Troxclair’s margin of victory was 13 percent at 2,877 votes.
“We won with truth, grit, and grace,” Troxclair said of the victory. “Now, battle tested and proven, we will face a Democrat challenger in November, and win.”
She now moves onto the general election, where she’ll face Democrat Pam Baggett and independent candidate Kodi Sawin. After redistricting, House District 19 remained heavily Republican despite moving from East Texas to the Hill Country.
The Troxclair and Berry campaigns threw haymakers at one another throughout the primary and runoff — bringing to an end their previous alliance while running for separate offices.
One of the premier issues of the race, made so by Berry and his occupation, was law enforcement and the role of police unions. Berry is among those Austin officers indicted for charges sought by progressive Travis County District Attorney José Garza stemming from the 2020 protests-turned-riots, which became a central theme to his campaign.
Only a sliver of HD 19 lies within Travis County, and thus most of the voters who saw Berry’s name on the ballot in his 2020 run for HD 47 played no factor.
Troxclair, meanwhile, was originally running for the open Senate District 24 but shifted to HD 19 after redistricting allowed former, and soon to be again, state Sen. Pete Flores (R-Pleasanton) to join that race.
This contest was among those pitting Governor Greg Abbott and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) against each other — with Cruz coming out on top in this instance.
School choice, likely to be an issue at the forefront next session, was also a dividing line between the two. Berry had largely been mum if not opposed to the idea, while Troxclair campaigned on her support for it.
With her win, Troxclair is all but assured to join the House membership next session due to her district’s heavily red makeup.
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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.
