2012 Congressional Election
On May 29, 2012, O'Rourke defeated eight-term incumbent Silvestre Reyes in the primaries to face Republican Barbara Carrasco in the general election. O'Rourke took 50.5 percent of the vote, just a few hundred votes above the threshold required to avoid a runoff. However, the 16th is a heavily Democratic, majority-Latino district, and it was understood that O'Rourke had effectively clinched a seat in Congress with his victory in the primary. He easily defeated Carrasco in the general election with 65 percent of the vote. He will be one of three Anglo Democrats from Texas in the 113th Congress, the others being Lloyd Doggett and Gene Green.
Read more about this topic: Beto O'Rourke
Famous quotes containing the word election:
“Do you know I believe that [William Jennings] Bryan will force his nomination on the Democrats again. I believe he will either do this by advocating Prohibition, or else he will run on a Prohibition platform independent of the Democrats. But you will see that the year before the election he will organize a mammoth lecture tour and will make Prohibition the leading note of every address.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)