Republican Fort Bend County Sheriff wins Texas House seat

Republican Fort Bend County Sheriff Troy Nehls won the race for Texas’s 22nd Congressional District’s House seat, maintaining the GOP’s hold in the district.

Nehls helped Republicans hold onto the competitive House seat after facing challenger Democrat Sri Preston Kulkarni. The Cook Political Report rated the race as a “toss-up” this year, even though Republicans had held the seat since 2009.

The seat became vacant after Rep. Pete Olson (R-Texas), who was elected in 2008, announced his retirement last year. Kulkarni narrowly lost to Olson in the 2018 midterm elections. 

During the 2020 election, Kulkarni tried to use Nehls’s more than 20-year law enforcement career against him, citing past alleged misconduct that he was fired for in the 1990s and complaints about his current department.

Nehls served for the Richmond Police Department before he was elected as a constable in Fort Bend County for eight years. He was first elected county sheriff in 2012.