Incumbent Michael Burgess won the Republican primary for Texas’ 26th Congressional District on Tuesday, where he has served as the representative for 17 years. Receiving 73.56 percent of the vote, a win in November would give Burgess his tenth term for TX-26.
In the Democratic primary for TX-26, Carol Iannuzzi defeated her fellow Democratic candidates to move onto to the general election in November. Iannuzzi ran against fellow Democrats Neil Durrance and Mat Pruneda.
“Many in North Texas and America have had ‘Enough’,” Iannuzzi tweeted on Tuesday night. “I will bring positive change to Congress when I replace [Michael Burgess] in 2020. My votes will not be bought by the NRA and big corporations. #Carol2020 #TX26 #ByeByeBurgess.”
Republican challenger to Burgess, Jack Wyman, saw defeat with 11.22 percent of the vote. At his watch party, he thanked his supporters for a “spirited and aggressive” campaign.
“I think we have run the strongest campaign against Michael Burgess in 20 years,” Wyman said. “We have offered the voters of this election a viable, qualified alternative choice. This has been a great campaign, we’ve had a lot of fun and we made a great impact.”
Casey Baker, who knows Wyman from church and supported his campaign because he is a “good Christian man,” said he does not support Burgess and he questions his intentions.
“I’m really for term limits because when someone has been in office for 18 years, are you really looking out for the people or are you just looking out for yourself,” Baker said. “These politicians go to office and they’re not worth any more than the common man and then years later, they’re millionaires. I think the career politician needs to go away.”
Pruneda and his supporters had strong words in regard to Iannuzzi’s win. Pruneda lost to Iannuzzi in the Democratic primary with 27.99 percent of the vote.
“We have a few races where we have candidates who are significantly more qualified than other candidates,” Pruneda said. “In the end, we wind up in a place where decisions are made by people who haven’t done their homework so they make arbitrary decisions.”
Pruneda said some voters at the polls base their decisions solely from the fact of specific races, genders or just at random. Pruneda mentions that this is a “dangerous place” to be at within the political environment.
“Voters in general need to be more aware, to do more research and to educate themselves” Pruneda’s campaign manager Tamsyn Price said. “You may have a Black candidate or a Latino candidate who you initially support because they mirror your experiences and mirror your background, but then their policy positions are totally different from what you personally support.”
Texas House District 64
In the race for Texas House District 64, Republican incumbent Lynn Stucky and Democratic candidate Angela Brewer won their respective primaries during Tuesday night’s primary election — both of them ran unopposed.
Stucky received 13,904 votes and Brewer received 12,982 votes. Stucky has represented TX HD-64 since 2017 and this was Brewer’s first race, according to Ballotpedia.
“I’m one proud Denton mama tonight,” Brewer said in a tweet on Tuesday. “Thank you for your support — let’s get to work to #flipHD64.”
To see the full results from Tuesday’s election, visit the Texas Secretary of State’s website.
Courtesy govtrack