Texas 6 Special: Two-Step Process
A special election to replace the only member of Congress who died after contracting covid-19 could be the first substantive look at the Biden-era political landscape.
Arlington Republican Rep. Ron Wright, who had won a second term last November, died on February 7 just two weeks after being hospitalized with covid-19 (Wright had lived for several years with lung cancer).
That leaves his Dallas-Fort Worth area district vacant, and Gov. Greg Abbott has set May 1 as the date for the contest to succeed him. Under state law, all candidates will compete on the same ballot and the top two, regardless of party, will move to a runoff if no one receives a majority.
Unlike the four other districts set to hold special elections this year, Texas’ 6th has the potential to be a real race between Democrats and Republicans. Though historically Republican, the district’s high number of suburban voters have shifted away from the GOP in recent years, making the district competitive at the presidential and Senate levels. And several Democrats are running serious campaigns and hoping to catch fire like some of the candidates who ran in the special elections of 2017.
With the slimmest Democratic majority in the House in a century, every seat counts, and this race presents both parties with the first opportunity of the cycle to claim a real electoral victory.
The Lay of the Land
Eleven Republicans, 10 Democrats, one Libertarian and one independent are running in the 6th District,…
