Susan Wright, a Republican activist, and widow of deceased Congressman Ron Wright who died of Covid in February captured first place in the “jungle primary” in the Texas 6th congressional district. Twenty-three candidates vied for two spots in the runoff election in July and Wright finished first by a large margin.
In the battle for the second spot in the runoff, air force veteran and Texas state House representative Jake Ellzey is in a tight battle with Democrat Jana Lynne Sanchez. Ellzey is leading by less than 350 votes with 100 percent of precincts reporting.
Wright had received a late endorsement from Donald Trump which appeared to boost her into a comfortable lead.
The homestretch of the special election was highlighted by former President Donald Trump’s late decision to get involved and endorse Susan Wright, even as some of her GOP rivals campaigned as pro-Trump stalwarts. Trump backed Susan Wright on Monday — the second-to-last day of early voting — and starred in a tele-town hall for her Thursday night.
The district was once strongly Republican, but it has quickly trended blue in recent statewide election results, and former President Donald Trump won it last year by only 3 percentage points. However, Ron Wright won reelection by 9 points in 2020, when he was a national Democratic target.
Several former Trump administration officials were in the race. One of them, Sery Kim, was challenging for the top spot a few weeks ago but ran afoul of the race police. Mrs. Kim made some generalized remarks about the Chinese people that got her into hot water with the media and those who get outraged for a living at anything anyone says they don’t much like.
“I don’t want them here at all,” Sery Kim said of potential Chinese immigrants. “They steal our intellectual property, they give us coronavirus, they don’t hold themselves accountable.”
“And quite frankly, I can say that because I’m Korean,” she added.
Kim says she was speaking of the Chinese Communist Party but do you think that mattered at all? She didn’t even receive a thousand votes.
Another former administration official, Brian Harrison, had been accused by other MAGA candidates of trying to make too much of his relationship with Trump. Harrison served as chief of staff to HHS Secretary Alex Azar, but his campaign advertising suggested he was chosen by the Trump administration to run in the district.
Finally, mention must be made of the NeverTrump candidate Michael Wood, who was the great hope of the national media desperately needing a sign that Trump’s influence in the GOP was waning. Wood was touted as the future of the Republican Party without Trump.
He finished 9th with barely 3 percent of the vote.
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