Congressman Henry Bonilla, a seven-term Republican, lost the runoff in Texas-23. Although the district was redrawn to include more Hispanics after the Supreme Court ruled that Texas Republicans had drawn it in a way that diluted minority voting strength, in violation of the Voting Rights Act, Bonilla had been the favorite to win (both Bonilla and his Democratic challenger, former Congressman Ciro Rodriguez, are Hispanic). In November, the incumbent came within a point of avoiding the runoff entirely.
Instead, Rodriguez beat Bonilla by a better than 10-point margin. This leaves the Republicans with 200 House seats to the Democrats’ 234, with one Florida race still in dispute but likely to go to the GOP.
