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Texas' 35th Congressional District election, 2024 (March 5 Republican primary)
A Republican Party primary took place on March 5, 2024, in Texas' 35th Congressional District to determine which Republican candidate would run in the district's general election on November 5, 2024.
Michael Rodriguez and Steven Wright advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House Texas District 35.
All 435 seats were up for election. At the time of the election, Republicans had a 220 to 212 majority with three vacancies.[1] As of June 2024, 45 members of the U.S. House had announced they were not running for re-election. To read more about the U.S. House elections taking place this year, click here.
In the 2022 election in this district, the Democratic candidate won 72.6%-27.4%. Daily Kos calculated what the results of the 2020 presidential election in this district would have been following redistricting. Joe Biden (D) would have defeated Donald Trump (R) 71.7%-26.5%.[2]
| Candidate filing deadline | Primary election | General election |
|---|---|---|
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. Voters do not have to register with a party in advance in order to participate in that party's primary. The voter must sign a pledge stating the following (the language below is taken directly from state statutes)[3]
| “ | The following pledge shall be placed on the primary election ballot above the listing of candidates' names: '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.'[4] | ” |
For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.
This page focuses on Texas' 35th Congressional District Republican primary. For more in-depth information on the district's Democratic primary and the general election, see the following pages:
- Texas' 35th Congressional District election, 2024 (March 5 Democratic primary)
- Texas' 35th Congressional District election, 2024
Candidates and election results
Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. House Texas District 35
Michael Rodriguez and Steven Wright advanced to a runoff. They defeated Dave Cuddy, Brandon Dunn, and Rod Lingsch in the Republican primary for U.S. House Texas District 35 on March 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Michael Rodriguez | 27.1 | 4,085 |
| ✔ |  | Steven Wright  | 24.6 | 3,715 |
 | Dave Cuddy | 20.4 | 3,079 | |
 | Brandon Dunn | 17.9 | 2,700 | |
 | Rod Lingsch | 10.0 | 1,514 | |
| Total votes: 15,093 | |||
| = 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.
Party: Republican Party
Incumbent: No
Political Office: None
Submitted Biography: "A native Texan, Brandon was born and raised in a small south Texas ranching and oil community. Growing up on the family dairy, Brandon learned the value of hard work, community involvement, family value, and responsibility. After graduating high school and moving to San Marcos in the late 90’s to attend Texas State University, he now calls Hays County home. Brandon is a father is 5 children and lives in Buda with his wife, Janel. As a resident of Hays County for over 20 years, Brandon has seen the growth along the I-35 corridor firsthand. Since the death of his son Noah in 2022, Brandon has forged strong, meaningful relationships with law enforcement and leaders not only in central Texas but throughout Texas and the United States. He continues to fight, alongside his wife, for meaningful change to create stronger families and safer communities throughout the country. Brandon currently serves as a Loss Prevention Auditor for O’Reilly Auto Parts, spending much of his time traveling throughout the central Texas area where he has opportunities to meet and talk with residents of many Texas cities. He is also an active member of his church and serves his community through various volunteer and faith-building efforts."
This information was current as of the candidate's run for U.S. House Texas District 35 in 2024.
Party: Republican Party
Incumbent: No
Political Office: None
Submitted Biography: "I grew up poor, on welfare, with domestic violence. By any standard, I should not have been successful in life, but God blessed me with exceeding my life goals. During college worked as an engineer in Radio and TV. 22-years USAF F-111D/F Aircraft Commander and AETC Instructor Pilot. Deployed into combat as a pilot and later on the ground with the Army. Thrived mentoring junior officers in leadership positions as a Flight Commander, Operations Officer, and Instructor Pilot. After USAF, owned a successful business. Worked as a Texas Police Officer. 2010-2021, Defense Contractor with a TS clearance. Flew with CBP agents in Texas and Arizona for DHS. Provided ISR overwatch for the military and State Department in Iraq and Afghanistan. Last 6 years as contractor trained 777 SMW Afghan officers in ISR operations at Kabul, Afghanistan. My mission ended there on April 17, 2021. As a lifelong learner and researcher, I developed solutions for America’s problems, people loved them. I offered my solutions for America’s problems to hundreds of politicians from both parties across the U.S., and none ever expressed interest. Due to the deep partisan division in America, I feel compelled to run for Congress in Texas’ 35th District."
This information was current as of the candidate's run for U.S. House Texas District 35 in 2024.
Party: Republican Party
Incumbent: No
Political Office: None
Submitted Biography: "I retired from Public service in Law Enforcement from California and I lived through the massively unsuccessful public policies that have been festering there for the last 20 years. I don't believe anyone should have to live through what we see all across this nation in every Democrat run state and city with deteriorating education systems, defunding Law Enforcement, soft on crime policies, unsafe communities and especially what we are directly affected by here with Border Security and open border policies. I have a proud career in law enforcement and I understand local, State and Federal Government. I know what it takes to keep our communities safe, I know what a safe and effective education looks like between teaching DARE for three years and currently working for my school district. I know what service to a community is. I know what service to our country from my families strong proud military background and what it represents to being a firm believer in problem solving which might be using outside the box thinking. I served on our Elected Union as a Board member for nearly 15-years serving over 560 Deputy sheriffs. I understand Protecting our Constitution with its application in Public Service. I understand the Law and I have a strong working knowledge of Our legal system locally and Federally. I am proficient in Contract law, Employment law both locally and Federally, Workers Compensation laws, Federal labor laws and OSHA regulations. Serving Texas Proudly."
This information was current as of the candidate's run for U.S. House Texas District 35 in 2024.
Voting information
- See also: Voting in Texas
Campaign finance
| Name | Party | Receipts* | Disbursements** | Cash on hand | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dave Cuddy | Republican Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | As of March 31, 2024 |
| Brandon Dunn | Republican Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| Rod Lingsch | Republican Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| Michael Rodriguez | Republican Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| Steven Wright | Republican Party | $36,441 | $18,792 | $17,649 | As of December 31, 2024 |
|
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2024. 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." |
|||||
District analysis
Click the tabs below to view information about voter composition, past elections, and demographics in both the district and the state.
- District map - A map of the district in place for the election.
- Competitiveness - Information about the competitiveness of 2024 U.S. House elections in the state.
- Presidential elections - Information about presidential elections in the district and the state.
- State party control - The partisan makeup of the state's congressional delegation and state government.
Below was the map in use at the time of the election. Click the map below to enlarge it.
This section contains data on U.S. House primary election competitiveness in Texas.
| Texas U.S. House competitiveness, 2014-2024 | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Districts/ offices |
Seats | Open seats | Candidates | Possible primaries | Contested Democratic primaries | Contested Republican primaries | % of contested primaries | Incumbents in contested primaries | % of incumbents in contested primaries | ||||
| 2024 | 38 | 38 | 3 | 160 | 76 | 16 | 23 | 51.3% | 19 | 54.3% | ||||
| 2022 | 38 | 38 | 6 | 222 | 76 | 17 | 27 | 57.9% | 19 | 59.4% | ||||
| 2020 | 36 | 36 | 6 | 231 | 72 | 24 | 26 | 69.4% | 18 | 60.0% | ||||
| 2018 | 36 | 36 | 8 | 212 | 72 | 25 | 21 | 63.9% | 15 | 53.6% | ||||
| 2016 | 36 | 36 | 2 | 127 | 72 | 13 | 20 | 45.8% | 19 | 55.9% | ||||
| 2014 | 36 | 36 | 1 | 100 | 72 | 6 | 13 | 26.4% | 12 | 34.3% | ||||
Post-filing deadline analysis
The following analysis covers all U.S. House districts up for election in Texas in 2024. Information below was calculated on 1/29/2024, and may differ from information shown in the table above due to candidate replacements and withdrawals after that time.
In 2024, 164 candidates filed to run for Texas’ 38 U.S. House districts, including 63 Democrats and 101 Republicans. That was 4.3 candidates per district, the lowest number since 2016, when 3.5 candidates ran.
In 2022, the first election after the number of congressional districts in Texas increased from 36 to 38, 5.8 candidates ran per district. In 2020, 6.4 candidates ran, and 5.8 candidates ran in 2018.
The 164 candidates who ran in 2024 were also the fewest total number to run since 2016, when 127 candidates ran. One hundred candidates ran for Texas’ then-36 districts in 2014, the fewest in the decade, while 231 ran in 2020, the decade-high.
Three seats were open. That was the fewest since 2016, when two seats were open. Six seats were open in 2022 and 2020, and eight were in 2018—the decade-high.
Reps. Kay Granger (R-12th) and Michael Burgess (R-26th) retired from public office. Rep. Colin Allred (D-32nd) didn't seek re-election in order to run for the U.S. Senate. Fourteen candidates—10 Democrats and 4 Republicans—ran for the open 32nd district, the most candidates who ran for a seat in 2024.
Thirty-nine primaries—16 Democratic and 23 Republican—were contested this year. That was the fewest since 2016, when 33 were contested. There were 44 contested primaries in 2022, 50 in 2020, and 46 in 2018.
Nineteen incumbents—six Democrats and thirteen Republicans—faced primary challengers this year. That was the same number as 2022, and one more than in 2020.
Three districts—the 9th, the 20th, and the 30th—were guaranteed to Democrats because no Republicans filed to run. Five were guaranteed to Republicans because no Democrats filed to run—the 1st, the 11th, the 13th, the 19th, and the 25th.
Partisan Voter Index
Heading into the 2024 elections, based on results from the 2020 and 2016 presidential elections, the Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was D+21. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 21 percentage points more Democratic than the national average. This made Texas' 35th the 62nd most Democratic district nationally.[5]
2020 presidential election results
The table below shows what the vote in the 2020 presidential election would have been in this district. The presidential election data was compiled by Daily Kos.
| 2020 presidential results in Texas' 35th based on 2024 district lines | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Joe Biden 
|
Donald Trump 
| |||
| 71.7% | 26.5% | |||
Inside Elections Baselines
- See also: Inside Elections
Inside Elections' Baseline is a figure that analyzes all federal and statewide election results from the district over the past four election cycles. The results are combined in an index estimating the strength of a typical Democratic or Republican candidate in the congressional district.[6] The table below displays the Baseline data for this district.
| Inside Elections Baseline for 2024 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic Baseline
|
Republican Baseline
|
Difference | ||
| 68.2 | 28.8 | D+39.4 | ||
Presidential voting history
- See also: Presidential election in Texas, 2020
Texas presidential election results (1900-2020)
- 16 Democratic wins
- 15 Republican wins
| Year | 1900 | 1904 | 1908 | 1912 | 1916 | 1920 | 1924 | 1928 | 1932 | 1936 | 1940 | 1944 | 1948 | 1952 | 1956 | 1960 | 1964 | 1968 | 1972 | 1976 | 1980 | 1984 | 1988 | 1992 | 1996 | 2000 | 2004 | 2008 | 2012 | 2016 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winning Party | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | R | D | D | D | D | D | R | R | D | D | D | R | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R |
- See also: Party control of Texas state government
Congressional delegation
The table below displays the partisan composition of Texas' congressional delegation as of May 2024.
| Congressional Partisan Breakdown from Texas | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | U.S. Senate | U.S. House | Total |
| Democratic | 0 | 12 | 12 |
| Republican | 2 | 25 | 27 |
| Independent | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Vacancies | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Total | 2 | 38 | 40 |
State executive
The table below displays the officeholders in Texas' top four state executive offices as of May 2024.
| State executive officials in Texas, May 2024 | |
|---|---|
| Office | Officeholder |
| Governor | Greg Abbott
|
| Lieutenant Governor | Dan Patrick
|
| Secretary of State | Jane Nelson
|
| Attorney General | Ken Paxton
|
State legislature
Texas State Senate
| Party | As of February 2024 | |
|---|---|---|
| Democratic Party | 11 | |
| Republican Party | 19 | |
| Other | 0 | |
| Vacancies | 1 | |
| Total | 31 | |
Texas House of Representatives
| Party | As of February 2024 | |
|---|---|---|
| Democratic Party | 64 | |
| Republican Party | 86 | |
| Other | 0 | |
| Vacancies | 0 | |
| Total | 150 | |
Trifecta control
The table below shows the state's trifecta status from 1992 until the 2024 election.
Texas Party Control: 1992-2024
Three years of Democratic trifectas • Twenty-two years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.
| Year | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99 | 00 | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Governor | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R |
| Senate | D | D | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R |
| House | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R |
Ballot access
The table below details filing requirements for U.S. House candidates in Texas in the 2024 election cycle. For additional information on candidate ballot access requirements in Texas, click here.
| Filing requirements for U.S. House candidates, 2024 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | $3,125.00 | 12/11/2023 | 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 | 12/11/2023 | Source |
See also
- Texas' 35th Congressional District election, 2024 (March 5 Democratic primary)
- Texas' 35th Congressional District election, 2024
- United States House elections in Texas, 2024 (March 5 Democratic primaries)
- United States House elections in Texas, 2024 (March 5 Republican primaries)
- United States House Democratic Party primaries, 2024
- United States House Republican Party primaries, 2024
- United States House of Representatives elections, 2024
- U.S. House battlegrounds, 2024
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ A majority in the U.S. House when there are no vacancies is 218 seats.
- ↑ Daily Kos, "Daily Kos Elections' 2020 presidential results by congressional district, for new and old districts," accessed September 15, 2022
- ↑ Texas Statutes, "Section 172.086," accessed October 7, 2024
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Cook Political Report, "The 2022 Cook Partisan Voting Index (Cook PVI℠)," accessed January 10, 2024
- ↑ Inside Elections, "Methodology: Inside Elections’ Baseline by Congressional District," December 8, 2023
