On Tuesday night, that did not come to fruition.
Francis finished first in the primary, but he fell short of the 50 percent threshold necessary to win the GOP nomination outright. The final tally was 45.9 percent for Francis to Glenn Rogers’ 43.78 percent — a difference of 712 votes.
Kellye SoRelle finished in third at 6.6 percent and Christopher Perricone finished fourth at 3.71 percent.
After the result became clear, Francis told The Texan, “We won tonight and we will win again in the May runoff. We need every one of our supporters to double up our efforts to ensure we keep conservative representation in House District 60. I look forward to engaging with Glenn Rogers in public debates throughout House District 60 in the coming months. This race is between the Austin establishment and grassroots conservatives. The distinction will be evident, and the choice for voters to make will be abundantly clear.”
Rogers did not respond to request for comment.
Total turnout amounted to about 33,000 voters — almost smack dab in between the primary turnout for the 2016 and 2018 elections.
The runoff between Francis and Rogers is scheduled for May 26.
See where the candidates fall on policy ahead of the runoff here.
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Brad Johnson
Brad Johnson is a senior reporter for The Texan and an Ohio native who graduated from the University of Cincinnati in 2017. He is an avid sports fan who most enjoys watching his favorite teams continue their title drought throughout his cognizant lifetime. In his free time, you may find Brad quoting Monty Python productions and trying to calculate the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow.
