Election results: How Texans voted in the May 2024 primary runoff
The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to helping you navigate Texas policy and politics — including the 2024 elections. Here are the results of the Texas 2024 primary runoffs on May 28.
Texas voters finalized the Democratic and Republican candidates that will be on the ballot in the November general election. In 32 races in the March 5 primary, no candidate exceeded 50% of the vote, bringing about runoff races between the candidates who came in first and second. The winner in each race will face the other major party’s nominee, as well as possible Libertarian and Green Party candidates. Independent and write-in candidates have until the summer to file their candidacies.
What you should know:
- House Speaker Dade Phelan won his runoff and survived a challenge by Texas GOP’s far-right forces.
- School voucher supporters backed by Gov. Greg Abbott won several pivotal Texas House GOP runoff races, giving the governor a tentative majority in the lower chamber on his signature issue.
- U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales prevailed in his primary runoff against gun influencer Brandon Herrera. However, because he lost by only 407 votes, Herrera has requested a recount.
- Lauren Ashley Simmons declared victory over Texas Rep. Shawn Thierry, who broke with Democrats on LGBTQ+ votes.
- Severe storms knocked out power at North Texas voting sites.
- The Texas Tribune’s “We the Texans” initiative features stories, guides and public events exploring how democracy is experienced and challenged in Texas.
How to read these results
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Texas House
The key runoff races this year were in the Texas House where Attorney General Ken Paxton sought revenge against Republicans who voted to impeach him by endorsing their primary challengers. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott also worked to unseat the House Republicans who voted against school vouchers, one of Abbott’s top legislative priorities in 2023. In total, six out of eight House Republican incumbents lost their runoff races, giving Abbott enough votes to pass a school voucher measure next session. In addition, embattled House Speaker Dade Phelan survived his runoff race.
Find out if there were any Texas House runoff races in your district.
U.S. House
Texas has 38 congressional seats, and all are up for election, with most incumbents running again. This year, eight nominees were decided in the runoffs. Republican incumbent Tony Gonzales narrowly defeated Brandon Herrera, a gun rights YouTuber, in District 23. Meanwhile, Texas House Rep. Craig Goldman won over Paxton-backed business owner John O’Shea and will be the Republican nominee running for U.S. Rep Kay Granger’s seat.
State Board of Education
There are 15 districts within the State Board of Education, which sets curriculum and chooses textbooks for Texas public schools. Only 7 seats are up for election this year and two incumbents defeated their challengers in runoff races.
Texas Senate
In the 31-member Texas Senate, only 15 seats are up for election in 2024. Three races were decided in the runoffs. Republican establishment-backed Brent Hagenbuch will be the Republican nominee to succeed retiring state Sen. Drew Springer after beating right-wing candidate Jace Yarbrough. In District 15, Molly Cook narrowly defeated state Rep. Jarvis Johnson to become the Democratic nominee to replace John Whitmire, who was elected Houston mayor last year.
What we saw
Domestic mail-in ballots turned in and postmarked by election day were counted if they arrived no later than 5 p.m. on May 29. Mail-in ballots from military and overseas voters had to be postmarked by election day and arrive no later than June 3. In close races, mail-in votes help determine the winner, which can delay the calling of the race. The certification of final election results was completed by the counties on June 6 and released by the Secretary of State on June 17.
The Texas Tribune’s election data was provided by The Associated Press, which gathers voting information from the secretary of state’s office, county election sites and stringers on the ground in Texas. The AP called winners and provided estimates on how many votes were left to be counted.
About the data
Election results data provided by The Associated Press.
Candidate information from the Texas Secretary of State’s office, the Texas Democratic Party, the Republican Party of Texas and Texas Tribune research.
Contributions by Emily Albracht and Reagan Hicks.