Republican requests recount after loss in battleground race for state Senate seat in South Texas

Republican Adam Hinojosa, left, ran against Democrat Morgan LaMantia in the race for Senate District 27 in South Texas. Hinojosa has asked for a recount. (Credit: Campaign websites)

Republican Adam Hinojosa requested a recount Wednesday in his hard-fought race for a state Senate seat in South Texas.

Hinojosa lost the race for Senate District 27 after finishing 659 votes behind Democrat Morgan LaMantia, according to official results that were released Monday. There were 175,415 total votes in the election.

“In any election with such a small margin of victory, even very small mistakes in the counting of the vote could have enough impact to change the final result,” Hinojosa said in a statement.

He added he was asking for a recount in three counties “in which there were large numbers of paper or mail-in ballots.” His recount petition says the three counties are the ones at the highly populated southern end of the district in the Rio Grande Valley: Cameron, Hidalgo and Willacy counties.

LaMantia said in a statement that Hinojosa’s recount request was “democracy taking its course” and that she was confident her win would be upheld.

Senate District 27, where Democratic incumbent Eddie Lucio Jr. is retiring, was part of Republicans’ push to gain new ground in South Texas in the Nov. 8 election, which produced mixed results.

Hinojosa had the support of Gov. Greg Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and former President Donald Trump.

LaMantia led by 569 votes coming out of election night. She declared victory then.

Under Texas law, a candidate is eligible to request a recount if their deficit amounts to 10% or less of the winner’s numbers of votes. The deadline to request a recount is 5 p.m. Wednesday.