Female candidates score major wins in Texas primaries

Female candidates running in primaries in Texas scored major victories Tuesday night.

More than half of the women running either won their primaries or advanced to runoffs, according to The Associated Press. At least three primary runoffs will see women competing against each other.

The large number of female candidates in Tuesday’s primaries — nearly 50 — set a record for women running in Texas primary elections.

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Among the winners are Democratic candidates Veronica Escobar and Sylvia Garcia, who are expected to win in the general election. They would both be the first Latinas from Texas to serve in Congress.

“It’s Trump. It’s Trump,” Escobar told the AP. “I’ve spoken to innumerable senior citizens, retirees, parents of disabled children, people who understand what this administration means to their families. And they’re afraid.”

Other successful female candidates include Laura Moser, a Democrat who was targeted by the House Democrats’ campaign arm over past comments about Texas and a donation from her husband’s company. She will advance to a primary runoff against lawyer Lizzie Pannill Fletcher in a bid to unseat Rep. John Culberson (R). 

GOP mega-donor Kathleen Wall, however, failed to win her race, despite spending $6 million of her own money on her campaign.

Women across the U.S. are running for Congress in large numbers this year, with more than twice as many women launching campaigns for the 2018 midterm elections than they did in 2016.

Democrats in Texas also doubled their primary turnout from the last midterm election, in 2014, with more than 1 million casting votes in Tuesday’s primaries.

About 1.5 million Texans voted in the Republicans primaries.