The special election carousel keeps on rolling today with two contests for open seats in the lower houses of the Texas and California state legislatures. In the Texas state House of Representatives, the seat in District 10 is open after Jake Ellzey was elected to Congress last month. The district covers all of Ellis County, as well as the northwest corner of Henderson County. There are eight candidates vying for this seat; five Republicans, one Democrat, one Libertarian, and an independent. Among the Republicans running are former 10th District Representative John Wray, Midlothian City Councilmember Clark Wickliffe, and former chief of staff of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for the Trump administration Brian Harrison. Harrison finished fourth in the special election for the 6th Congressional District back in May. If no candidate achieves a 50%+1 majority of the vote, the top two finishers move on to a runoff election. We will have election results here once polls close at 7:00 p.m. (CDT)
In California, State Assembly District 18 is open after Rob Bonta was appointed California Attorney General by Governor Gavin Newsom. The 18th District covers three cities in Alameda County including San Leandro, Alameda city, and most of Oakland. Two candidates emerged from a June primary after no one received a 50%+1 majority of the vote. Finishing in first was Alameda Unified School Board President Mia Bonta, who is married to Rob Bonta. She faces Janani Ramachandran, a local social justice attorney. We will have election results here once polls close at 8:00 p.m. (PDT)