GOP Reps Raise $10.1 Million in Month
for the 10 Hottest Texas House Battles

Scary Lack of GOP Voter Enthusiasm

General Election Rankings for 2026

Capitol Inside
October 27, 2026

Ten Texas House Republicans raised more than $10 million in the past month for re-election races that appear to be in serious trouble including several the GOP may have no chance to win in the path of a potentially monstrous blue wave.

When two open contests are added to the list of races with the most potential for turnovers in the Texas Capitol's west wing at the polls a week from now, the Republicans in the 12 hottest fights for the House between September 25 and October 24 reported a combined haul of almost $10.7 million.

Democrats in the same 12 House races rounded up nearly $3.1 million including $2.4 million the challengers in the 10 fights for the Legislature's lower chamber with heavily-armed incumbents brought in collectively in the month-long reporting period.

Seven of the 10 most endangered House Republicans posted seven-digit sums in the same time frame - with average takes of more than $1 million. The two who face the longest odds in in South Texas districts - State Reps. Denise Villalobos of Corpus Christi and Janie Lopez of San Benito - raised $989,000 and $748,000 respectively during the past month.

Democrats in the top 12 House races in the countdown to the midterm vote raised $254,451 on average during the period - giving them one dollar to spend on campaigns for every $4 GOP foes raised.

Kristian Carranza of San Antonio was the only Democrat who reported a larger haul than a GOP opponent in the most competitive races for the state House in the month gone by. Carranza reported contributions of almost $289,000 during the period for her second consecutive bid in House District 118. GOP rival Jorge Borrego rounded up $182,000 in the past month. Carranza has raised almost $717,000 for the current race compared to $656,000 for Borrego.

Borrego needed the lion's share of money he's raised for a primary runoff fight in HD 118 where Carranza ran unopposed in round one. Democrat Stephanie Saenz raised nearly $319,000 during the month in question - almost half as much as the first-term incumbent Villalobos. The House District 34 seat that Villalobos is trying to keep is ranked second behind HD 118 on the list of races for the west wing with the best shots for flipping seats.

GOP State Rep. Caroline Harris Davila of Round Rock had the biggest haul in the past month with contributions of more than $1.3 million for a fight with Democrat Chris Jimenez in House District 52 in Williamson County on the northern edge of the Austin area. Jimenez raised a sufficient amount to be competitive in a wave election with contributions of almost $306,000 during the month.

The list of incumbent representatives who posted seven-digit hauls for October included Reps. Marc LaHood of San Antonio, Angie Chen Button of Garand, Lacy Hull of Houston, Ben Bumgarner of Flower Mound, Morgan Meyer of Dallas and Mano DeAyala of Houston.

LaHood leads the pack in total fundraising with almost $3.2 million in 2025 and 2026 up to now. A substantial amount of LaHood's funding has come from trial lawyers. Button and Meyer have both surpassed $2 million in their respective total takes for the current cycle.

more to come ...