TX-23: Republicans get their nominee for Texas seat over a month after the end of the primary
On Friday, well over a month after voting concluded in Texas’ July 14 primary runoff, Republicans finally learned that Navy veteran Tony Gonzales would be their nominee for the competitive 23rd Congressional District.
Businessman Raul Reyes, who had been pursuing a recount after he finished 45 votes behind Gonzales, announced that, “Without a sizable shift in the vote margin after a recount in the most populous parts of the district I have decided to end the recount.” The recount finished in the counties that made up 80% of the vote last month, and Reyes’ team said that their deficit had only narrowed to 39 votes.
Gonzales’ win, belated as it was, gives national Republicans their preferred nominee for this west Texas seat, which swung from 51-48 Romney to 50-46 Clinton. Gonzales had the backing of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Rep. Will Hurd, who is retiring from this district, and he earned Donald Trump’s endorsement in the final days of the contest. Sen. Ted Cruz, though, backed Reyes, who had been waging a long-shot primary bid against Hurd before the incumbent decided not to seek another term.
Cruz’s support wasn’t quite enough to get Reyes over the finish line, but it may have badly hurt Gonzales by dragging out the primary for an extra five weeks. Gonzales was already facing a difficult battle in the fall against Democrat Gina Ortiz Jones, who won her party’s nomination in the fall and ended June with a hefty $3 million on-hand.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/8/24/1971912/-Republicans-get-their-nominee-for-swingy-Texas-seat-over-a-month-after-the-end-of-the-primary