On July 27th, 2021 there will be a special election held in Texas’ 6th Congressional District. This was the seat of Ron Wright (R-TX). He was a sufferer of lung cancer since July of 2019 and then he tested positive for COVID-19 and he died on February 7th, 2021.

A jungle primary was held on May 2nd, 2021. That means candidates from all different parties ran in a nonpartisan primary where the top two candidates advance to a runoff. Susan Wright (R-TX), the wife of Ron, came in first with 19.21% of the vote. Jake Ellzey (R-TX) came in second with 13.85%. Both those candidates are Republican. Jana Sanchez (D-TX) was in third place with 13.40% of the vote and she was a Democrat candidate.

Some other notable names in that primary include Brian Harrison (R-TX) came in fourth with 10.81% of the vote. Lydia Bean (D-TX) came in eighth place with 3.72%. One of the most controversial candidates in this primary was Dan Rodimer (R-TX). He ran in Nevada for United States Congress and then he went to Texas for this election. He came in eleventh place with 2.66% of the vote. Very disappointing to move all the way to Texas just to come in eleventh.

Let’s talk about the two candidates that are left in this runoff, Susan Wright and Jake Ellzey. Susan Wright will be known more as the Trumpist candidate. She is endorsed by Donald Trump (R-FL) and Texas senator Ted Cruz (R-TX). She is also endorsed by another Trump man in Congress who is Andy Biggs (R-AZ) from Arizona’s 5th Congressional District. She is also endorsed by the House GOP Conference Chair, Elise Stefanik (R-NY).

Jake Ellzey also has a healthy amount of endorsements. He is endorsed by the Former Governor of Texas, Former Secretary of Energy, Rick Perry (R-TX). He is also endorsed by Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), a very popular man in the Republican Party. He is also endorsed by the holder of this seat before Ron Wright and that is Joe Barton (R-TX).

Both candidates have good endorsements and strong support. I think that Susan Wright comes out with the win though. She is the widow of Ron Wright and that actually helps her. We saw it with Julia Letlow (R-LA) in Louisiana’s 5th Congressional District. She is the widow of Luke Letlow who won the seat in the 2020 election until he died of COVID-19. Susan Wright has strong support in the polls too with 49%. Jake Ellzey has 34%, while 11% is still undecided. It’s going to be a close election, but I think that Susan Wright will win.

By: Ellis Savage