FORT WORTH, Texas (CN) — Republican Jake Ellzey won a hotly contested North Texas congressional seat Tuesday night, upsetting the wife of the first member of Congress to die after contracting Covid-19 who was endorsed by President Donald Trump.
The defeat calls into question Trump’s staying power as an influence over the Republican Party into next year’s midterm elections.
A former Navy fighter pilot, Ellzey received 20,726 votes while Republican operative Susan Wright received 18,232 votes with 93 of 94 precincts reporting. Ellzey won with 53.2% to Wright’s 46.8%.
Ellzey and Wright received the most votes from a crowded field of 23 candidates during a jungle primary in May that was called after Congressman Ron Wright died in February.
He comfortably won reelection nine months ago with 53% of the vote in a reliably red district that stretches from the southeast side of Tarrant County into Ellis and Navarro Counties. It includes part of Fort Worth, Arlington and the areas south of Dallas.
Turnout for Tuesday’s election is low due to the lack of a Democratic candidate advancing to the runoff, an unrelenting stretch of 100-degree days and the unusual July election date. Democrats had hoped the shift of formerly rural areas in the district becoming more suburban would help their candidates reach the runoff.
Susan Wright capitalized on the full-throated endorsement from Trump. He said Monday that she “will vote to shut down Joe Biden’s border disaster” and defund the Democrats’ “open border.”
“Hundreds of thousands of people are pouring in every month,” Trump said during a phone-in speech. “We have never seen anything like it. I couldn't believe [it]. I figured it was incompetence, but maybe they actually want that.”
He added that “Ron is up, looking down on you and he is very, very proud right now.”
In a separate written statement, Trump said Wright “supports America First policies, our Military and our Veterans, is strong on Borders, tough on Crime, Pro-Life, and will always protect our Second Amendment.”
Trump’s latest endorsement comes two days after a Trump-supporting super political action committee – Make America Great Again Action Inc. – reported to the Federal Election Commission it spent $100,000 on television advertisements for the weekend before the election.
Wright has also been endorsed by Republican U.S. Senator Ted Cruz.
Ellzey has countered by raising substantially more campaign money, reporting over $1.7 million to the FEC to Wright’s $740,000.
He has also netted an endorsement by establishment Republican and former Texas Governor Rick Perry, who claims Trump erred by endorsing Wright.
“Donald Trump couldn’t pick Susan Wright out of a lineup,” Perry told Spectrum News on Monday. “He has no idea who she is, has no idea what she believes.”
After Perry’s failed runs for the Republican nomination for president, he was appointed by Trump to serve as energy secretary.
Perry also attacked Wright for allegedly failing to stop the conservative Club for Growth PAC from running TV ads that he claims are misleading about Ellzey.
“She has allowed an organization, Club for Growth, to run the most disdainful, negative campaign against a true American patriot,” Perry said. “The best I can tell, [she] has never stood up and said 'stop it.’”
The 30-second commercial claims Ellzey has “vanished” in the seven months he has been in office in the Texas House of Representatives, claiming he has spent his time running for Congress during both the regular and special sessions of the Texas Legislature.
Matt Langston, chief consultant with Wright’s campaign, dismissed Perry as having “no idea what he is talking about again.”
“President Trump knows Susan and Ron very well, and he also knows Jake Ellzey is a weak RINO [Republican in name only] who takes money from Never-Trumpers like Bill Kristol,” Langston said in a statement Monday. “Susan is the clear conservative choice to advance President Trump’s America First agenda in Congress."
Voters at the Bob Duncan Center in Arlington did not seem to be swayed by the endorsements or negative campaigning. Dottie, 63, from Arlington, said she voted for Wright out of respect for her husband.
"I voted for Mr. Wright last year," Dottie said, declining to give her full name. "I hope Mrs. Wright will continue Ron's work in the House."
A middle-aged man who did not wish to be identified said he voted for a Democrat during May’s jungle primary, but voted for Ellzey on Tuesday because “he will be a less extreme Republican” than Wright.
Wright’s campaign released internal polling last week showing she is leading Ellzey 44% to 34%.
In a late push to get votes from Democrats and independent voters on the sidelines, Ellzey spent the final hours of the campaign attacking Wright as a “Trump-endorsed” activist while playing up his advocacy on behalf of public schools. Ellzey has also picked up the endorsement of former Congressman Joe Barton, who Ron Wright worked for as chief of staff. Barton declined to seek reelection in 2017 after he was accused of sending inappropriate messages and a nude image of himself to a woman.
Follow @davejourno
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