TCR CONGRATULATES OUR ENDORSED CANDIDATES WHO WON OUTRIGHT OR ADVANCED TO A RUNOFF ELECTION

• Senator John Cornyn—United States Senate (runoff)
• Alexander Hale—U.S. Representative, District 7 (runoff)
• Jessica Hart Steinmann—U.S. Representative, District 8 (outright)
• Briscoe Cain—U.S. Representative, District 9 (runoff)
• Randy Weber—U.S. Representative, District 14 (outright)
• Trever Nehls—U.S. Representative, District 22 (outright)
• Brandon Herrera—U.S. Representative, District 33 (runoff)
• John Lujan—U.S. Representative, District 35 (runoff)
• Brian Babin—U.S. Representative, District 36 (outright)
• Shelly DeZevellos—U.S. Representative, District 38 (runoff)
• Greg Abbott—Governor (outright)
• Dan Patrick—Lieutenant Governor (outright)
• Mayes Middleton—Attorney General (runoff)
• Don Huffines—Comptroller of Public Accounts (outright)
• Nate Sheets—Commissioner of Agriculture (outright)
• Bo French—Railroad Commissioner (runoff)
• Alison Fox—Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 3 (runoff)
• John Messinger—Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals, Place 9 (outright)
• Tiffany Nelson—Member, State Board of Education, District 6 (outright)
• Audrey Young—Member, State Board of Education, District 8 (outright)
• Brett Ligon—State Senator, District 4 (outright)
• David Cook—State Senator, District 22 (outright)
• Kristen Plaisance—State Representative, District 3 (outright)
• Terri Leo Wilson—State Representative, District 23 (outright)
• Linda Howell—State Representative, District 76 (outright)
• Dennis “Goose” Geesaman—State Representative, District 85 (outright)
• David Lowe—State Representative, District 91 (outright)
• Cheryl Bean—State Representative, District 94 (outright)
• Marc LaHood—State Representative, District 121 (outright)
• Mark Dorazio—State Representative, District 122 (outright)
• Stan Stanart—State Representative, District 126 (runoff)
• Scott Bowen—State Representative, District 129 (outright)
• Mike Michna—State Representative, District 134 (outright)
• Helen Zhou—State Representative, District 137 (outright)
• Lacey Hull—State Representative, District 138 (outright)
• Todd Frankfort—Justice, 1st Court of Appeals District, Place 3 (runoff)
• Asha Reddi—Judge, 240th District Court (outright)
• Michael Ghutzman—District Judge, 359th Judicial District (outright)
• Kenneth Cusick—Criminal District Attorney Galveston County (outright)
• Rob Giesecke—Brazoria County Judge (outright)
• Mark Henry—Galveston County Judge (outright)
• Orlando Sanchez—Harris County Judge (runoff)
• Mark Keogh—Montgomery County Judge (outright)
• Tim O’Hare—Tarrant County Judge (outright)
• Galveston County District Clerk—Samantha Morris (outright)
• Marc Cowart—Harris County Treasurer (outright)
• Denise Dick—County School Trustee, Position 7, At Large (runoff)
• Adam Schoof—Fort Bend County Commissioner, Precinct 4
• Charlie Riley—Montgomery County Commissioner, Pct 2 (outright)
• Kacey Roman— Brazoria County Justice of the Peace, Precinct 1, Place 2 (runoff)
• Mark Fury—Harris County Justice of the Peace, Precinct 5, Place 2 (outright)
• Cindy Siegel—Harris County Republican Chair (runoff)

PRIMARY ELECTION RECAP

Some results as expected with a few surprises thrown into the mix

U.S. Senate Race—As predicted, incumbent U.S. Senator John Cornyn (41.89%) and challenger Attorney General Ken Paxton (40.68%) garnered the most votes and will advance to the runoff election. Congressman Wesley Hunt, who finished a distant third at just 13.51% of the vote, achieved his sole objective of forcing a runoff. Hunt’s role as a spoiler is unfortunate since millions of dollars more will be poured into the continuation of the Senate race by the two Republicans rather than being conserved to face Democrat James Talerico, who dashed Jasmine Crockett’s aspirations on Tuesday night. After her loss on Tuesday, Crockett immediately blamed…Republicans for her defeat. You can’t make this stuff up.

In the aftermath of Tuesday’s results, President Donald J. Trump has signaled that he will be making an endorsement in the race and will strongly suggest that the unendorsed candidate drop out of the race. It is believed that Trump will endorse Cornyn and expects Paxton to withdraw, however, Paxton indicated initially that he will continue the fight, even if opposed by the President, but left the option open in subsequent statements. President Trump is likely to rely on polling information, which shows Paxton vulnerable to a Talarico contest, in his endorsement calculus.

Congressional District 2—State Representative Steve Toth pulled off a 15-point upset against incumbent Congressman Dan Crenshaw in the U.S. Representative, District 2 contest. Crenshaw, who some have portrayed as a RINO, was the only incumbent Republican Congressman who did not receive President Trump’s endorsement.

Congressional District 7—Newcomer Alexander Hale, who nearly avoided a runoff with 45.24% of the vote, will face Tina Cohen who received 26.83% of the vote.

Congressional District 8—No surprise in this one. America First candidate Jessica Hart Steinmann eclipsed her five challengers with a staggering 68% of the vote. Steinmann was considered the odds-on favorite even before she secured the coveted Trump endorsement.

Congressional District 9—Longtime State Representative Briscoe Cain, considered the frontrunner from beginning of the race, and Alexander Mealer, who lost a 2024 race for Harris County Judge to Lina Hidalgo, emerged from a field of 9 to advance to the runoff election. Mealer (35.83%) topped Cain (31.2%) slightly on the backs of a Donald Trump endorsement.

Congressional District 22—Trever Nehls, with near universal name ID and the backing of President Trump and his twin brother Congressman Troy Nehls, easily soared past opponent Rebecca Clark. The only surprise here was that the 76% to 24% margin wasn’t wider.

Congressional District 38—Jon Bonck, the Trump-endorsed frontrunner who at one point of reporting topped 50% of the vote, settled in at 46.84% giving him the first-place spot going into the runoff against Shelly DeZevellos who finished at 18.82%. Shelly is a fighter, so don’t county her out, just yet.

Incumbent Lacey Hull in House District 138, Scott Bowen in District 129, Marc LaHood in HD121, and Mark Dorazio in HD122 all lapped their opposition with over 70% of the vote, each. Helen Zhou dominated with 69% in her House District 137 primary contest. Dennis “Goose” Gessaman upset incumbent Stanley Kitzman in HD85 by garnering 57% of the vote.

In Fort Bend County, embattled County Judge KP George lost to Daniel Wong who dominated the entire field with a 57% victory in a 5-way race, avoiding a runoff in that contest. In the race for Fort Bend County District Clerk, 19-year-old Audrey Lee collected 53% of the vote. In one of the more acrimonious fights on the Fort Bend Republican Primary ballot, Tamara McFarlane edged out JJ Clemence for Fort Bend County Clerk.

In Harris County, the upset of the night was the 2^nd place finish of the dark horse candidate for county judge, Warren Howell. Conventional wisdom predicted an Orlando Sanchez versus Marty Lancton runoff.  Lynda Sanchez, sister of Orlando Sanchez, lost her bid for Harris County Clerk to former HCDE Trustee Michael Wolfe. In the race for Harris County Treasurer, longtime Republican activist Marc Cowart easily handled Hayley Hagan, who was a Democrat until this year. Cowart received support from conservatives across the state including Governor Greg Abbott, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, Senator Paul Bettencourt and nearly all the state representatives and grassroots leaders in Harris County.

FROM THE “EVERY VOTE MATTERS” CASE FILES

Three races on the March 3^rd Harris County Republican Primary ballot finished with the slimmest of margins. These examples prove the point that every vote matters.

Stan Stanart scored a place in the May 26^th runoff election but barely missed winning the contest outright by a scant 103 votes.

In the Harris County Judge race, Marty Lancton was pushed into a 3^rd place finish by just 386 votes out of 179,213 votes cast. With just  little more effort, Lancton would be preparing to face off with Orlando Sanchez, rather than watching from the sidelines.

Cindy Siegel’s vote count topped 52% in early voting but dropped to 49.63% when Election Day vote was tallied.  A mere 629 votes kept Siegel under the 50% necessary to avoid a runoff in the Harris County Republican Party Chair race.

MARK YOUR CALENDAR FOR PRECINCT CONVENTIONS

The Harris County Republican Party will host its precinct conventions this Saturday, March 7^th beginning at 8:00 a.m. The precinct convention is the first step in the convention process which will lead to the senate district conventions on March 28^th and ultimately the Republican State Convention in Houston held June 11-13. The primary business of the precinct convention will be the submission of resolutions and the selection of delegates to the senate district convention. For precinct convention information including locations, please visit https://www.harriscountygop.com/conventions/.

KRISTI NOEM IS OUT

On Thursday, President Trump announced that he was making a change at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) by removing Kristi Noem as Secretary and nominating Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin to succeed her.

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ADDITIONS, CORRECTIONS OR FEEDBACK?

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ABOUT YOUR EDITOR

Gary Polland is a long-time conservative and Republican spokesman, fund-raiser, and leader who served three terms as the Harris County Republican Chairman. During his three terms, Gary was described as “the most successful county Chairman in America” by Human Events – The National Conservative Weekly. He is in his twenty-eighth year of editing a newsletter dealing with key conservative and Republican issues. For the last twenty-three years, he has edited the Texas Conservative Review. As a public service for the previous 20 years, Gary has published election guides for the GOP primary, general elections, and city elections, all to assist conservative candidates. Gary also for 20 years cohosted Red, White and Blue on Houston Public Media TV 8 PBS Houston, longest running political talk show in Texas history and for the last four-plus years Gary has been a regular commentator on Fox 26-Houston’s “What’s Your Point” airing Sunday’s at 7 a.m. Gary serves on the Board of Directors of American Values, a national pro-family, pro-faith, conservative organization supporting the unity of the American people around the vision of our founding fathers and dedicated to reminding the public of the conservative principles fundamental to the survival of our nation. Gary is a practicing attorney and strategic consultant. He can be reached at (713) 621-6335.