GOP congressman Michael McCaul won reelection in his race with Democratic attorney Mike Siegel to represent Texas' 10th Congressional District, which stretches from western Harris County to Austin and covers several largely rural counties in between.
This is McCaul's ninth term.
The results echo the 2018 election, when McCaul prevailed over Siegel by a little more than four percentage points.
The bulk of McCaul’s support comes from the rural counties in the district, which tend to vote Republican, while the Houston and Austin ends of the district, anchored in the suburbs of each city, are more likely to tilt Democratic.
In the weeks leading up to the election, political analysts rated the race as “leans Republican.” Political analyst Nancy Sims previously told Houston Public Media that the rural core of the district and McCaul’s seniority as an eight-term incumbent combine to give him an edge over Siegel.
But increased voter turnout had left Democrats hopeful that Siegel could close the gap.
“If (Siegel) can increase turnout, and if we continue to see voter turnout across the state at the levels it has been the first two days (of early voting), then he may have a chance to pick up those extra 6,000 votes or so he would need to win the election,” Sims said.
The main issues in the race were health care, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the economy.
McCaul stressed the role he played as an incumbent in securing aid for local hospitals, while the Bernie Sanders-backed Siegel has been calling for a much greater mobilization of the federal government to confront the crisis, akin to the New Deal. Siegel was also one of the candidates endorsed by the youth-led Sunrise Movement.
McCaul also used his role as head of the all-Republican congressional China Task Force to try to draw attention to the role he says the Chinese government played in the early spread of the coronavirus.
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