Republican John Lujan has won the special election runoff for Texas House District 118 by a margin of 51.2% to 48.8%, flipping the Democratic-friendly seat in San Antonio.
The victory by Lujan gives Republicans an early win in their drive to make new inroads in South Texas after President Joe Biden underperformed there last year.
Lujan briefly held the seat in 2016, while his opponent Frank Ramirez is a former legislative staffer and San Antonio city council staffer.
He called his victory part of a “big movement … for conservatism” in the Hispanic community.
Ramirez conceded in a statement. “We didn’t make it over the line tonight,” he said. “But we gave Texas Republicans a run for their money at every single step.”
Lujan will replace former state Rep. Leo Pacheco, D-San Antonio, who resigned earlier this year to teach at San Antonio College.
The seat on San Antonio’s South Side favors Democrats and Biden carried it by 14 percentage points last year. But the GOP had gone all in to capture the seat, hoping to score an early victory in their quest to make new gains in South Texas after Biden’s underwhelming numbers throughout the region.
One of Lujan’s backers, the Associated Republicans of Texas, said in a statement that Lujan’s election “marks the beginning of Republicans winning Democrat-held seats in South Texas in the 2022 election cycle.”
Lujan’s win was driven by a surge in Election Day votes. After losing the early vote by 2 percentage points, he won the ballots cast Tuesday by 10 points.
Lujan was the top finisher in the special election in late September, getting 42% of the vote, while Ramirez placed second with 20%. There were two other Democrats running, as well as one other Republican.
