LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – Republican voters in Texas’ 19th Congressional District will return to the polls May 26 after no candidate secured more than 50% of the vote in the primary election Tuesday, triggering a runoff.
Tom Sell led the field on election night with 40.4% of the vote. He will face either Abraham Enriquez or Matt Smith in the runoff.
Enriquez holds second place with 18.8% of the vote compared to Smith’s 18.5% — a margin of 193 votes out of 77,664 cast, according to the Secretary of State’s website.
Smith said he will not concede until 100% of the vote is counted. His campaign released a statement Thursday saying there may still be mail-in or provisional ballots that have not been counted.
Lubbock County currently reports 99% of the votes have been processed.
“If I’m unwilling to compromise even if that means I don’t win, they’re going to see that I’m not going to compromise if I get in a tight spot whenever I’m representing District 19,” Smith said.
One of the largest differences among the candidates is fundraising. Sell has raised more than $1.2 million for his campaign, far surpassing both Enriquez and Smith.
Joel Sievert, an associate professor of political science at Texas Tech University, said that fundraising advantage helps explain Sell’s lead.
“That I think is very reflective of why he was in the position he was in. Now does that guarantee he’ll win the runoff? No, not necessarily. But if you have to be one of the three, you’d rather be the one who won 40 percent of the vote and has more cash on hand now that this primary is going to be extended,” Sievert said.
Sievert also noted a shift in how candidates are framing their campaigns.
“You’re seeing primary candidates try to run these highly nationally-focused messages, so that’s somewhat new in that sense,” he said.
Sell said he plans to build on his primary performance heading into the runoff.
“I think we just continue building, continue to work this plan, and continue to build from here. I feel good about the opportunity with all of the feedback we’ve received and I feel really good about the ability and opportunity to do that,” Sell said.
Enriquez is running as a Trump ally and has cited his relationship with the president as a selling point for his campaign.
Sievert said that’s a strategy that hasn’t always worked on the national scale, but it could be effective here in District 19.
“This is a district that is heavily Republican. Trump won it by the largest margin of any of the congressional districts so the strategy does make a lot of sense. If people don’t know who you are, attaching yourself to someone who is ostensibly popular in the district sends that signal,” Sievert said.
President Trump previously endorsed Congressman Jodey Arrington before Arrington announced he would not seek reelection. Trump has not formally endorsed any candidate running to replace Arrington.
Sievert said that is common in primaries this competitive.
“To the extent we have seen it, though, it does follow the dynamic of it’s not clear that his endorsements sway the outcome. A lot of the time he is picking the candidate that’s ahead, he has kind of avoided these very close, very confrontational primaries,” Sievert said.
The runoff is scheduled for May 26.
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