House District 70 is in Collin County and is considered a swing district with a Texas Partisan Index score of 50, meaning it could go to either a Democrat or a Republican.
Republicans vying for the seat in the runoff will be Jamee Jolly and Eric Bowlin. Jolly garnered the most votes with over 37 percent while Bowlin came in a close second at just over 32 percent.
Jolly is a past president of the Plano Chamber of Commerce and most recently served as the executive director of Plano ISD’s Education Foundation. She has been endorsed by the Texas Alliance for Life PAC and the Texas Bankers Association.
On her website, she lists prioritizing personal freedom, supporting law enforcement, and combating problems with border security as some of the most important issues.
Bowlin, a veteran of the U.S. Army and leadership coach, has been endorsed by groups like Texas Eagle Forum, Grassroots America We the People, and Texas Gun Rights.
Among his campaign priorities are supporting law enforcement, protecting Texas energy jobs, and ensuring election integrity.
On the Democrat side, there is a virtual three-way tie among the candidates. It currently appears that Cassandra Garcia Hernandez and Mihaela Elizabeth Plesa will vie for the nomination in a runoff, but the race has not been officially called.
The third place finisher, Lorenzo Sanchez, had only 29 fewer votes than Plesa.
Hernandez is a personal injury lawyer in Dallas who describes her priorities on her website as “solving the urgent issues concerning public education, the future of our state’s economy, public safety, healthcare, and justice for all.”
Plesa is the daughter of immigrants from Eastern Europe. She has been involved in advocacy with such groups as the Young National Organization of Women and the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Law.
The current third place finisher, Sanchez, posted on his social media on March 2 that “We are waiting on the final results as mail-in and provisional ballots are still being counted. We look forward to every vote being counted to see our next steps.”
Sanchez is a small business owner whose priorities include extending health care coverage to uninsured Texans, holding companies “accountable for environmental infractions,” and enacting “sensible gun laws.”
The primary runoff will be held on May 24.
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Kim Roberts
Kim Roberts is a regional reporter for the Texan in the DFW metroplex area where she has lived for over twenty years. She has a Juris Doctor from Baylor University Law School and a Bachelor's in government from Angelo State University. In her free time, Kim home schools her daughter and coaches high school extemporaneous speaking and apologetics. She has been happily married to her husband for 23 years, has three wonderful children, and two dogs.
