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By Carla Astudillo Published: Updated:
The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization dedicated to helping you navigate Texas policy and politics — including the 2022 elections. Here are the election results of the Texas 2022 primary election on March1.
Texas voters chose party nominees for statewide seats, including governor, and newly drawn, district-based congressional and legislative seats. Those nominees will face off in the general election in November. If no candidate in a primary election received a majority of the vote, the top two vote-getters go head-to-head in a runoff inMay.
What you shouldknow:
- At least 18,000 Texas mail-in votes were rejected in the first election under new GOP votingrules.
- The Harris County election chief resigned as both parties demanded answers about the county’s fumbled votecount.
- Texas has a history of a dismal turnout rate in primary elections, and nearly 18% of registered voters cast a ballot thisyear.
- The activist wings of both major political parties entered the Texas primary hoping to shake up state leadership. But the results fell short of ushering in a seachange.
- Gov. Greg Abbott and Beto O’Rourke easily won their gubernatorial primaries, setting up a Novemberrace.
- U.S. Rep. Van Taylor announced he was ending his reelection campaign after he admitted to an affair the day the election. Nine-term incumbent U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, will compete in a runoff against progressive attorney JessicaCisneros.
- Almost all the legislative candidates preferred by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and House Speaker Dade Phelan advanced to the November general election. And most sitting House and Senate members seeking to return to the Texas Capitol kept theirseats.
- Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, beset by a criminal indictment and FBI probe, will face George P. Bush, the state’s land commissioner and scion of a political dynasty, in a May 24runoff.
- Texas has new political maps. See which districts your home isin.
How to read theseresults
Voters could vote in either the R Republican or D Democraticprimary.
✓ Nominee in a Democraticprimary
✓ Nominee in a Republicanprimary
✓✓ Top two candidates going to a runoff in May because no one got more than 50% of thevote
Additional noteworthy information provided for theseraces
Here’s how we’re interpreting what we’re seeingtonight.
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If you share your address below, we’ll personalize the results for you by showing the races you get to vote in. (Don’t worry: We don’t store yourinformation.)
Governor
The governor is the chief executive of Texas. The seat has not been held by a Democrat since 1995. Republican Greg Abbott, who is seeking a third term, won his primary outright on Tuesday. His primary challengers include former state Sen. Don Huffines and former Texas GOP Chair AllenWest.
On the Democratic ticket, former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke of El Paso has statewide name recognition after his 2018 U.S. Senate and 2020 presidential runs. O'Rourke cruised to victory in his primary. His campaign wants to make up ground in SouthTexas.
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Attorney General
The attorney general is the top lawyer in Texas, representing the state in mostly civil litigation. Ken Paxton is seeking a third term, and his tenure has been clouded by a high-profile securities fraud indictment and an FBI investigation into claims of malfeasance in office. Paxton will face a May runoff against George P. Bush, the state’s land commissioner and scion of a politicaldynasty.
Democrats seeking the party’s nomination to take on Paxton included Joe Jaworski, a Galveston lawyer and former mayor of the city; Lee Merritt, a nationally known civil rights attorney from Plano; Rochelle Garza, a former lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union from the Rio Grande Valley; and Mike Fields, a former Republican judge on the Harris County CriminalCourt.
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Lieutenant Governor
The lieutenant governor, the second-highest executive in the state, presides over the state Senate. Republican Dan Patrick, who has quietly amassed influence with former President Donald Trump, is seeking a third term. Almost all his preferred candidates nabbed enough votes to head into the November general election. Mike Collier, the Democratic nominee in 2018, seeks to challenge Patrick again this year. He will face state Rep. Michelle Beckley, D-Carrollton, in a Mayrunoff.
Agriculture Commissioner
The agriculture department supports farmers and administers school lunch programs. Sid Miller won the Republican primary for a third term after his challengers took aim at hisethics.
Land Commissioner
The land commissioner oversees an agency that manages 13 million acres of state land, administers disaster recovery funds, contributes to public school funding and has administrative control of the Alamo. The race was wide open as incumbent George P. Bush ran for attorney general. Both parties will have arunoff.
Comptroller
The comptroller is the state official responsible for collecting taxes, overseeing the state treasury and forecasting the amount of money that’s available for the state’s two-year budget. Republican Glenn Hegar is running for a thirdterm.
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Railroad Commissioner
In Texas, the Railroad Commission regulates the oil and gas industry. Members of the three-person board are elected statewide. One seat is up for election in 2022, and a semi-nude video, corruption allegations and a fatal crash roiled the GOP primary. Wayne Christian fell short of winning at least 50% of the vote and will face a runoff with oil and gas attorney Sarah Stogner inMay.
State Board of Education
There are 15 districts within the State Board of Education. Nine are held by Republicans, and six are held byDemocrats.
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Texas Supreme Court
The Texas Supreme Court, the state’s highest civil court, has nine justices. Three of the nine seats on the Supreme Court are up for election in 2022. Justices are elected statewide, and Republicans currently hold all theseats.
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals is the state’s highest criminal court. The nine members are elected statewide and are currently all Republicans. Three seats are up for election thisyear.
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U.S. House
Texas has a new 38-district congressional map that incorporates two new House seats the state gained due to population growth. U.S. representatives serve two-year terms, and 31 sitting members are running again. The state’s current delegation consists of 23 Republicans and 13Democrats.
Texas Senate
Every seat in the 31-member Texas Senate is up for election because the districts were redrawn last year. Almost all the preferred candidates of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick nabbed enough votes to head into the November general election. And nearly all sitting Senate members seeking to return to the Texas Capitol kept theirseats.
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Texas House
There are 150 members of the Texas House. Each state representative serves a two-year term. The election takes place under a new map drawn by legislators. Almost all the preferred candidates of House Speaker Dade Phelan nabbed enough votes to head into the November general election. And nearly all sitting House members seeking to return to the Texas Capitol kept theirseats.
What we’reseeing
Turnout in primary midterm elections has historically been low, with less than a quarter of registered voters casting ballots most years. The latest preliminary turnout data published by the Texas secretary of state showed that nearly 18% of registered Texas voters cast a vote in the 2022primaries.
New rules enacted by Republican lawmakers led to the rejection of at least 18,000 Texas mail-in votes because they did not meet the new IDrequirements.
Domestic mail-in ballots turned in and postmarked by election day were counted if they arrived as late as 5 p.m. March 3. Military and overseas voters had until March 7 for their mail-in ballots postmarked by election day to arrive. In close races, mail-in votes determined the winner, which delayed calling the race. The certification of final election results was completed by the counties on March 13 and released by the Secretary of State on March17.
The Texas Tribune’s election data was provided by Decision Desk HQ, which gathers information from the secretary of state’s office and a representative sample of 28 counties. Decision Desk called winners and provided estimates as to how many votes were left to becounted.
About the data
Election results data provided by Decision DeskHQ.
Candidate information from the Texas secretary of state’s office, the Texas Democratic Party, the Republican Party of Texas and Texas Tribuneresearch.
County shapes and city locations provided by the U.S. Census Bureau. Road lines provided by NaturalEarth.
Contributions by Emily Albracht, Darla Cameron, Chris Essig, Mandi Cai and Alexa Ura.
Disclosure: The Texas secretary of state, the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, Terry Canales, Senfronia Thompson, Brooks Landgraf, Vikki Goodwin, Todd Hunter and Freda Heald have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here.
Corrections: An earlier version of this page incorrectly identified state House District 23 candidate Terri Leo Wilson as Teresa Leo-Wilson. In addition, from March 2-5, Decision Desk HQ incorrectly projected that the Democratic primary for state House District 92 was going to a runoff. Salman Bhojani won the Democratic nomination outright in thatprimary.
An earlier version of this page showed candidate James Whitfield going to the runoff in the Democratic primary for State Board of Education District 11. Whitfield ended his campaign after the deadline to be removed from the ballot. Because he is no longer running, the race will not go to a runoff inMay.
An earlier version of this page incorrectly stated that the Texas Department of Agriculture regulates fuel pumps in the state. Regulation of fuel pumps was transferred to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation in2020.
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