Texas' 32nd Congressional District election, 2020

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2018
Texas' 32nd Congressional District
Ballotpedia Election Coverage Badge.png
Democratic primary
Republican primary
General election
Election details
Filing deadline: December 9, 2019
Primary: March 3, 2020
Primary runoff: July 14, 2020
General: November 3, 2020

Pre-election incumbent:
Colin Allred (Democrat)
How to vote
Poll times: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Voting in Texas
Race ratings
Cook Political Report: Likely Democratic
Sabato's Crystal Ball: Likely Democratic
Inside Elections: Solid Democratic
Ballotpedia analysis
U.S. Senate battlegrounds
U.S. House battlegrounds
Federal and state primary competitiveness
Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2020
See also
Texas' 32nd Congressional District
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Texas elections, 2020
U.S. Congress elections, 2020
U.S. Senate elections, 2020
U.S. House elections, 2020

All U.S. congressional districts, including the 32nd Congressional District of Texas, held elections in 2020.

Incumbent Colin Allred won election in the general election for U.S. House Texas District 32.

Watch the Candidate Conversation for this race!

Candidate filing deadline Primary election General election
December 9, 2019
March 3, 2020
November 3, 2020

Heading into the election the incumbent was Democrat Colin Allred, who was first elected in 2018.

Allred ran unopposed in the March 3, 2020, Democratic primary. Collins defeated Floyd McLendon Jr. and three others in the Republican primary, receiving 53 percent of the vote to McLendon's 34 percent. No other candidate received over five percent of the vote.

Allred was first elected in 2018 after defeating 11-term incumbent Pete Sessions (R) with Allred receiving 52 percent of the vote to Sessions' 46 percent. Allred's election made him the first Democrat to represent the 32nd District since its creation in 2003. In 2016 and 2014, Sessions won with margins of victory of 52.1 and 26.4 points, respectively.

Branches of both national major parties focused on the race. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee listed Allred and the 32nd District as part of its Frontline program. The National Republican Congressional Committee designated Collins as a member of its Young Guns program.

Texas' 32nd Congressional District is located in the central portion of the state and includes portions of Dallas and Collin counties.[1]


Republican Party For more information about the Republican primary, click here.
Democratic Party For more information about the Democratic primary, click here.

Coronavirus and the 2020 election

See also: Changes to election dates, procedures, and administration in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, 2020

Ballotpedia provided comprehensive coverage on how the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic affected America's political and civic life, including elections.

Texas modified its absentee/mail-in voting, candidate filing, and early voting procedures for the November 3, 2020, general election as follows:

  • Absentee/mail-in voting: Local election officials may not reject an absentee ballot due to a perceived signature mismatch unless the voter is given a pre-rejection notice of this finding and a "meaningful opportunity to cure his or her ballot's rejection." Return locations for absentee/mail-in ballots limited to one per county.
  • Candidate filing procedures: The petition deadline for independent candidates for non-presidential office was extended to August 13.
  • Early voting: Early voting will begin on October 13.

For a full timeline about election modifications made in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, click here.

Candidates and election results

General election candidates


Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
Democratic Party Democratic primary candidates


Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.

Republican Party Republican primary candidates


Did not make the ballot:


Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
Third Party convention candidates

Libertarian Party


Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.


Pivot Counties

See also: Pivot Counties by state

One of 254 Texas counties—0.4 percent—is a Pivot County. Pivot Counties are counties that voted for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012 and for Donald Trump (R) in 2016. Altogether, the nation had 206 Pivot Counties, with most being concentrated in upper midwestern and northeastern states.

Counties won by Trump in 2016 and Obama in 2012 and 2008
County Trump margin of victory in 2016 Obama margin of victory in 2012 Obama margin of victory in 2008
Jefferson County, Texas 0.48% 1.61% 2.25%

In the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump (R) won Texas with 52.2 percent of the vote. Hillary Clinton (D) received 43.2 percent. In presidential elections between 1900 and 2016, Texas cast votes for the winning presidential candidate 66.7 percent of the time. In that same time frame, Texas supported Democratic candidates slightly more often than Republicans, 53.3 to 46.7 percent. The state, however, favored Republicans in every presidential election between 2000 and 2016.

Presidential results by legislative district

The following table details results of the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections by state House districts in Texas. Click [show] to expand the table. The "Obama," "Romney," "Clinton," and "Trump" columns describe the percent of the vote each presidential candidate received in the district. The "2012 Margin" and "2016 Margin" columns describe the margin of victory between the two presidential candidates in those years. The "Party Control" column notes which party held that seat heading into the 2018 general election. Data on the results of the 2012 and 2016 presidential elections broken down by state legislative districts was compiled by Daily Kos.[2][3]

In 2012, Barack Obama (D) won 54 out of 150 state House districts in Texas with an average margin of victory of 37.4 points. In 2016, Hillary Clinton (D) won 65 out of 150 state House districts in Texas with an average margin of victory of 36.4 points. Clinton won 10 districts controlled by Republicans heading into the 2018 elections.
In 2012, Mitt Romney (R) won 96 out of 150 state House districts in Texas with an average margin of victory of 36.2 points. In 2016, Donald Trump (R) won 85 out of 150 state House districts in Texas with an average margin of victory of 34.5 points.

District analysis

See also: The Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index
See also: FiveThirtyEight's elasticity scores

The 2017 Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was R+5, meaning that in the previous two presidential elections, this district's results were 5 percentage points more Republican than the national average. This made Texas' 32nd Congressional District the 194th most Republican nationally.[4]

FiveThirtyEight's September 2018 elasticity score for states and congressional districts measured "how sensitive it is to changes in the national political environment." This district's elasticity score was 1.02. This means that for every 1 point the national political mood moved toward a party, the district was expected to move 1.02 points toward that party.[5]

Campaign finance

The chart below contains data from financial reports submitted to the Federal Election Commission.

Name Party Receipts* Disbursements** Cash on hand Date
Christy Mowrey Libertarian Party $0 $0 $0 Data not available
Colin Allred Democratic Party $5,306,741 $4,876,513 $533,673 As of October 14, 2020
Genevieve Collins Republican Party $5,169,478 $4,898,971 $270,507 As of October 14, 2020
Jason Sigmon Independent $11,791 $11,651 $154 As of October 14, 2020

Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," .

* According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee."
** According to the FEC, a disbursement "is a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit or gift of money or anything of value to influence a federal election," plus other kinds of payments not made to influence a federal election.


Race ratings

See also: Race rating definitions and methods

Ballotpedia provides race ratings from three outlets: The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, and Sabato's Crystal Ball. Each race rating indicates if one party is perceived to have an advantage in the race and, if so, the degree of advantage:

  • Safe and Solid ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge and the race is not competitive.
  • Likely ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge, but an upset is possible.
  • Lean ratings indicate that one party has a small edge, but the race is competitive.[6]
  • Tossup ratings indicate that neither party has an advantage.

Race ratings are informed by a number of factors, including polling, candidate quality, and election result history in the race's district or state.[7][8][9]

Race ratings: Texas' 32nd Congressional District election, 2020
Race trackerRace ratings
November 3, 2020October 27, 2020October 20, 2020October 13, 2020
The Cook Political ReportLikely DemocraticLikely DemocraticLikely DemocraticLikely Democratic
Inside Elections with Nathan L. GonzalesSolid DemocraticSolid DemocraticSolid DemocraticLikely Democratic
Larry J. Sabato's Crystal BallLikely DemocraticLikely DemocraticLikely DemocraticLikely Democratic
Note: Ballotpedia updates external race ratings every week throughout the election season.

Candidate ballot access

The table below details filing requirements for 32nd Congressional District candidates in Texas in the 2020 election cycle. For additional information on candidate ballot access requirements in Texas, click here.

Filing requirements, 2020
State Office Party Signatures required Signature formula Filing fee Filing fee formula Filing deadline Source
Texas 32nd Congressional District Democratic or Republican N/A N/A $3,125.00 Fixed number 12/9/2019 Source
Texas 32nd Congressional District Unaffiliated 500 5% of all votes cast for governor in the district in the last election; not to exceed 500 N/A N/A 12/9/2019 (declaration of intent); 8/13/2020 (final filing deadline) Source

District election history

2018

See also: Texas' 32nd Congressional District election, 2018

General election
General election for U.S. House Texas District 32

Colin Allred defeated incumbent Pete Sessions and Melina Baker in the general election for U.S. House Texas District 32 on November 6, 2018.

Candidate
%
Votes

Image of https://s3.amazonaws.com/ballotpedia-api4/files/thumbs/100/100/CollinAllred1.png

Colin Allred (D)
 
52.3
 
144,067

Image of https://s3.amazonaws.com/ballotpedia-api4/files/thumbs/100/100/Pete_Sessions.jpg

Pete Sessions (R)
 
45.8
 
126,101

Image of https://s3.amazonaws.com/ballotpedia-api4/files/thumbs/100/100/Melinda_Baker.PNG

Melina Baker (L)
 
2.0
 
5,452

Total votes: 275,620
Democratic primary runoff election
Democratic primary runoff for U.S. House Texas District 32

Colin Allred defeated Lillian Salerno in the Democratic primary runoff for U.S. House Texas District 32 on May 22, 2018.

Candidate
%
Votes

Image of https://s3.amazonaws.com/ballotpedia-api4/files/thumbs/100/100/CollinAllred1.png

Colin Allred
 
69.5
 
15,658

Image of https://s3.amazonaws.com/ballotpedia-api4/files/thumbs/100/100/Lillian_Salerno.jpg

Lillian Salerno
 
30.5
 
6,874

Total votes: 22,532
Democratic election
Democratic primary for U.S. House Texas District 32

The following candidates ran in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Texas District 32 on March 6, 2018.

Candidate
%
Votes

Image of https://s3.amazonaws.com/ballotpedia-api4/files/thumbs/100/100/CollinAllred1.png

Colin Allred
 
38.5
 
15,442

Image of https://s3.amazonaws.com/ballotpedia-api4/files/thumbs/100/100/Lillian_Salerno.jpg

Lillian Salerno
 
18.3
 
7,343

Image of https://s3.amazonaws.com/ballotpedia-api4/files/thumbs/100/100/Photo_ShippHeadshot.jpg

Brett Shipp
 
16.3
 
6,550

Image of https://s3.amazonaws.com/ballotpedia-api4/files/thumbs/100/100/Edmeier.jpg

Edward Meier
 
13.7
 
5,474

Image of https://s3.amazonaws.com/ballotpedia-api4/files/thumbs/100/100/George_Rodriguez_TX-31.jpg

George Rodriguez
 
7.6
 
3,029

Silhouette Placeholder Image.png

Ronald William Marshall
 
3.2
 
1,301

Image of https://s3.amazonaws.com/ballotpedia-api4/files/thumbs/100/100/Toddmaternowski.jpg

Todd Maternowski
 
2.4
 
945

Total votes: 40,084
Republican election
Republican primary for U.S. House Texas District 32

Incumbent Pete Sessions defeated Paul Brown in the Republican primary for U.S. House Texas District 32 on March 6, 2018.

Candidate
%
Votes

Image of https://s3.amazonaws.com/ballotpedia-api4/files/thumbs/100/100/Pete_Sessions.jpg

Pete Sessions
 
79.3
 
32,784

Image of https://s3.amazonaws.com/ballotpedia-api4/files/thumbs/100/100/Paul_Brown_Congress.jpg

Paul Brown
 
20.7
 
8,575

Total votes: 41,359

2016

See also: Texas' 32nd Congressional District election, 2016

Heading into the election, Ballotpedia rated this race as safely Republican. Incumbent Pete Sessions (R) defeated Ed Rankin (L) and Gary Stuard (G) in the general election on November 8, 2016. Sessions defeated Paul Brown, Russ Ramsland and Cherie Myint Roughneen in the Republican primary on March 1, 2016. No Democratic candidates filed to run in the race.[10][11]

U.S. House, Texas District 32 General Election, 2016
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Republican Green check mark transparent.pngPete Sessions Incumbent 71.1% 162,868
     Libertarian Ed Rankin 19% 43,490
     Green Gary Stuard 10% 22,813
Total Votes 229,171
Source: Texas Secretary of State

U.S. House, Texas District 32 Republican Primary, 2016
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.pngPete Sessions Incumbent 61.4% 49,813
Russ Ramsland 23.7% 19,203
Paul Brown 11.7% 9,488
Cherie Myint Roughneen 3.2% 2,601
Total Votes 81,105
Source: Texas Secretary of State

2014

See also: Texas' 32nd Congressional District elections, 2014
U.S. House, Texas District 32 General Election, 2014
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Republican Green check mark transparent.pngPete Sessions Incumbent 61.8% 96,495
     Democratic Frank Perez 35.4% 55,325
     Libertarian Ed Rankin 2.7% 4,276
Total Votes 156,096
Source: Texas Secretary of State

See also

External links

Footnotes