WASHINGTON ― Rep. Julie Johnson (D-Texas) and Democratic congressional candidate Colin Allred are headed to a runoff election after neither secured enough votes to win outright in Tuesday night’s primary election.

Allred had a strong lead in the race, but failed to win more than 50% of the vote as two other Democratic contenders pulled votes from him and Johnson. The two will now face each other exclusively in the runoff election on May 26.

Both are running to be the Democratic nominee for Texas’ 33rd Congressional District, which Republicans recently redrew amid partisan redistricting. Johnson currently represents the 32nd Congressional District, a Dallas-area community, and Allred jumped into the race in December after dropping a Senate bid.

Rep. Marc Veasey (D-Texas), who currently represents this district, isn’t running for reelection as the newly drawn map no longer includes a portion of Fort Worth, where he lives. This seat is solidly Democratic, meaning whoever wins the runoff will almost certainly go on to win the general election in November.

It’s been a testy primary. Allred previously endorsed Johnson in 2024, when she ran for the House seat he was leaving to run for Senate. But they led combative campaigns against each other after Allred abruptly decided to run against her this time around.

Johnson attacked Allred for voting for President Donald Trump’s mass deportation policies and for being “out for himself,” accusing him of launching a last-ditch House bid as “a consolation prize” after failing to advance in his Senate campaign. Allred had been running to challenge Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), but dropped out after polls showed him trailing other Democratic contenders like Rep. Jasmine Crockett and state Rep. James Talarico.

“Allred embodies the worst about today’s politics of ambition,” reads her campaign website.

Meanwhile, Allred went after Johnson for trading stocks from Palantir, a company that works with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “Voters can’t trust Julie Johnson to fight Donald Trump and ICE; they make her too much money,” reads his campaign website.

(She responded that she only made $90 from her trades.)

Allred had more name recognition heading into this race, and more money. He raised more than $5.4 million as of Feb. 11, and had roughly $858,000 cash on hand, per FEC filings. Johnson raised more than $1.5 million as of Feb. 11, and had about $550,000 cash on hand, per FEC filings.

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