FORT BEND COUNTY, TX (Covering Katy News) – Challenger Matt Morgan won the Texas House District 26 race with nearly 55 percent of the vote Tuesday night. Incumbent Jacey Jetton earned nearly 39 percent, with Jessica Rose Huang placing third.
The bitter race divided the Republican Party and filled constituents' mailboxes with dozens of negative campaign postcards from both sides in the final weeks of the campaign. It also led to the party's biggest names making endorsements.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Lt. Governor Dan Patrick endorsed Jetton, who sponsored legislation for school vouchers or educational savings accounts and supported strengthening the southern border to illegal entry. But Jetton voted to impeach Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. The House vote sparked a civil war within the party and led Paxton to campaign against every House member who voted to remove him from office. Jetton was one of those in Paxton's gunsights.
Making matters worse, the impeachment case against Paxton fell apart in the Senate, and Paxton was cleared. Many Republicans viewed the case against Paxton as weak, and that conclusion cast a long shadow over every Republican House member who voted for impeachment.
Jetton's voting record on fiscal issues also irked many Republicans, who noted his "F" rating on the Fiscal Responsibility Index.
Late in the race, Republican Congressman Troy Nehls entered the party's civil war by releasing a video calling Jetton "a sellout who raised your taxes and betrayed the trust of his district by supporting Democrats and their liberal agenda."
Morgan lost to Jetton in a runoff in 2020. This year was different; division in the party over Jetton's voting record and support for impeachment allowed Morgan to glide to victory, earning 5,871 votes to Jetton's 4,153 and Huang's 711.
Morgan will face Democrat Daniel Lee in the November general election. History is on Morgan's side. Jetton faced Lee two years ago and won 61 percent of the vote in the heavily Republican district.
House District 26 includes all of Richmond and Pecan Grove, 13 percent of Rosenberg, almost all of unincorporated Katy south of Interstate 10, and a small portion of the City of Katy. It is spread across parts of three school districts–Katy, Fort Bend, and Lamar.
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Texas House District 26