The record • Republican Primary, March 3, 2026
To the 186,447 of you: thank you.
This page exists because a thank you that only lives in a concession speech is not really a thank you. What follows is the actual accounting of what you did, what it cost you, and what I owe you because of it.
Certified returns
What the canvass says
In the March 3, 2026 Republican primary for Lieutenant Governor of Texas, 2,105,880 ballots were cast. The three term incumbent took 1,784,213. I received 186,447, which is 8.9 percent, and second place in a four person field.
84.7 percent. Three terms, a decade of statewide name recognition, campaign account reported at over $37 million entering the cycle.
8.9 percent. First run for any office, no consultant firm, no statewide media buy, grassroots budget only.
Perla Muñoz Hopkins at 108,034 and Esala Wueschner at 27,186.
Second place is not a trophy. It is a mandate to keep going, handed to me by 186,447 people who had every reason to stay home.
Who I am thanking, specifically
Four groups, and none of them are interchangeable.
186,447 people
You drove to a polling place in a primary most of the state ignored and filled in a name the news had barely mentioned. Nobody can buy that.
Everyone who gave
Most of what came in arrived under a hundred dollars from people doing math at a kitchen table before they hit send. Not one corporate dollar because Texas law forbids it and because we were never going to be that campaign.
The ones who worked
Signature gatherers, block walkers, county captains, the people who ran a table at a July fair, edited video at midnight, and gave space, printing, and time.
Everyone who covered
Behind every volunteer is a spouse who took the extra shift. My own included. That bill was paid by people whose names are on no report anywhere.
What it proved
The number matters more than the loss does.
A statewide primary in Texas is a machine designed to protect incumbents. Ballot access alone eliminates most challengers before a vote is cast. The consultant class informs anyone considering a run that the entry price is seven figures, which is how the field stays clear.
We got 186,447 votes without any of it. That is the proof of concept. The ceiling on a genuine grassroots statewide campaign in this state is a great deal higher than the people who run Texas politics want anyone to find out. What we lacked was not a message. It was four years of runway. So this time we are taking the four years.