BEAUMONT, Texas — Twelve weeks from now some Southeast Texas voters will be heading back to the polls for a runoff to decide who will win the primary election for the District 21 seat in the Texas House of Representatives.
Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan, who became the 76th Speaker of the Texas House in January 2021, is in his fourth term as the state rep for district 21 and is now defending his seat against David Covey in a runoff election.
Covey is a former chairman of the Orange County Republican Party who has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump, Attorney General Ken Paxton, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller.
Because no Democrat is running in the race, the winner of the primary election will likely run unopposed in the general election and win the seat.
A runoff was triggered because none of the three candidates in the race received more than 50% of the votes cast with Covey at 46.3% (15,576) and Phelan at 43.2% (14,542)
The primary runoff election will happen on Tuesday, May 28, 2024.
Texas House District 21 covers all voters of Orange and Jasper County as well as a portion of Jefferson County which includes about 27% of the voting age population.
Only those who voted in the Republican primary election on Tuesday or those who did not vote in either primary are eligible to vote in the runoff. If you voted in the Democratic primary you won't be able to vote in the runoff.
If you're not registered to vote and want to participate in the runoff you'll need to register by April 29, 2024.
Early voting for the runoff will run from May 20 through May 24, 2024, but if you need to vote by mail you've got to sign up by May 17, 2024.
Mail ballots must be turned in by 7 p.m. on runoff day, May 28, 2024, if the envelope is not postmarked or by 5 p.m. the next business day if the envelope was postmarked by 7 p.m. on election day. Check with your county voting office if you're in the military or will be overseas.
Here's how the race broke down across all three counties...
- Phelan: 6,106
- Covey: 4,076
- Davis: 419
- Covey: 8,203
- Phelan: 5,917
- Davis: 925
- Covey: 3,300
- Phelan: 2,524
- Davis: 2,173
12news was not able to speak to Phelan Tuesday night but he released a statement later that night.
“Against a tidal wave of outside influence and the relentless flood of special interest dollars pouring into House District 21, our campaign emerges today still standing strong against the tides that have sought to unseat me," Phelan said n a statement sent to 12News late Tuesday night.
Covey was not available before the newscast but spoke to 12News after 10:30 p.m.
"I am extremely excited and happy with the results here," Covey told 12News late Tuesday night. "It looks like we're going to be going into a runoff. This gives us more time to go meet the voters and interact with them and that's what our campaign has been established on."
GET NEWS & WEATHER ALERTS | Download the 12News App to your mobile device
This is a developing story. We will update with more if and when we receive more confirmed information.