In an unsurprising outcome Tuesday evening, Texas voters elected Republican Greg Abbott to continue his tenure governor over Democratic challenger Lupe Valdez, defeating the former Dallas County Sheriff, according to the Associated Press.
In a race that took a backseat to the U.S. Senate showdown between Ted Cruz and Beto O’Rourke, Valdez never gained much momentum on Abbott in the polls. The incumbent was polling 26 points higher as recently as Oct. 26.
The result: A second term for Abbott, who has been in office since early 2015.
Their campaign platforms aligned concretely with party lines, with Abbott having banned sanctuary cities across the state as Valdez ran on implementing a path to citizenship for Dreamers.
Abbott’s campaign website also touted his readiness to combat any federal initiatives “to disrupt the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Texans”; meanwhile, Valdez’s official platform points out her priorities were in stark contrast to the sitting governor’s as she cited a push for universal background checks and preventing domestic abusers to get their hands on weapons through loopholes.
The down-to-the-wire race between the Republican Cruz and Democratic O’Rourke perhaps paved the way for a small bit of intrigue to be injected into the gubernatorial race, even though polls continuously showed evidence to the contrary.
And, as voters proved, the polls in this particular race turned out to be correct.
Texas has not elected a Democrat for governor since Ann Richards in 1990.
In other Texas races, incumbent Dan Patrick won re-election for Lieutenant Governor and Attorney General Ken Paxton also won re-election.