GOP veteran defeats populist candidate in one of America’s most conservative districts

Republican veteran strategist Tom Sell defeated populist, MAGA-style candidate Abraham Enriquez in a primary runoff race in a Texas congressional district known as one of the most conservative in the country.

Sell, a Republican strategist with years of agricultural consulting experience, beat Enriquez on election night, earning () percent of the vote in the solid red 19th Congressional District in West Texas.

A fifth-generation West Texan and businessman, Sell styled himself as an “America-first” “champion for rural America.”

He was endorsed by several key House Republican leaders, including Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., and Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio. Sell also earned endorsements from younger congressional Republicans, Reps. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, and Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla.

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Meanwhile, Enriquez, a young candidate who cast himself as the anti-establishment contender in the race, earned ()% of the vote.

Enriquez, who founded the conservative Hispanic outreach organization Bienvenido, ran on a “pro-Trump,” America-first platform. He was endorsed by Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, Turning Point Action, and the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).

President Donald Trump did not make an endorsement in the race.

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District 19, which includes vast swaths of West Texas, including Lubbock and Abilene, is considered a Republican stronghold. As a result, Sell’s primary victory virtually guarantees he will succeed outgoing Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, who is retiring from Congress.

Arrington, 53, had been endorsed for re-election by Trump, but he decided not to run again. In a statement announcing his decision, Arrington said, “I have a firm conviction, much like our founders did, that public service is a lifetime commitment, but public office is and should be a temporary stint in stewardship, not a career.”

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Sell will face Democratic candidate Kyle Rable, an Army Reserve officer who ran unopposed in the Democratic primary.