Days after a final count of the votes in the initial primary for the open House seat in Texas' 6th District, local sources told Newsmax, either Republican could emerge triumphant in the runoff.
"Don't think for a minute Susan Wright [widow of the late Rep. Ron Wright, R-Texas] has this wrapped up," a veteran Lone Star State operative who requested anonymity told Newsmax. "She had the endorsement of President [Donald] Trump and of [State Republican Chairman] Allan West, but she only got 19% of the vote."
The runner-up, former Republican state Rep. Jake Ellzey, got roughly 13.8%. In so doing, he edged out Democrat Jana Lynne Sanchez for the second runoff slot by a mere 354 votes.
About 39% of voters in the suburban Fort Worth district backed Democratic candidates in the 23-candidate field. This was a major disappointment to Democrats in a district in which Joe Biden won 48% of the vote last year.
So, the rivalry continues between Ellzey and the Wrights that began with Ellzey's narrow (52%-48%) loss to Ron Wright in the 2018 primary for the House seat.
In this year's primary, the Club for Growth slammed Ellzey hard for what they said was his opposition to Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in the 2012 primary and for a $250 contribution from sworn never-Trumper and editorialist Bill Kristol (who also gave $500 to another Republican candidate, vigorous anti-Trumper Michael Wood, who got 3% of the vote).
The Wright campaign itself also hit Ellzey for what it charged was the Republican's tie to Biden's position on illegal immigration: "Their plans. Their crisis. Bad for Texas."
Former Navy pilot Ellzey vehemently denied any less-than-firm stands on illegal immigration or Trump. Backup for Ellzey came from his close friend Rick Perry, former Texas governor and Trump's secretary of energy.
"Jake Ellzey is for being for America First for a long time," declared Perry in a hard-hitting video.
The law requiring a runoff if no candidate gets a majority of the votes in a special election has been in effect since the 1940s. In more cases than not, the second-placed finisher has ended up winning the runoff. One of the more notable examples was that of the race for the Democrat Senate nomination in 1948. Then-Rep. Lyndon Johnson, D-Texas, placed second to former Gov. Coke Stevenson in the first primary, but won the runoff by 87 votes — results that generate controversy among historians to this day.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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