2019 United States Senate special election in Texas
 | This article is incomplete because it is pending further input from participants, or it is a work-in-progress by one author. Please comment on this article's talk page to share your input, comments and questions. Note: To contribute to this article, you may need to seek help from the author(s) of this page. |
 | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 48.98% | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
A special election for the United States Senate in Texas took place on June 4th and June 18th to fill the U.S. Senate vacancy left by the resignation of Senator James Goldwater. The winner of the special election is set to serve until January 3, 2025 in accordance with Texas law. Democratic candidate Suraj Shah defeated the Republican, Karen Brookshire by a margin of 0.6% with 46,062 votes separating them. Suraj Shah became the first Democrat to win a Texas Senate Election since Lloyd Bentsen in 1998.
In mid-April, 2019, Senator James Goldwater engaged in a controversial interview which later triggered his resignation and a special election. The Governor of Texas scheduled a special election on June 4th with a top-two runoff scheduled for June 18th. In accordance with Texas State Law, all candidates appear on the same ballot and indicate party preference, the top two-contenders subsequently proceed to a runoff. Two Democrats, Cynthia Gonzales-Rogers, the President of Rice University and Congressman Suraj Shah, of Texas' 9th Congressional District competed for a spot in the top two as did four Republicans, evangelist Justice Randall Cramp, businesswoman Karen Brookshire, Congressman Gordon De Lange and President of the Texas Gunowners Association, George Allen. In the June 4 blanket primary, Suraj Shah and Karen Brookshire advanced to a runoff.
At 9.20pm CDT, June 18, 2019, the Associated Press and affiliates called the race for Shah, although pressure mounted on Brookshire to challenge the results. Shah became the first Democrat since 1994 to win a statewide election in Texas.