By Becca Muncy | Reporter and Cassandra Shin | Reporter
Candidate Pete Sessions led the Republican primary election for the U.S. House of Representatives Tuesday night with 30.39% of the vote as of midnight Tuesday.
Rick Kennedy led the Democratic primary for the House seat with 49.61% of votes as of midnight Tuesday.
Hailing from Waco, Sessions previously served in the House for 11 terms before losing a Dallas-area seat in 2018.
“The goal that we have always had is to offer strong messaging and representation to the people of this district where they understood how important T-17 is, not just to the Republican Party but really to the conservatives of Congress,” Sessions said.
Democratic candidate David Jaramillo received 31.92% of votes, and said at a McLennan County Democratic Party election watch party that the district needs representatives who “represent the district, not interests,” and “believe in something, not just a party.”
Jaramillo also said McLennan County Democrats can expect all the candidates to unite for change and support each other, no matter who wins the nomination.
Sixteen candidates were vying for the District 17 seat in the House with 12 candidates being Republican. Five Waco residents ran in the Texas Primary elections including David M. Saucedo, Kristen Alamo Rowin, Renee Swann and Scott Bland.
Swan, co-owner of Brazos Eye Surgery of Texas, was endorsed by Congressman Bill Flores going into this election and came in second in the Texas Primary. Swan views herself as a servant to the 17th Congressional District but even with the endorsement from Bill Flores, Sessions overtook the votes.
George Hindman, who came in third, is from Germantown Pennsylvania and owns Keystone Aerospace, a small business focusing on advancing aerospace research and development. Hindman is a certified commercial pilot, flight instructor and professional engineer. He became involved with Texas politics as a volunteer and later assisted in the 2000 Bush presidential campaign in Austin.
District 17 is made up of McLennan, Bastrop, Brazos, Burleson, Falls, Freestone, Lee, Leon, Limestone, Milam, Robertson and Travis counties.
