Democrat Veronica Escobar easily defeated Republican Irene Armendariz-Jackson for the third straight time to win a fourth term in the U.S. House of Representatives representing El Paso’s 16th Congressional District.
Republican Tony Gonzales, whose 23rd Congressional District stretches from San Antonio to a small part of El Paso and includes most of the Texas-Mexico border, won his third term in Congress by defeating Democrat Santos Limon.
In El Paso’s only contested state legislative race, incumbent Democrat Eddie Morales built an early voting lead in his race against Republican Robert Garza. House District 74 includes a small part of eastern El Paso County and stretches hundreds of miles eastward to Eagle Pass.
Escobar, who is a national co-chair of Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign, spent much of the summer and fall as a surrogate for the vice president in key battleground states. She also led the Democratic Party’s unity efforts to turn out voters in El Paso.
Escobar won 60% of early votes, a lower percentage than in her prior elections.
She spent little time campaigning against Armendariz-Jackson, a real estate agent who espouses far right political views. Escobar defeated Armendariz-Jackson by more than 25 percentage points in 2020 and 2022, but was winning by about 20 points Tuesday.
Democrats have won the 16th Congressional District seat every election since 1964, and no GOP candidate has received more than 40% of the vote in the district since 1994. Armendariz was approaching 40% in the early vote.
Gonzales’ general election campaign against Limon proved far easier than his Republican primary battle. After criticism by the Texas Republican Party and other GOP organizations that he was insufficiently conservative, Gonzales edged out YouTube influencer Brandon Herrera in a primary runoff election.
The Republican incumbent had received more than 60% of the early vote in the sprawling district as of 7 p.m. MT. El Paso County was one of Limon’s few bright spots, with him and Gonzales splitting the early vote.
In state legislative races, the Democratic nominees for the four state House seats entirely in El Paso County drew no Republican opposition. Incumbent Reps. Mary González, Joe Moody and Claudia Ordaz were re-elected. Democrat Vince Perez, a former county commissioner, was elected to his first term in the Legislature.
State Sen. Cesar Blanco, whose Senate District 29 includes all of El Paso County, also was re-elected without Republican opposition.
More election results
El Paso election results: How El Pasoans voted in the November 5 general election
On Tuesday, Nov. 5, El Paso voters cast the final ballots in the 2024 general election to decide key leadership positions in El Paso.
The post Incumbent U.S. Reps. Escobar, Gonzales win reelection to Congress appeared first on El Paso Matters.
Read: Read More