Democrat Eliz Markowitz suffered a major loss in Tuesday’s special runoff election for Texas House District 28, despite a flood of support from liberal groups and top Democrats like Beto O’Rourke.
Republican Gary Gates beat Markowitz by 16 points in the suburban Houston race Democrats hoped would be a bellwether for flipping the state House to Democratic control. Markowitz badly underperformed O’Rourke, who lost the district by three points in 2018 to Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas), and even Hillary Clinton, who lost it by 10 points in 2016 to President Donald Trump.
O’Rourke campaigned heavily for Markowitz, making it his “second home” over the past month. The race was an early test of his political strength following his disappointing 2020 presidential campaign, which he suspended in November.
Thank you for your support, Vice-President @JoeBiden! Let’s win HD28 in 11 days and set the tone for 2020! @texasdemocrats @DemRedistrict @dlcc @FtBendDems @FliptheTXhouse @AnniesListTX @FutureNowUSA #texas @ProgressTX @hdcc #democrats #vote #voteblue #txlege #ThursdayWisdom pic.twitter.com/8BwtaAomVO
— Dr. Eliz Markowitz (@ElizMarkowitz) January 17, 2020
His new political action committee, Powered by People, founded in an effort to turn the Texas legislature blue, brought 1,000 people to the district to help in the contest. Outside liberal groups such as Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas, Moms Demand Action, and EMILY’s List endorsed Markowitz and poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into the race. – READ MORE