Help us improve in just 2 minutes—share your thoughts in our reader survey.
Emily Kebodeaux Cook
Emily Kebodeaux Cook (Republican Party) ran for election to the Texas House of Representatives to represent District 18. Cook lost in the Republican primary on March 6, 2018.
Cook ran in one of 48 contested Texas state legislative Republican primaries in 2018. To read more about the conflict between Republican factions in the primaries, including who the factions were, which races were competitive and who key influencers lined up behind, click here.
Biography
Emily Kebodeaux Cook lives in Liberty, Texas. She graduated from Tarkington Independent School District. She earned a bachelor's degree from Stephen F. Austin State University and a law degree from Baylor University.[1] Cook's career experience includes working as an attorney.[2]
Elections
2018
General election
General election for Texas House of Representatives District 18
Incumbent Ernest Bailes defeated Fred Lemond in the general election for Texas House of Representatives District 18 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Ernest Bailes (R) | 75.5 | 35,597 |
| Fred Lemond (D) | 24.5 | 11,559 | ||
| Total votes: 47,156 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Texas House of Representatives District 18
Fred Lemond advanced from the Democratic primary for Texas House of Representatives District 18 on March 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | Fred Lemond | 100.0 | 2,326 | |
| Total votes: 2,326 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Texas House of Representatives District 18
Incumbent Ernest Bailes defeated Emily Kebodeaux Cook in the Republican primary for Texas House of Representatives District 18 on March 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Ernest Bailes | 59.3 | 11,105 |
| Emily Kebodeaux Cook | 40.7 | 7,608 | ||
| Total votes: 18,713 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Overview of 2018 Republican primaries
The 2018 Texas state legislative Republican primaries featured conflict between two factions. One group was opposed to House Speaker Joe Straus (R) and his preferred policies on issues like education financing and property taxes. The anti-Straus wing included members of the Texas Freedom Caucus and organizations such as Empower Texans and Texas Right to Life. The other group was supportive of Straus and his policy priorities. The pro-Straus wing included incumbent legislators allied with Straus and organizations such as the Associated Republicans of Texas and the Texas Association of Business. To learn more about these factions and the conflict between them, visit our page on factional conflict among Texas Republicans.
The primaries occurred on March 6, 2018, with runoffs on May 22, 2018. There were 48 contested state legislative Republican primaries, outnumbering contested primaries in 2016 (43) and 2014 (44). To see our full coverage of the state legislative Republican primaries, including who key influencers were backing and what the primaries meant for the 2019 House speaker's race, visit our primary coverage page.
The charts below outline the March 6 primary races for the state Senate and the state House. They show how the factions performed on election night.
| Texas Senate Republicans | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Before March 6 primaries | After March 6 primaries | |
| Pro-Straus | 2 | 1 | |
| Anti-Straus | 1 | 3 | |
| Unknown | 3 | 3 | |
| Open seats | 1 | - | |
| Runoffs | - | - | |
| Too close to call | - | - | |
| Total | 7 | 7 | |
| Texas House Republicans | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Before March 6 primaries | After March 6 primaries | |
| Pro-Straus | 20 | 20 | |
| Anti-Straus | 4 | 9 | |
| Unknown | 2 | 5 | |
| Open seats | 15 | - | |
| Runoffs | - | 7 | |
| Too close to call | - | - | |
| Total | 41 | 41 | |
Primary we watched
This primary was one of 48 we tracked for the March 6 elections.
Did the incumbent file to run for re-election?
| Yes. |
What made this a race to watch?
| Emily Kebodeaux Cook challenged state Rep. Ernest Bailes, an ally of Speaker Joe Straus. As of January 31, 2018, only Cook had signed the form committing to vote for the Republican caucus' choice for speaker on the House floor. Endorsements for Cook
Endorsements for Bailes |
Campaign finance
See also
- State legislative elections, 2018
- Texas House of Representatives elections, 2018
- State legislative special elections, 2018
- Texas House of Representatives
- Texas State Legislature
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Facebook, "Emily Kebodeaux Cook for State Representative," accessed January 29, 2018
- ↑ Vote Emily Cook, "About Emily," accessed January 29, 2018
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedBLASTj25 - ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedNFIB
