Official newspaper of The University of Texas at Austin

The Daily Texan

Official newspaper of The University of Texas at Austin

The Daily Texan

Official newspaper of The University of Texas at Austin

The Daily Texan

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October 4, 2022
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Chip Roy wins seat for TX-21, maintains seat’s 40-year Republican legacy

Chip_Roy,_official_portrait,_116th_Congress
Courtesy of Chip Roy

Republican incumbent Chip Roy won his bid for reelection for United States House District TX-21 against his primary opponent Democratic nominee Wendy Davis, maintaining Republican’s 40-year legacy on the seat. 

TX-21 represents a large portion of Austin and encompasses parts of Bexar, Travis and Hays counties. Roy beat Davis about 51% to 45%, according to Decision Desk. He was also up against two other candidates, Tommy Wakely from the Green Party and Arthur DiBianca from the Libertarian Party, both of whom got less than 2 percentage points of the vote, according to the website. 

This race is one of 36 U.S. House seats up for grabs this election cycle, according to the Texas Secretary of State. 


Roy has served as the representative for TX-21 since 2019. Based on his voting record, Roy primarily sponsors bills in topics such as armed forces and security and taxation, according to ProPublica. 

Prior to his time in the House, he served as chief of staff to U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and senior adviser to Gov. Greg Abbott. 

Davis formerly represented the 10th district, part of Tarrant County, in the Texas Senate from 2009 to 2015 and more recently ran for governor of Texas in 2014 when she was defeated by Greg Abbott, according to Ballotpedia

 



Davis lost despite having nearly double the amount of receipts, or anything of monetary value received by the campaign, compared to Roy, according to Ballotpedia

Last time this seat was up for election, the Democratic nominee lost to Roy by 2 percentage points, according to Ballotpedia.

Sherri Greenberg, professor of practice at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, said this year’s race in particular was unique because it was considered a toss-up instead of a Republican seat. 

Although it was held by Republicans for 40 years, this is the first time it’s gotten this close to having a Democratic seat because of the changing demographics in the county, she said. 

“This has become a seat that was solidly Republican to a toss-up, meaning it could go either way,” Greenberg said. “It's not … considered Republican seat anymore, but it's one that's considered now (a part of a) 50/50 swing district … It’s a toss-up now because of all those demographic factors, (such as) increasing population.”

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Chip Roy wins seat for TX-21, maintains seat’s 40-year Republican legacy