Several incumbent members of the Texas House of Representatives lost their primary runoffs on Tuesday night, capping off a difficult primary season for many establishment Republicans.
On Tuesday, Republican State Reps. Justin Holland, John Kuempel, Dewayne Burns, Frederick Frazier, Lynn Stucky, and Stephanie Klick lost their runoff elections to conservative challengers. Of the defeated incumbents, Frazier lost by the largest margin in this North Texas race against Keresa Richardson, winning just 32 percent of the vote.
The runoff election results were the culmination of an overall difficult primary atmosphere for many incumbent Republican lawmakers. During the first round of voting in March, nine incumbent Republicans lost their primary elections, bringing the total number of ousted establishment Republican lawmakers to 15.
While the results were positive for conservative challengers on Tuesday, not every incumbent lost their primary election. Speaker Dade Phelan won a close re-election fight against challenger David Covey in District 21, while State Rep. Gary Vandeaver won re-election in District 1 over challenger Chris Spencer.