What Blue Wave? Republican Wins Seat Dems Have Held For 139 Years
Not only have the Democrats held this seat for 139 years but in 2016, Hillary won the district by 12 points. Pete Flores, a newcomer to politics and a former game warden defeated Mark Gallego, a former state and US rep in District 19 for the Texas statehouse. The special election was made necessary when long time Democrat Sen. Carlos Uresti was convicted on 11 felony charges. The preliminary election held in July placed both Flores and Gallego into a run off election for the seat. Uresti joins a long line of Democratic politicians who have been sent to prison in recent years.
Gallego for the Senate District 19 seat after receiving backing from some of the state’s most prominent politicians, including Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, and U.S. Sens John Cornyn and Ted Cruz.
“We conservatives are conservative in the way we make approaches. The gunfight’s not over until the last shot’s fired,” Flores told the Express-News after Gallego conceded in a phone call just before 9 p.m. “The last shot’s been fired.”
According the Secretary of State’s website, Flores won with 53 percent of the vote to Gallego’s 47 percent with 44,487 ballots cast.
“This district has not been Republican since Reconstruction. And in September of 2018, it’s Republican once again,” Flores told supporters. “The work starts tomorrow.”
Christian Archer, Gallego’s campaign strategist, said he was shocked by the results, adding that they weren’t able to generate as much excitement as the Republicans.
Winning this seat for the first time since 1879 also gives Republicans a super majority in the state Senate, making Democrats totally unnecessary and irrelevant. Although voter participation was not unusually high, it was quite impressive for a special election. What ever happened to the blue wave?
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