On Tuesday, Texas held a special election for its 28th state House district, with some national attention being brought into the race, as Democrats may look to try and flip the solidly red state in 2020.
Well-known Democrats came out to support the Democrat in the race, Eliz Markowitz, such as failed Democrat presidential candidate and former Rep. Robert Francis O’Rourke (D-TX), current Democrat presidential candidates Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and former Vice President Joe Biden.
The Republican in the race, Gary Gates, put up $1.5 million of his own money to take on the well-financed Democrat, who reportedly took in over $1 million from leftists.
Despite the high-profile people supporting Markowitz, she fell short by a pretty comfortable margin. Gates swept the board, with unofficial results showing a win of 58% to 42%.
After the sound defeat, O’Rourke wrote on Twitter, “So proud of [Eliz Markowitz], her team and all of the amazing volunteers who produced one of the highest turnouts in a special election in Texas history. The work continues, building for victories in November in this and other state house races.”