Republican state Rep. Mark Dorazio (R-San Antonio) has long been part of the conservative wing that pushed out then-Texas House Speaker Joe Straus (R-San Antonio), wanted only Republicans to chair committees in the Texas House and spent years working to cut Democratic colleagues out of the legislative process.
When he returns to the state capitol in January, however, he’ll be on his own in a Texas House dominated by Democrats.
Democrats have a majority in the chamber for the first time in many years, Dorazio is the lone Republican left standing in a Bexar County’s 10-member delegation.
Suburban Republicans had a tough night on Tuesday, when a blue wave swept out many GOP state lawmakers who didn’t expect to face tough races.
Even in Dorazio’s Texas House District 122, Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Gina Hinojosa carried the district with 52.7%, according to San Antonio political data analyst Bert Santibañez, and a majority of voters even came back to support Democrat Ron Nirenberg in the Bexar County Judge race.
When the AP finally called Dorazio’s race this week, he was holding off little-known Democratic challenger Shelly Nickels by about 1,800 votes.
San Antonio’s other two Republican state lawmakers, state Reps. Marc LaHood (R-San Antonio) and John Lujan (R-San Antonio), were already long gone.
Lujan waged an unsuccessful bid for Congress instead of seeking reelection this year, and the Republican running in his swingy Southside Texas House District 118 was defeated handily by Democrat Kristian Carranza.
LaHood conceded on election night to Democratic challenger Zack Dunn — the first Democrat to win his Northside Texas House District 121 since 1981. His 54-46% victory marked a 13-point swing from LaHood’s win there just two years ago.
With some votes across the state still being counted, Democrats said this week that they expect to claim at least 20 seats in the Texas House.
That would take the long-dominant Republicans from a 26-seat majority to a 14-seat minority.
Neither Dorazio nor Nickels had commented publicly on their close race as of Thursday evening.
As Texas Republicans’ internal numbers showed close races in the final weeks, party leaders and PACs poured roughly $1.25 million into LaHood’s contest and spent more than a half a million dollars helping Dorazio.
Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows even came to San Antonio to campaign on their behalf — after all three of San Antonio’s Republicans supported a more conservative candidate for speaker.
“He shored us up, and I’m grateful for that,” Dorazio said at the Angry Elephant rally.
Texas Democrats, meanwhile, were irked they hadn’t done the same.
They recruited candidates for every office on the ballot to take advantage of a blue wave this year.
But with so many races trending their way in the final stretch, Texas Majority PAC Executive Director Katherine Fischer said that they ran out of time and resources to help them all.
“We won a lot of things … so we feel very good. But it’s hard to look at some of these and not kick yourself a little bit,” Fischer said on a press call Wednesday.
Nickels, a health care executive who ran a low-visibility campaign, spent just $5,600 in the final month.
