BEAUMONT, Texas — Democrat Christian “Manuel” Hayes has won the race for District 22 of the Texas House of Representatives.
Hayes, defeated his Republican opponent Jacorion Randle.
Hayes will take over the office from longtime Texas Rep. Joe Deshotel, who has held the seat for more than 20 years.
Hayes beat fellow Democrat, Joseph Trahan, in a runoff following the primaries to advance to the general election.
All of the newly restructured District 22 of the Texas House of Representatives is within Jefferson County. District 22 includes the cities of Beaumont, Port Arthur, Port Neches and Groves.
Hayes has spent the last decade working as the chief of staff for Joe Deshotel.
"He really gave me a motivational push and really let me know that I had the understanding the wherewithal, the relationships and that I needed to give back to my community in a way that it had given back to me," he said.
As representative, Hayes wants to focus on bringing jobs to the area.
"We are losing people in our rural areas, and we have to make sure that we are expanding our job industry so that people are not feeling as though they have to leave or that they have to move in order to have a more successful life," he said.
Jobs, along with flood mitigation and education, were at the top of Hayes' campaign.
Southeast Texas voters made their choices Tuesday in federal and state level races including U.S. Rep for districts 14 and 36 and multiple statewide races including Texas Governor, Lt. Governor and Attorney General.
Voters made decisions in several county-level races, school board races, a few school bonds and a handful of city races.
Some of the races to watch in Southeast Texas were the Jefferson County races for Texas State Rep District 22, 317th District Judge, County Judge, County Clerk and Precinct Two Justice of the Peace.
Voters in Newton County had a $26.5 million bond to decide on.
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This is a developing story. We will update with more if and when we receive more confirmed information.