Texas' 37th Congressional District election, 2026 (March 3 Republican primary)

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Texas' 37th Congressional District
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Democratic primary
Republican primary
General election
Election details
Filing deadline: December 8, 2025
Primary: March 3, 2026
Primary runoff: May 26, 2026
General: November 3, 2026
How to vote
Poll times:

7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Voting in Texas

Race ratings
Cook Political Report: Solid Democratic
DDHQ and The Hill: Pending
Inside Elections: Solid Democratic
Sabato's Crystal Ball: Safe Democratic
Ballotpedia analysis
U.S. Senate battlegrounds
U.S. House battlegrounds
Federal and state primary competitiveness
Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2026
See also
Texas' 37th Congressional District
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Texas elections, 2026
U.S. Congress elections, 2026
U.S. Senate elections, 2026
U.S. House elections, 2026

A Republican Party primary takes place on March 3, 2026, in Texas' 37th Congressional District to determine which Republican candidate will run in the district's general election on November 3, 2026.

Candidate filing deadline Primary election General election
December 8, 2025
March 3, 2026
November 3, 2026



A primary election is an election in which registered voters select a candidate that they believe should be a political party's candidate for elected office to run in the general election. They are also used to choose convention delegates and party leaders. Primaries are state-level and local-level elections that take place prior to a general election. Texas utilizes an open primary system. State law requires voters to sign the following pledge before voting in a primary: "I am a (insert appropriate political party) and understand that I am ineligible to vote or participate in another political party's primary election or convention during this voting year."[1]

For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.

This page focuses on Texas' 37th Congressional District Republican primary. For more in-depth information on the district's Democratic primary and the general election, see the following pages:

Candidates and election results

Note: The following list includes official candidates only. Ballotpedia defines official candidates as people who:

  • Register with a federal or state campaign finance agency before the candidate filing deadline
  • Appear on candidate lists released by government election agencies

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Texas District 37

Ge'Nell Gary and Lauren Peña are running in the Republican primary for U.S. House Texas District 37 on March 3, 2026.

Candidate
Image of Ge'Nell Gary
Ge'Nell Gary Candidate Connection
Image of Lauren Peña
Lauren Peña Candidate Connection

There are no incumbents in this race.

Candidate Connection = 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.

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Candidate profiles

This section includes candidate profiles that may be created in one of two ways: either the candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey, or Ballotpedia staff may compile a profile based on campaign websites, advertisements, and public statements after identifying the candidate as noteworthy. For more on how we select candidates to include, click here.

Ge'Nell Gary

Image of Ge'Nell Gary

WebsiteFacebookX

Party: Republican Party

Incumbent: No

Political Office: None

Submitted Biography:  "Ge’Nell Gary was born and raised in the heart of Texas, where she grew up instilled with the values of hard work, community, and integrity. From her early days in Fort Bend/Wharton County, Ge’Nell learned the importance of standing up for what is right and giving back to the neighbors and friends who make Texas so special."

Key Messages

To read this candidate's full survey responses, click here.

Infrastructure

Building Resilience in our Seniors

Small Business Growth & Development

Lauren Peña

Image of Lauren Peña

WebsiteFacebookX

Party: Republican Party

Incumbent: No

Political Office: None

Submitted Biography:  "Lauren B. Peña is a mother of four, a public-interest advocate, government-reform strategist, and survivor whose lived experience drives her mission to protect individual rights, advance systemic reforms, and restore integrity to public institutions. Raised across multiple U.S. cities and towns, Lauren gained firsthand insight into diverse cultures and economic realities. After surviving a decade of human trafficking in Texas, she has spent the past five years transforming trauma into education and action—testifying before the Texas Legislature to expose systemic policy failures, advocating for welfare and housing reforms that save taxpayer dollars and reduce government dependency, and crafting solutions grounded in liberty, justice, and integrity. As Founder & Executive Director of Peña Legal Advocacy, Lauren leads efforts to deliver accessible, no-cost legal support across Texas. In East Austin, Texas—where her family’s ties stretch back before Texas achieved its' statehood—Lauren witnesses up close gentrification’s impact on everyday residents. As an Austin resident and mother, she understands how public policy shapes real lives. In Congress, she will leverage her conservative values and personal journey to build bipartisan solutions that repair urban policy failures before they expand to rural communities, strengthen families, and uphold the principles that make our nation great. Vote Lauren B. Peña for Texas’s 35th Congressional District."

Key Messages

To read this candidate's full survey responses, click here.

Welfare reform—long ignored by Republicans—is Lauren’s priority. The Democrat-run system traps families in generational poverty at taxpayers’ expense. Denied Social Security, Lauren—a mother of four with PTSD—and her daughter with a disability live in public housing on Medicaid, SNAP, and TANF. Forced to “volunteer” for 36 hours a week, homeschool her children, and build a business, she received only $494/month. When she created her own opportunity to gain financial independence, she was told her children would lose all their benefits at once. No safety net. No support. No transition. Lauren will educate Democrats on welfare reform policy that lifts all individuals and families and saves hardworking American tax dollars.

Public Safety: Democrats defunded the police instead of educating the community. Programs that once uplifted our youth no longer exist. Traditional street gangs are reorganizing—and without a shift in perspective, it’s only going to get worse. In the inner city, Lauren has begun changing public opinion about the police. Criminals and impressionable youth often don’t understand police procedure and view officers as the enemy. Lauren supports law enforcement and believes in building trust through education and community engagement. She will bring law enforcement critics to the table, educate them on modern gang psychology and trends, and address the systemic issues that must be solved to foster trust and improve public safety for Americans.

National Security: Our national security is broken—from the border to the digital world. We spend billions overseas while ignoring real threats here at home. Lauren has lived through organized crime, surveillance abuse, and government failure. She knows the systems meant to protect us are failing—and in some cases, violating our rights. Lauren will prioritize securing the border, ending surveillance overreach, and holding federal agencies accountable. She supports responsible immigration policies that protect our nation while welcoming those who follow the law. National security means protecting the people, not just the politicians. It's time for leadership that understands the threats from the inside and has the courage to confront them.

Voting information

See also: Voting in Texas

Ballotpedia will publish the dates and deadlines related to this election as they are made available.

Campaign finance

Name Party Receipts* Disbursements** Cash on hand Date
Ge'Nell Gary Republican Party $1,042 $524 $519 As of September 30, 2025
Lauren Peña Republican Party $29,869 $28,194 $1,675 As of September 30, 2025

Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2026. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

* 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.

District analysis

This section will contain facts and figures related to this district's elections when those are available.

Ballot access

The table below details filing requirements for U.S. House candidates in Texas in the 2026 election cycle. For additional information on candidate ballot access requirements in Texas, click here.

Filing requirements for U.S. House candidates, 2026
State Office Party Signatures required Filing fee Filing deadline Source
Texas U.S. House Democratic or Republican 2% of votes cast for governor in the district in the last election, or 500, whichever is less $3,125 12/8/2025 Source
Texas U.S. House Unaffiliated 5% of all votes cast for governor in the district in the last election, or 500, whichever is less N/A 2/13/2026 Source

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Texas Constitution and Statutes, "Tex. Election Code Ann. § 172.086," accessed September 16, 2025


Texas' current delegation to the United States Congress
Senators
John Cornyn (R)
Ted Cruz (R)
Representatives
District 1
District 2
District 3
District 4
District 5
District 6
District 7
District 8
District 9
Al Green (D)
District 10
District 11
District 12
District 13
District 14
District 15
District 16
District 17
District 18
Vacant
District 19
District 20
District 21
Chip Roy (R)
District 22
District 23
District 24
District 25
District 26
District 27
District 28
District 29
District 30
District 31
District 32
District 33
District 34
District 35
District 36
District 37
District 38
Republican Party (27)
Democratic Party (12)
Vacancies (1)


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