What Went Down At Biden’s State Of The Union And Texas’s Primary Election

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, a Republican, is winning his primary with just 59 percent of the vote, according to the New York Times. That’s low for an incumbent but familiar territory for Miller, who won the 2018 primary as an incumbent with only 56 percent of the vote. Miller has courted a lot of controversy in his two terms in office, from spreading fake news on social media to calling then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton a slur I won’t repeat here, to being investigated for criminal misuse of taxpayer funds (no charges were filed). His main opponent, state Rep. James White, is winning just 31.1 percent of the vote, which isn’t enough to force a runoff. Miller had a close general election in 2018. His Democratic opponent this fall will be cannabis attorney Susan Hays, who convincingly won her primary tonight.

A runoff in the Democratic primary for Texas’s 28th District remains a distinct possibility. With 80 percent of the vote in, per the New York Times, Rep. Henry Cuellar now trails challenger Jessica Cisneros by 2.6 points, 46.4 percent to 49.0 percent. But third wheel Tannya Benavides has 4.6 percent, so it’s possible neither Cisneros nor Cuellar will clear the majority hurdle in the end. Much of the outstanding vote appears to be from areas where Cuellar has run well, so he may be more likely to gain ground at this point to force a runoff in May.

And as sometimes happens, there are complications with getting a read on what a 59 percent share of the primary vote really means for Rep. Pat Fallon. This is actually Fallon’s first time running in a congressional primary, as he first won in the 2020 general election after becoming the GOP nominee at a party committee conference in August 2020, not in the primary that March. That’s because the already-renominated Rep. John Ratcliffe had resigned to become Director of National Intelligence, so the party needed to replace Ratcliffe on the ballot. So between having never had to go before the GOP primary electorate and having only previously represented slightly more than half of the constituents in the new 4th District, Fallon winning almost 60 percent in his primary isn’t too shabby!