Thirteen Republican primary runoffs for the Texas House of Representatives are taking place on May 28, 2024.
There were 59 contested Republican primaries on March 5, 2024, 46 of which had an incumbent on the ballot. Nine incumbent House Republicans lost in the primaries and 29 advanced to the general election without going to a runoff. The 13 runoffs—eight of which have an incumbent on the ballot—are taking place in districts where no candidate won more than 50% of the primary vote.
The primaries are taking place in the context of two votes in 2023 that divided the House GOP caucus.
One was the impeachment of Attorney General Ken Paxton (R). The House voted 121-23 to impeach Paxton. Sixty Republicans joined with 61 Democrats in support of impeachment. As of April 4, 2024, Paxton endorsed three incumbents who voted against impeachment and one incumbent who voted for impeachment as well as 35 challengers to Republican incumbents who voted for impeachment.
In the other vote, the caucus split over removing a provision for school vouchers from an education bill. The vote removing the provision for school vouchers passed 84-63, with 21 Republicans joining 63 Democrats to remove vouchers. Gov. Greg Abbott (R) supported the measure and says he will oppose legislators who voted against it. As of April 4, 2024, Abbott endorsed all 59 Republican incumbents who voted in favor of the proposal and are running for re-election. Abbott endorsed 11 challengers to incumbents who voted against school vouchers.
On Feb. 10, 2024, the Texas Republican Party voted to censure House Speaker Dade Phelan (R). Phelan voted “present” on vouchers and voted in favor of impeaching Paxton. The censure resolution mentioned Phelan’s vote for impeachment and support for the impeachment process as two of the five counts against him. This was the fourth time in history the state party voted to censure a Republican elected official. Former President Donald Trump (R) endorsed David Covey (R), who is challenging Phelan in the primary runoff, on Jan. 30, 2024.
All eight incumbents running in primary runoffs voted in favor of impeaching Abbott. Four voted in favor of school vouchers, three voted against, and Phelan voted “present”.
Six of the eight incumbents running in primary runoffs finished second in the March 5 primaries. Incumbents DeWayne Burns (R) and Frederick Frazier (R) finished 7.7 percentage points behind their runoff opponents, the largest vote margin of any incumbents in the runoff.
Texas is one of 23 Republican trifectas. A state government trifecta occurs when one political party holds the governor’s office and a majority in both chambers of the state legislature.
