The Dallas Morning News has live election results for local, state and national races.
AUSTIN — Republican state Rep. Angie Chen Button of Garland holds a comfortable lead over Democratic challenger Averie Bishop in a Texas House seat race Democrats hope to flip from GOP control.
Button is leading Bishop 54% to 46% with 221 of the county’s 455 precincts reporting just after midnight, according to unofficial results posted by the Dallas County Elections Department.
Button’s district was one of the top targets for Democrats in Texas as she holds one of the last two Dallas County seats in the Texas House. Button’s seat was thought to be within reach — even after GOP lawmakers redrew her district in 2021 to add more Republican voters to the district.
Button survived her 2022 race against a different Democratic opponent 2 years ago by 10 points. But another victory likely signals to Democrats statewide that the effort to flip Button’s seat, which is one of the two Dallas County seats in the Texas House that Republicans control, still remains out of reach.
Rep. Morgan Meyer, R-University Park, holds the other seat and he leads Democratic challenger Elizabeth Ginsberg 58% to 42%.
For Button, a win would send her to the House for a ninth term, where she has been a top ally of Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan and Gov. Greg Abbott.
Button’s campaign declined to comment on Tuesday night’s results and chose to wait until more votes had been counted. Bishop did not respond to a request for comment.
Neither campaign had declared victory on Tuesday night. Abbott’s campaign, however, declared that Button was victorious in a social media post at 10:11 p.m.
The Associated Press had not called the race.
Button, who was first elected in 2008, is one of the final two Republicans to represent a Dallas County district. Democrats have gained — and maintained — control of 12 of the 14 districts over the years. Her district includes parts of Garland, Richardson, Rowlett and Sunnyvale.
Democrats have targeted her district, believing population growth and demographic changes have made it more favorable to their party.
Button came close to losing in 2018 and 2020, winning by 2 points in 2018 and then just 222 votes two years later. As a result, Republicans redrew her district in 2021 to add more Republican voters and help her maintain the seat. It helped her win the 2022 midterm election by 10 points.
Yet Democrats and Bishop were unfazed by her more commanding victory two years ago. Bishop campaigned on the argument that Button’s views were too extreme for constituents. She cited as an example her opponent’s support for Gov. Greg Abbott’s “school choice” priority to designate public school money for some private school students.
Button also voted for a massive school-funding bill that created education savings accounts akin to school vouchers. The effort failed after a coalition of Democrats and 21 mostly rural Republicans voted to strip them out of the bill.
Bishop, who is 28, made Button’s support for school choice and her support for the state’s strict abortion ban with no exemptions for rape or incest a primary focus of her campaign against Button. Bishop campaigned on increasing funding for public schools and vowed to vote to protect women’s reproductive rights.
Button pushed back against Bishop’s accusations that her legislative votes were extreme. She said most voters in her district support the bills she has voted for that have been signed into law.
Bishop’s campaign against Button was an uphill battle. In her almost two decades in the Texas House, Button has become among the most respected Republican lawmakers in the chamber. The last two sessions, Texas Monthly has ranked her among the top lawmakers in the Legislature.
She has been a key supporter of Abbott’s legislative agenda and is an ally of House Speaker Dade Phelan. She has said she prefers to work behind the scenes with lawmakers of both parties.
