Zain Shaito
Zain Shaito (Republican Party) is running for election to the U.S. House to represent Texas' 32nd Congressional District. He declared candidacy for the Republican primary scheduled on March 3, 2026.[source]
Shaito also ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Texas' 3rd Congressional District. He will not appear on the ballot for the Republican primary on March 3, 2026.
Shaito completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Zain Shaito served in the U.S. Army. He earned a bachelor's degree from the Ohio State University in 2013 and a master's degree in strategic policy from the American Military University in 2024. His career experience includes working as an intelligence officer.[1][2]
2026 battleground election
Ballotpedia identified the March 3, 2026, Republican primary as a battleground election. The summary below is from our coverage of this election, found here.
Ryan Binkley (R), Darrell Day (R), and five other candidates are running in the Republican primary for Texas' 32nd Congressional District on March 3, 2026. The filing deadline is December 8, 2025. As of November 2025, Binkley and Day led in polling and local media attention.[3][4]
The primary is taking place in the context of Texas' August 2025 redistricting. An Inside Elections analysis of the new district lines said the 32nd District "was previously a compact, Dallas-based seat with a Baseline of D+22. Now, it stretches from the Dallas suburbs deep into conservative East Texas, giving it a Baseline of R+17. Accordingly, we are changing our rating in this seat from Solid Democratic to Solid Republican."[5] As of November 2025, incumbent Julie Johnson (D) had not announced plans for 2026 pending court challenges to the new maps.[6]
Binkley is the chief executive of a mergers and acquisitions firm and the senior pastor of Create Church in Houston.[7] Binkley ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024. Binkley says he is running because "America needs a spiritual revival and America needs an economic revival and the time for that revival is now...we're going to win it back for President Trump."[8]
Day is a business owner. Day was the Republican nominee in 2024, losing to Julie Johnson (D) 61%–37% under the old district lines. Day says he is "the MAGA candidate, running to bring honesty, common sense and proven conservative leadership to Congress. I stand on the unshakable foundation of the Bible and the U.S. Constitution to deliver solid solutions for Texans."[9]
Also running in the primary are Aimee Carrasco (R), Monty Montanez (R), Eric Niehaus (R), Tobey Pearson (R), and Zain Shaito (R).
If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, the top two finishers will advance to a runoff on May 26.
Elections
2026
See also: Texas' 32nd Congressional District election, 2026
General election
The primary will occur on March 3, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. Additional general election candidates will be added here following the primary.
General election for U.S. House Texas District 32
Charles Harper is running in the general election for U.S. House Texas District 32 on November 3, 2026.
Candidate | ||
| Charles Harper (Independent) | ||
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 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. House Texas District 32
The following candidates are running in the Republican primary for U.S. House Texas District 32 on March 3, 2026.
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| = 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. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- James Ussery (R)
See also: Texas' 3rd Congressional District election, 2026
General election
The primary will occur on March 3, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. General election candidates will be added here following the primary.
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. House Texas District 3
Evan Hunt and Jordan Wheatley are running in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Texas District 3 on March 3, 2026.
Candidate | ||
 | Evan Hunt | |
 | Jordan Wheatley | |
| ||||
| = 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 U.S. House Texas District 3
Incumbent Keith Self is running in the Republican primary for U.S. House Texas District 3 on March 3, 2026.
Candidate | ||
 | Keith Self | |
| ||||
| = 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. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Zain Shaito (R)
Polls
- See also: Ballotpedia's approach to covering polls
We provide results for polls from a wide variety of sources, including media outlets, social media, campaigns, and aggregation websites, when available. No polls were available for this election. To notify us of polls published in this election, please email us.
Election campaign finance
| Name | Party | Receipts* | Disbursements** | Cash on hand | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryan Binkley | Republican Party | $1,066,017 | $104,639 | $961,378 | As of September 30, 2025 |
| Aimee Carrasco | Republican Party | $34,025 | $29,457 | $4,568 | As of September 30, 2025 |
| Darrell Day | Republican Party | $47,474 | $3,164 | $133,644 | As of September 30, 2025 |
| Monty Montanez | Republican Party | $25,148 | $20,733 | $4,415 | As of September 30, 2025 |
| Eric Niehaus | Republican Party | $35,139 | $18,762 | $16,377 | As of September 30, 2025 |
| Tobey Pearson | Republican Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| Zain Shaito | Republican Party | $8,988 | $8,988 | $0 | As of October 21, 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." |
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Satellite spending
- See also: Satellite spending
Satellite spending describes political spending not controlled by candidates or their campaigns; that is, any political expenditures made by groups or individuals that are not directly affiliated with a candidate. This includes spending by political party committees, super PACs, trade associations, and 501(c)(4) nonprofit groups.[10][11][12]
If available, this section includes links to online resources tracking satellite spending in this election. To notify us of a resource to add, email us.
| By candidate | By election |
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Endorsements
Ballotpedia is gathering information about candidate endorsements. To send us an endorsement, click here.
Campaign themes
2026
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Zain Shaito did not complete Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey.
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Zain Shaito completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Shaito's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
| Collapse all
- Secure the border and stop the funding of illegal immigrants.
- Stop the devaluation of the U.S dollar.
- Stop endless wars in the Middle East and foreign aid handouts.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
See also
2026 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on August 12, 2025
- ↑ Ballotpedia staff, "Email communication with Zain-Braheim Shaito," August 13, 2025
- ↑ X.com, "Brandon Waltens on October 2, 2025," accessed November 7, 2025
- ↑ NBC Dallas-Fort Worth, "Republican candidate jumps in race for district set to be redrawn," August 7, 2025
- ↑ Inside Elections, "A Detailed Analysis of Texas’ New Congressional Map," August 27, 2025
- ↑ CBS News, "Texas Democrats, Republicans await court ruling on redistricting before filing for 2026 races," November 2, 2025
- ↑ Ryan Binkley campaign website, "Meet Ryan," accessed November 7, 2025
- ↑ YouTube, "Revival - Ryan Binkley for Congress," October 22, 2025
- ↑ Darrell Day campaign website, "Home page," accessed November 7, 2025
- ↑ OpenSecrets.org, "Outside Spending," accessed December 12, 2021
- ↑ OpenSecrets.org, "Total Outside Spending by Election Cycle, All Groups," accessed December 12, 2021
- ↑ National Review.com, "Why the Media Hate Super PACs," December 12, 2021
