Democrats Broke Voter-Turnout Record in Tuesday’s Runoff Election

Texas-Runoff-Primary-2020

Image via AP Photo/David J. Phillip

By Araceli Cruz

July 16, 2020

Democrats in Texas made huge strides this week during the runoff elections, including a big win for congress hopeful Candace Valenzuela. 

Almost 1 million Democrats showed up to vote during Tuesday’s runoff elections. Despite Gov. Greg Abbott delaying the runoff election for two months due to the coronavirus pandemic, Democrats proved their enthusiasm to vote no matter what. 

Air Force veteran MJ Hegar won the Senate Democratic seat against Royce West with 52.1% of the votes. Now Hegar will face Republican Sen. John Cornyn on the ballot in November. 

Related: A Massive Amount of Democrats Turned Out to Vote in Georgia — Even With the Election SNAFU

Democrat Candace Valenzuela, who could be the first Afro-Latina member of Congress, won against Kim Olson, a former Air Force fighter pilot, by a massive landslide. Valenzuela received 60.4% of the votes.

“The results are in and Candace is one step closer to becoming the first Afro-Latina elected to Congress,” CHC BOLD PAC Chairman, Tony Cárdenas, said. “Her victory in this primary is a testament to the diverse coalition of support her campaign was focused on building since she launched her campaign — and this will continue to be the coalition that propels her to a historic victory in November.” 

Cárdenas added, “Democratic voters in this district supported Candace because they connected with her story, and believe she will be unwavering in her commitment to fighting for all Texas families and will work to ensure the same opportunities afforded to her as a child continue to exist for the next generation of Texans. From advocating for safer schools for Texas children to increasing the pay for educators as a school board trustee, Candace has already lived up to her word at a local level and will continue to do so in Congress.”

Related: Democrats to FEMA: What Is Your Plan for Hurricane Season Amid COVID-19?

José Garza also won for Travis County District Attorney. Julián Castro tweeted out a congratulatory message to Garza saying, “José ran on a bold, new vision for justice and safety in Travis County. I can’t wait to see what he has in store.

The Texas Observer reports that Tuesday’s Democrat turnout doubled since the 2018 gubernatorial runoff and almost broke the record in 2012 when 1.2 million Republicans voted in the election between Ted Cruz and then-Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst. 

Related: The ‘No Corporate PAC Money’ Movement Is Growing. It Could Help Democrats Flip the Senate.

In March, the Pew Research Center reported that a majority of the 23 million immigrants eligible to vote in the 2020 election live in just five states. Those states include California, which has 5.5 million immigrant voters, more than any other state — followed by New York with 2.5 million immigrant voters and Florida with 2.5 million combined. Texas and New Jersey round out the top five, with 1.8 million and 1.2 million immigrant eligible voters. Pew also reports that roughly half (52%) of all immigrant likely voters in Texas are Latino. 

Click here for all of the Texas results. 

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