Abbott and O'Rourke Cruise to Primary Victory, Paxton Faces Runoff

As expected, the results from Tuesday's midterm primaries mean Democrat Beto O'Rourke will face incumbent Republican Greg Abbott for the Texas governor's spot in the November elections.

O'Rourke won handily with more than 90 percent of the votes cast. Abbott had slightly more of a tussle — with 93 percent of precincts reporting he had 66.6 percent of the vote — with opponents Allen West and Don Huffines, both of whom portrayed themselves as to the right of Abbott. But Abbott's own moves in recent months to reinforce his conservative bonafides more than did the trick.

In Harris County, where both County Judge Lina Hidalgo and County Commissioner Adrian Garcia secured their primary spots, both the Republican and Democratic parties decided to seek a court order about the time required by law to count ballots. According to the office of Isabel Longoria, elections administrator for Harris County, some of the ballots were damaged meaning it would take longer to scan them. State law requires all precinct election records to be delivered within 24 hours of the polls closing.

The attorney general's race will head for a runoff in the Republican primary where incumbent Ken Paxton garnered 42.7 percent of the vote and George P. Bush 22.8 percent with 95 percent of precincts reporting.
The Democratic primary for Attorney General had no clear winner either with Rochelle Garza at 42.7 percent followed by Joe Jawroski (19.5) and Lee Merritt (19.3)

Incumbent Lt. Governor Dan Patrick easily secured the win in his Republican Primary while Mike Collier led among the Democrats, but without a clear majority and will be headed for a runoff with either Michelle Beckley or Carla Brailey.

In the race for Agriculture Commissioner it will be incumbent Sid Miller versus Democrat Susan Hays in November.

In general, Republican voters turned out in much higher numbers than Democrats.

The primary runoffs are scheduled for Tuesday, May 24, 2022.