2022 Texas's 34th congressional district special election

For broader coverage of this topic, see Texas's 34th congressional district.
2022 Texas's 34th congressional district special election
← 2020 June 14, 2022 November 2022 →
Texas's 34th congressional district
Turnout7.36%[1]
 
Candidate Mayra Flores Dan Sanchez
Party Republican Democratic
Popular vote 14,799 12,606
Percentage 50.9% 43.4%
Results by county
Flores:      40–50%      50–60%      70–80%      80–90%
Sanchez:      50–60%
U.S. Representative before election

Filemon Vela Jr.
Democratic

Elected U.S. Representative

Mayra Flores
Republican

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The 2022 Texas's 34th congressional district special election was held on June 14, 2022.[2] The seat, which went to Democratic president Joe Biden by only four points in the 2020 United States presidential election after being solidly blue in the past, became vacant after Democratic incumbent representative Filemon Vela Jr. resigned on March 31, 2022, to work at the law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.[3]

Republican candidate Mayra Flores won outright with 51% of the vote. Although Democrat Dan Sanchez was able to hold on to the Hidalgo County portion of the district by nine points, as well as flip Kenedy County after it went to Donald Trump in 2020, this was not enough to overcome Flores's gains in Cameron and Willacy Counties, resulting in them narrowly flipping red in this race after going to Biden by double digits in the 2020 contest. Flores was also able to shore up support in the district's northern rural counties, which typically voted Republican in the past. Flores became the first Republican to represent parts of the Rio Grande Valley since Blake Farenthold flipped the 27th district in 2010.

Candidates

Democratic Party

Declared

  • Rene Coronado, civil service director[4]
  • Dan Sanchez, attorney and former Cameron County commissioner[5]

Declined

Republican Party

Declared

Endorsements

Mayra Flores (R)

U.S. Representatives

State officials

Organizations

Others

Dan Sanchez (D)

U.S. Representatives

Organizations

Special election

Predictions

Source Ranking As of
The Cook Political Report[12] Tossup April 8, 2022
Inside Elections[13] Tossup June 3, 2022
Sabato's Crystal Ball[14] Lean R (flip) March 30, 2022

Polling

Poll source Date(s)
administered 		Sample
size[a] 		Margin
of error 		Juana
Cantu-Cabrera
(R) 		Rene
Coronado
(D) 		Mayra
Flores
(R) 		Dan
Sanchez
(D) 		Undecided
RRH Elections (R)[15] June 8–11, 2022 484 (LV) ± 5.0% 3% 7% 43% 34% 13%
Ragnar Research Partners (R)[16][A] April 19–21, 2022 400 (LV) ± 4.9% 7% 9% 24% 19% 41%

Fundraising

Campaign finance reports
Candidate Amount raised Amount spent Cash on hand
Mayra Flores (R) $1,722,406 $1,608,423 $113,983
Daniel Sanchez (D) $173,668 $173,668 $0
Source: OpenSecrets[17]

Results

2022 Texas's 34th congressional district special election results[1]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Mayra Flores 14,799 50.91
Democratic Dan Sanchez 12,606 43.37
Democratic Rene Coronado 1,210 4.16
Republican Juana Cantu-Cabrera 454 1.56
Total votes 29,069 100.00
Registered electors 395,025
Republican gain from Democratic
By county
County Mayra Flores
Republican 		Dan Sanchez
Democratic 		Rene Coronado
Democratic 		Juana Cantu-Cabrera
Republican 		Margin Total
votes 		Turnout
# % # % # % # % # %
Bee 992 74.6 282 21.2 33 2.5 23 1.7 710 53.4 1,330 8.47
Cameron 9,072 47.5 8,875 46.5 891 4.7 267 1.4 197 1.0 19,105 8.48
DeWitt 713 82.0 98 11.3 10 1.1 49 5.6 615 70.7 870 7.18
Goliad 395 79.6 76 15.3 14 2.8 11 2.2 319 64.3 496 8.63
Gonzales (part) 158 82.3 20 10.4 5 2.6 9 4.7 138 71.9 192 4.26
Hidalgo (part) 1,203 42.8 1,464 52.1 111 3.9 34 1.2 261 9.3 2,812 4.80
Jim Wells 651 51.3 571 45.0 34 2.7 14 1.1 80 6.3 1,270 4.80
Kenedy 13 43.3 15 50.0 0 0.0 2 6.7 2 6.7 30 9.71
Kleberg 864 57.0 567 37.4 65 4.3 20 1.3 297 19.6 1,516 8.21
San Patricio (part) 385 52.5 297 40.5 31 4.2 20 2.7 88 12.0 733 4.62
Willacy 353 49.4 341 47.7 16 2.2 5 0.7 12 1.7 715 6.05
Totals 14,799 50.9 12,606 43.4 1,210 4.2 454 1.6 2,193 7.5 29,069 7.36

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Key:
    A – all adults
    RV – registered voters
    LV – likely voters
    V – unclear

Partisan clients

  1. ^ Poll sponsored jointly by the National Republican Congressional Committee and Flores's campaign committee

References

  1. ^ a b "SPECIAL ELECTION CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT 34 - UNOFFICIAL RESULTS". Secretary of State of Texas. June 14, 2022. Retrieved June 16, 2022.
  2. ^ Svitek, Patrick (April 4, 2022). "Abbott calls June 14 special election for South Texas congressional seat that Republicans want to flip". The Texas Tribune. Archived from the original on April 5, 2022. Retrieved April 9, 2022.
  3. ^ Livingston, Abby (March 31, 2022). "U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela steps down, setting up a heated battle for his South Texas district". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved April 1, 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Svitek, Patrick (April 13, 2022). "Two Democrats, two Republicans will compete in special election for South Texas congressional seat that GOP wants to flip". The Texas Tribune. Archived from the original on April 14, 2022. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
  5. ^ "Former South Texas judge announces run in special election for open congressional seat". KXAN-TV. April 6, 2022.
  6. ^ "NEW: Rep. Vicente Gonzalez, the Dem nominee in the 34th, tells me he will *not* run in this special election, even though he'll continue to run for Vela's open seat in the November election. (Gonzalez is running in the 34th after his current district, the 15th, was redistricted.)".
  7. ^ a b "U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela's resignation announcement sparks a sudden special-election scramble in hotly contested South Texas". March 24, 2022.
  8. ^ "Qualified Candidates Information". Texas Secretary of State.
  9. ^ Svitek, Patrick (March 24, 2022). "U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela's resignation announcement sparks a sudden special-election scramble in hotly contested South Texas". Texas Tribune. Retrieved March 24, 2022.
  10. ^ Schultz, Marisa (March 8, 2022). "Elise Stefanik unveils new endorsements for 2022 midterm elections". Fox News. Retrieved May 31, 2022.
  11. ^ "CHC BOLD PAC Announces New 2022 Endorsements". www.bolcpac.com. May 31, 2022. Retrieved June 4, 2022.
  12. ^ Wasserman, Dave (April 8, 2022). "TX-34 Special Election Gives GOP an Early South Texas Gift". Retrieved April 8, 2022.
  13. ^ "House Ratings". The Rothenberg Political Report. Retrieved June 17, 2022.
  14. ^ Kondik, Kyle (March 30, 2022). "Notes on the State of Politics: March 30, 2022". Retrieved March 30, 2022.
  15. ^ RRH Elections (R)
  16. ^ Ragnar Research Partners (R)
  17. ^ "Texas District 34 2022 Special Election". OpenSecrets. Archived from the original on October 7, 2022. Retrieved October 7, 2022.

Official campaign websites