brownsville Democrats, and elections to replace them have attracted candidates on both sides of the aisle.
In-person early voting concluded Friday, with 19,986 voters casting ballots in both the Democratic and Republican primaries. Texas is an open primary state, meaning voters can declare their party preference when they vote.
Cameron County Elections Administrator Remi Garza said he expects a strong, possibly record-setting turnout. He said 222,650 voters are eligible to cast ballots.
“We’re hoping that the early voting turnout is a good indication that we’re going to have a good turnout on Election Day. Given the activity we’ve already seen, the number of candidates that are on the ballot, and the choices the voters have, we’re hoping that we’re going to have a high turnout,” Garza said.
“This is a nominating election for each of the parties. … It’s a nominating election, not the general election, so you’re limited as to which candidates you’re going to be voting for based on your party selection,” Garza added, cautioning voters that because of redistricting polling locations might be different from previous elections.
“It’s extremely important to know where you’re going to go vote and where your party has the ballots for you,” he said.
In the last midterm election in 2018, early voting turnout in Cameron County was 11,200, which was 9,372 Democrats and 1,828 Republicans. The 19,986 vote total for 2022 included 13,687 Democrats and 6,299 Republicans. The early vote total in the 2016 presidential election was 21,983, of which 16,748 were Democrats and 5,235 were Republicans, Garza said.
“Each year we’re noticing higher participation in every election cycle and so our gubernatorial primaries are starting to look like our old presidential primaries, and our presidential primaries are starting to look like things we’ve never seen before,” Garza said.
Because of redistricting, boundary lines have changed for both the U.S. House and for the Texas Senate and House of Representatives. Here’s a look at the candidates:
In U.S. House District 34, U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, D-Brownsville, who formerly represented House District 15 in McAllen but who now lives in District 34 because of redistricting and is running for re-election there, faces six challengers: Laura Cisneros, Osbert Rodriguez Haro, Beatriz Reynoso, Filemon Meza and William Thompson.
On the Republican side there are four candidates: Mayra Flores, Juana Cantu Cabrera, Gregory Scott Kunkle Jr. and Frank McCaffrey.
Statewide, Gov. Greg Abbott leads the ticket. He has seven challengers, Dan Huffines, Alan B. West, Kandy Kaye Horn, Paul Belew, Chad Prather, Danny Harrison and Rick Perry.
On the Democratic side, Beto O’Rourke, the former El Paso congressman and 2018 U.S. Senate candidate, has four challengers: Inocencio Barrientes, Rich Wakeland, Michael Cooper and Joy Diaz.
For State Senate District 27, the Democratic candidates are Sara Stapleton Barrera, Saloman Torres, District 37 State Rep. Alex Dominguez, who did not seek re-election to the House, and Morgan LaMantia.
Republican candidates are Adam Hinojosa, Israel Salinas and Raul Torres.
For State House District 37, which includes all of Harlingen and a portion of Brownsville, the Democratic candidates are Ruben Cortez, Luis Villarreal Jr. and Frank Puente.
The Republican candidates are Janie Lopez and George Rivera.
In State House District 38, Democratic candidates are Erin Elizabeth Garza and Jonathan Gracia.
