A special election is being held on Aug. 31 for District 10 of the Texas House of Representatives. The candidate filing deadline was Aug. 12. Pierina Otiniano (D), Kevin Griffin (R), Brian Harrison (R), Susan Hayslip (R), Clark Wickliffe (R), John Wray (R), Matt Savino (L), and Scott Goodwin (I) are running in the general election. A general election runoff will be scheduled if no candidate earns at least 50% of the vote. The winner will serve until January 2023.
The District 10 seat became vacant after Jake Ellzey (R) won a special election to Texas’ 6th Congressional District on July 27. Ellzey had represented District 10 since January 2021.
Heading into the special election, Republicans have an 82-67 majority in the Texas House with one vacancy. Texas has a Republican state government trifecta. A trifecta exists when one political party simultaneously holds the governor’s office and majorities in both state legislative chambers.
As of August, 51 state legislative special elections have been scheduled for 2021 in 18 states. Between 2011 and 2020, an average of 75 special elections took place each year. Texas held 28 state legislative special elections from 2011 to 2020.
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