San Antonio’s Texas House District 121 hadn’t elected a Democrat since 1981, but in a blue wave Tuesday night, first-time candidate Zack Dunn toppled incumbent state Rep. Marc LaHood (R-San Antonio).
The Northside district includes some of the area’s wealthiest enclaves, and once belonged to Texas House Speaker Joe Straus (R-San Antonio).
It’s long chosen moderate, business-centric Republicans, but as the GOP continued shifting right in recent years, Democrats have been targeting the seat repeatedly, hoping it would finally break their way.
“I’m unhinged right now,” Dunn told a crowd of supporters at the Quarry Golf Course minutes before early results came in. “The odds were stacked against us.”
Last election cycle LaHood was among the roughly dozen Republicans who Gov. Greg Abbott backed over popular GOP incumbents standing in the way of the governor’s much-desired school voucher program.
He cruised through a November race against a well-funded Democrat that year, and went on to align with a GOP wing that pushed one of the most conservative agendas in history.
In the final weeks before the election, Texas House GOP leaders were working frantically to reframe the narrative around some of those policies, particularly school vouchers.
In the last month they spent more than $1 million protecting LaHood, conceded around 10 p.m.
‘I left it on the field. I think I did it honorably,” LaHood told the San Antonio Report from his party at the Angry Elephant. “I didn’t sell my soul or my personality to get this job, to keep this job, or to come back for re-election, so I feel good, as good as you can. Losing sucks. I mean let’s be honest, losing sucks.”
Bexar County is represented by a total of 10 Texas House seats.
Going into the night, three were held by Republicans and seven were held by Democrats.
A GOP-held seat on the South Side, Texas House District 118, represented by state Rep. John Lujan (R-San Antonio), flipped back to Democrats’ control.
Republicans nominated the conservative school voucher architect Jorge Borrego, to succeed Lujan, but he fell to Democrat Kristian Carranza, a longtime political strategist, who is the first woman to represent HD 118 in recent history.
A third GOP-held seat, represented by state Rep. Mark Dorazio (R-San Antonio), was still in a close race as of 10:30 p.m.
Dorazio is a conservative former Bexar GOP chair who replaced the moderate Republican Lyle Larson in Texas House District 122.
Texas Republicans spent more than a half a million dollars on Dorazio’s behalf in the final month, while his little-known Democratic opponent, Shelly Nickels, spent just $5,600.
One new face was elected to replace a retiring Democrat in Texas House District 125.
Democrat Adrian Reyna is a public school teacher at San Antonio Independent School District and was favored to win the reliably blue Westside district since his primary.
He’ll be replacing retired state Rep. Ray Lopez (D-San Antonio) as one of the only public school educators — and one of an even smaller number of union members — to ever make it to the famously business-friendly Texas Legislature.
This story first appeared in the San Antonio Report.