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Dems Field Candidates in Every Texas Race
as GOP Passes on 19 State House Contests
Capitol Inside
December 17, 2025
The Texas Democratic Party and its allies are pursuing a novel strategy for 2026 with contenders in every single state and federal contest on the ballot in an attempt to make the most of a potential perfect storm for an election that could be the worst for the GOP in years.
While the Democrats tout their first full fight card for congressional, legislative and statewide races ever in the Lone Star State, the Republicans are clearly playing defense on the critical Texas House battlefield where the GOP failed to field candidates in 19 of 62 districts that are blue on the current roster.
Some of the House districts where no one signed up to run as a Republican are located in heavily-Hispanic areas that President Donald Trump carried in 2024 when he won the Latino vote in Texas in a historic development that prompted the GOP's congressional redistricting push more than any other factor.
Governor Greg Abbott claims to have a plan to turn Harris County a deep shade of red next fall when he'll be up for re-election to a record fourth term. That would be an all but impossible feat without another strong showing with Latino voters there. But the Republicans passed on the opportunity to pick up seats that Democrats control now in three Texas House districts that are dominated by Hispanic voters in areas where Trump beat Democrat Kamala Harris in 2024.
Democratic State Reps. Sergio Munoz of Mission and Amando Martinez of Weslaco will run unopposed as a result in the March 3 primary and the general election as well in districts in the Rio Grande Valley where Republicans might have shots to win if they'd chosen to compete.
The GOP also gave the Democrats a pass in House District 144 in the Houston area district where no Republican filed to run in 2026 despite Trump's victory there last year with nearly 51 percent of the vote. Democratic State Rep. Mary Ann Perez - the incumbent in HD 144 - faces a pair of foes in the March primary election. So the GOP might have had a shot at the Houston seat in an open race in the fall if Perez fails to survive in the primary election or a subsequent runoff.
A majority of the residents are Hispanics in 16 of the 19 state House races that the GOP opted to ignore in 2026 in a sign of possible complacency, laziness and lack of competitive fire or capable candidates or both. But the GOP's waving of the white flag without fights in 22 percent of the House races in districts that Democrats are defending could be due to a resignation for a shift of Latino voters back to the Democrats' side of the ledger next fall.
The incumbent Democrats who drew no Republican foes in re-election races include State Reps. Christian Manuel of Beaumont, Sheryl Cole of Austin, Vince Perez of El Paso, Joe Moody of El Paso, Ramon Romero of Fort Worth, Nicole Collier of Fort Worth, Chris Turner of Arlington, Jessica Gonzales of Dallas, Terry Meza of Irving, Linda Garcia of Dallas, Toni Rose of Dallas, Yvonne Davis of Dallas, Barbara Gervin-Hawkins of San Antonio, Diego Bernal of San Antonio and Penny Morales Shaw of Houston. Turner is facing a primary challenger in Junior Ezeonu while Gervin-Hawkins does battle in round one with Democratic opponents Jordan Brown and Bently Paiz.
Harris beat Trump in the districts that Moody and Morales Shaw represent by less than 5 percentage points - a victory margin that would have put their seats in potential reach if the Republicans had been interested in flipping state House seats like they're hellbent on doing on a new U.S. House map.
The Democrats and Republicans both have candidates in every Texas congressional and statewide contest on the 2026 ballot. But the upcoming election year will be the first time that a major party has a full slate for a primary election with candidates in every Texas House race.
The blanket approach to candidate enlistment could backfire if the minority party spends money on races in districts where its nominees have little or chance of winning. Abbott consultant Dave Carney dismissed the Democrats' no-stone-unturned strategy as a gimmick that's worthless if not sufficiently funded.
The Democrats appeared to have fallen short of the 100 percent participation goal after the filing deadline for primary applications expired last week. But late postings by the state pushed the count of Texas contests with Democratic candidates to the highest upper limit in the past few days once the dust from filings had settled.
more to come ...
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