Republican Troy Nehls is projected to win Texas' 22nd Congressional District, beating out Democrat Sri Preston Kulkarni
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The Republican Troy Nehls is projected to win Texas' 22nd Congressional District against the Democrat Sri Preston Kulkarni.
The House seat opened up after the incumbent Rep. Pete Olson announced his plans to retire after finishing his term in 2020.
The district contains much of the southern region and municipalities of the Greater Houston area.
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Republican Sheriff Troy Nehls is projected to win Texas' 22nd Congressional District against his Democratic opponent, Sri Preston Kulkarni, Insider and Decision Desk HQ can report. The seat is currently held by Rep. Pete Olson, who announced in July 2019 his plans to retire after 2020.
The candidates
Nehls, who serves as the sheriff of Fort Bend County, was a member of the US Army Reserve for 21 years and retired with the rank of major. This is his second term as sheriff. According to his campaign website, Nehls ran to increase the quality of healthcare for veterans and on a platform protecting oil and gas jobs in Texas.
Before running for office, Kulkarni worked as a diplomat in the US Foreign Service for 14 years. He previously ran against Olson in 2018 to represent the district and lost by 5 percentage points. In 2015, he worked as a foreign policy and defense advisor for Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Kulkarni was motivated to run for office after white nationalist protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, killed one person and sent a Houstonian to the hospital. On his campaign website, he said "these aren't issues of right and left but of right and wrong."
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The district
Texas' 22nd Congressional District covers the south-southwest region of the Greater Houston metropolitan area. This area includes most of Fort Bend County, a small section of Harris County, and the cities of Sugar Land, Missouri City, Needville, Rosenberg, and Friendswood.
The district is one of Texas' most racially diverse. Twenty-seven percent of its residents identify as Hispanic or Latino of any race, 19% are Asian, and 14% are Black, according to US Census data.
The district has also shifted toward Democrats at a rapid rate in the past several election cycles. While Mitt Romney carried the district by over 25 percentage points in 2012, Donald Trump won it by about 8 percentage points in 2016, according to the Daily Kos, and in Texas' 2018 US Senate race, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz and Democrat Beto O'Rourke almost tied in the district at 49.9% to 49.3%.
The money race
According to the Center for Responsive Politics and Federal Election Commission filings, Kulkarni has raised $4.9 million, spent $4.3 million, and has about $712,000 in cash on hand. Nehls has raised $1.5 million, spent $1.3 million, and has about $164,000 in cash on hand.
What experts said
The race between Kulkarni and Nehls was rated as a "toss-up" by Inside Elections and The Cook Political Report and "leans Republican" by Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics.
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