Republicans Susan Wright and Jake Ellzey are headed to a runoff after finishing first and second in Saturday’s special election to fill the North Texas congressional seat left by Wright’s late husband, U.S. Rep. Ron Wright (R–Arlington).
Ron Wright passed away in February, just weeks into his second term representing Texas’ 6th Congressional District, which includes parts of Fort Worth and Arlington in Tarrant County, as well as all of Ellis and Navarro counties.
A total of 23 candidates ran to fill his unexpired term.
Susan Wright is a long-time Republican activist in Tarrant County. She received hundreds of endorsements, including from former President Donald Trump, and was the top finisher in the special election with 19 percent of the vote.
Ellzey is a first-term state representative from Waxahachie in Ellis County, who ran second to Ron Wright in the 2018 GOP primary for CD 6. He finished second again in Saturday’s race, with 13.85 percent of the vote—just 354 votes ahead of the third-place finisher, Democrat Jana Lynne Sanchez.
The special election included candidates from all parties on the May 1 ballot.
Since no candidate received more than 50 percent of the votes, the top two finishers will compete in a runoff.
A runoff election date will be set by the governor.
Complete contest results can be found on the Texas secretary of state’s website.
