A Democratic Party primary took place on March 1, 2022, in Texas' 21st Congressional District to determine which Democratic candidate would run in the district's general election on November 8, 2022.

Claudia Zapata and Ricardo Villarreal advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Texas District 21.

Candidate filing deadline	Primary election	General election
December 13, 2021	March 1, 2022	November 8, 2022

A primary election is an election in which registered voters select a candidate that they believe should be a political party's candidate for elected office to run in the general election. They are also used to choose convention delegates and party leaders. Primaries are state-level and local-level elections that take place prior to a general election. Texas utilizes an open primary system. Voters do not have to register with a party in advance in order to participate in that party's primary. The voter must sign a pledge stating the following (the language below is taken directly from state statutes):^[1]^[2]

“

The following pledge shall be placed on the primary election ballot above the listing of candidates' names: 'I am a (insert appropriate political party) and understand that I am ineligible to vote or participate in another political party's primary election or convention during this voting year.'^[3]

”

For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.

This page focuses on Texas' 21st Congressional District Democratic primary. For more in-depth information on the district's Republican primary and the general election, see the following pages:

Candidates and election results

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Texas District 21

The following candidates ran in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Texas District 21 on March 1, 2022.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Claudia Zapata	47.2	16,604
✔	Ricardo Villarreal	27.3	9,590
	Coy Branscum	9.0	3,157
	David Anderson	8.6	3,038
	Scott Sturm	5.3	1,865
	Cherif Gacis	2.6	902

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 35,156
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Campaign finance

This section contains campaign finance figures from the Federal Election Commission covering all candidate fundraising and spending in this election.^[4] It does not include information on fundraising before the current campaign cycle or on spending by satellite groups. The numbers in this section are updated as candidates file new campaign finance reports. Candidates for Congress are required to file financial reports on a quarterly basis, as well as two weeks before any primary, runoff, or general election in which they will be on the ballot and upon the termination of any campaign committees.^[5] Click here to view the reporting schedule for candidates for U.S. Congress in 2022.

U.S. Congress campaign reporting schedule, 2022
Report	Close of books	Filing deadline
Year-end 2021	12/31/2021	1/31/2022
April quarterly	3/31/2022	4/15/2022
July quarterly	6/30/2022	7/15/2022
October quarterly	9/30/2022	10/15/2022
Pre-general	10/19/2022	10/27/2022
Post-general	11/28/2022	12/08/2022
Year-end 2022	12/31/2022	1/31/2023

Name	Party	Receipts*	Disbursements**	Cash on hand	Date
David Anderson	Democratic Party	$5,886	$4,641	$1,245	As of December 31, 2022
Coy Branscum	Democratic Party	$20,272	$23,914	$-2,709	As of March 31, 2022
Cherif Gacis	Democratic Party	$4,639	$4,639	$0	As of March 31, 2022
Scott Sturm	Democratic Party	$76,134	$76,119	$0	As of March 14, 2022
Ricardo Villarreal	Democratic Party	$47,925	$46,235	$0	As of September 30, 2022
Claudia Zapata	Democratic Party	$118,238	$101,741	$16,498	As of October 19, 2022
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2022. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC). * According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee." ** According to the FEC, a disbursement "is a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit or gift of money or anything of value to influence a federal election," plus other kinds of payments not made to influence a federal election.

Primary election competitiveness

See also: Primary election competitiveness in state and federal government, 2022

This section contains data on U.S. House primary election competitiveness in Texas.

Texas U.S. House competitiveness, 2014-2022
Year	Districts/ offices	Seats	Open seats	Candidates	Possible primaries	Contested Democratic primaries	Contested Republican primaries	% of contested primaries	Incumbents in contested primaries	% of incumbents in contested primaries
2022	38	38	6	222	76	17	27	57.9%	19	59.4%^[6]
2020	36	36	6	231	72	24	26	69.4%	18	60.0%
2018	36	36	8	212	72	25	21	63.9%	15	53.6%
2016	36	36	2	127	72	13	20	45.8%	19	55.9%
2014	36	36	1	100	72	6	13	26.4%	12	34.3%

Post-filing deadline analysis

The following analysis covers all U.S. House districts up for election in Texas in 2022. Information below was calculated on Jan. 27, 2022, and may differ from information shown in the table above due to candidate replacements and withdrawals after that time.

In 2022, 223 candidates filed to run for Texas’ 38 U.S. House districts, including 143 Republicans, 79 Democrats, and one independent candidate. That’s 5.9 candidates per district, less than the 6.5 candidates per district in 2020 and 5.9 in 2018.

Texas gained two U.S. House districts following the 2020 census. Two members of the U.S. House filed to run for re-election in a different district than the one represented before redistricting: Lloyd Doggett (D) filed in the new 37th District, while Vicente Gonzalez (D) filed in the 34th District seat held by retiring Rep. Filemon Vela (D).

Six districts were open, meaning no incumbent filed to run. In addition to Gonzalez’s and Doggett’s districts, these included the newly-created 38th District and the 1st, 8th, and 30th districts. 1st District incumbent Louie Gohmert (R) filed to run for state attorney general, while incumbents Kevin Brady (R) and Eddie Bernice Johnson (D) did not file for re-election.

This was the same number as 2012, the previous post-redistricting cycle, and 2020. There were seven open seats in 2018.

There were 13 incumbents who filed to run in districts without any primary challengers.

Three districts were likely to be won by Republicans because no Democrats filed. There were no districts where the same is true of Democratic candidates.

Fifteen candidates each filed to run in the 15th and 30th Districts, more than any other. Six Democrats and nine Republicans filed in the 15th. Nine Democrats and six Republicans filed in the 30th. Both districts were open.

Ballot access requirements

The table below details filing requirements for U.S. House candidates in Texas in the 2022 election cycle. For additional information on candidate ballot access requirements in Texas, click here.

Filing requirements for U.S. House candidates, 2022
State	Office	Party	Signatures required	Filing fee	Filing deadline	Source
Texas	U.S. House	Democratic or Republican	2% of all votes cast for governor in the district in the last election, or 500, whichever is less	$3,125.00	12/13/2021	Source
Texas	U.S. House	Unaffiliated	5% of all votes cast for governor in the district in the last election, or 500, whichever is less	N/A	6/23/2022	Source

District analysis

Click the tabs below to view information about voter composition, past elections, and demographics in both the district and the state.

District map - A map of the district before and after redistricting.
Effect of redistricting - How districts in the state changed as a result of redistricting following the 2020 census.
Competitiveness - Information about the competitiveness of 2022 U.S. House elections in the state.
Presidential elections - Information about presidential elections in the district and the state.
Demographics - Information about the state's demographics and how they compare to the country as a whole.
State party control - The partisan makeup of the state's congressional delegation and state government.

District map

	2024 → ← 2020
Texas' 21st Congressional District
	Democratic primary; Democratic primary runoff; Republican primary; General election
Election details
	Filing deadline: December 13, 2021
	Primary: March 1, 2022; Primary runoff: May 24, 2022; General: November 8, 2022
How to vote
	Poll times: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Voting in Texas
Race ratings
	Cook Partisan Voter Index (2022): R+13; Cook Political Report: Solid Republican; Sabato's Crystal Ball: Safe Republican; Inside Elections: Solid Republican
Ballotpedia analysis
	U.S. Senate battlegrounds; U.S. House battlegrounds; Federal and state primary competitiveness; Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2022
See also
	Texas' 21st Congressional District; 1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th • 5th • 6th • 7th • 8th • 9th • 10th • 11th • 12th • 13th • 14th • 15th • 16th • 17th • 18th • 19th • 20th • 21st • 22nd • 23rd • 24th • 25th • 26th • 27th • 28th • 29th • 30th • 31st • 32nd • 33rd • 34th • 35th • 36th • 37th • 38th; Texas elections, 2022; U.S. Congress elections, 2022; U.S. Senate elections, 2022; U.S. House elections, 2022; Alabama U.S. House racesAlaska U.S. House racesArizona U.S. House racesArkansas U.S. House racesCalifornia U.S. House racesColorado U.S. House racesConnecticut U.S. House racesDelaware U.S. House racesFlorida U.S. House racesGeorgia U.S. House racesHawaii U.S. House racesIdaho U.S. House racesIllinois U.S. House racesIndiana U.S. House racesIowa U.S. House racesKansas U.S. House racesKentucky U.S. House racesLouisiana U.S. House racesMaine U.S. House racesMaryland U.S. House racesMassachusetts U.S. House racesMichigan U.S. House racesMinnesota U.S. House racesMississippi U.S. House racesMissouri U.S. House racesMontana U.S. House racesNebraska U.S. House racesNevada U.S. House racesNew Hampshire U.S. House racesNew Jersey U.S. House racesNew Mexico U.S. House racesNew York U.S. House racesNorth Carolina U.S. House racesNorth Dakota U.S. House racesOhio U.S. House racesOklahoma U.S. House racesOregon U.S. House racesPennsylvania U.S. House racesRhode Island U.S. House racesSouth Carolina U.S. House racesSouth Dakota U.S. House racesTennessee U.S. House racesTexas U.S. House racesUtah U.S. House racesVermont U.S. House racesVirginia U.S. House racesWashington U.S. House racesWest Virginia U.S. House racesWisconsin U.S. House racesWyoming U.S. House racesSubmit

Below was the map in use at the time of the election, enacted as part of the 2020 redistricting cycle, compared to the map in place before the election.

Texas District 21
until January 2, 2023

Click a district to compare boundaries.

Texas District 21
starting January 3, 2023

Click a district to compare boundaries.

Effect of redistricting

See also: Redistricting in Texas after the 2020 census

The table below details the results of the 2020 presidential election in each district at the time of the 2022 election and its political predecessor district.^[7] This data was compiled by Daily Kos Elections.^[8]

2020 presidential results by Congressional district, Texas
District	2022 district		Political predecessor district
District	Joe Biden	Donald Trump	Joe Biden	Donald Trump
Texas' 1st	26.5%	72.4%	27.2%	71.6%
Texas' 2nd	37.9%	60.7%	48.6%	49.9%
Texas' 3rd	42.0%	56.4%	48.7%	49.8%
Texas' 4th	36.4%	62.4%	24.4%	74.4%
Texas' 5th	38.2%	60.6%	37.9%	60.9%
Texas' 6th	37.4%	61.3%	47.8%	50.8%
Texas' 7th	64.2%	34.5%	53.6%	45.1%
Texas' 8th	35.8%	63.0%	28.1%	70.6%
Texas' 9th	76.2%	22.8%	75.7%	23.3%
Texas' 10th	39.8%	58.6%	48.4%	50.0%
Texas' 11th	29.1%	69.5%	19.7%	79.1%
Texas' 12th	40.1%	58.3%	37.9%	60.5%
Texas' 13th	26.5%	72.0%	19.4%	79.2%
Texas' 14th	35.0%	63.6%	39.6%	59.0%
Texas' 15th	48.1%	51.0%	TX-15: 50.4% TX-34: 51.5%	TX-15: 48.5% TX-34: 47.5%
Texas' 16th	67.0%	31.5%	66.4%	32.0%
Texas' 17th	38.0%	60.5%	43.6%	54.6%
Texas' 18th	73.6%	25.1%	75.7%	23.0%
Texas' 19th	26.2%	72.4%	26.3%	72.2%
Texas' 20th	65.8%	32.7%	63.7%	34.7%
Texas' 21st	39.4%	59.1%	47.9%	50.6%
Texas' 22nd	41.3%	57.4%	48.9%	49.8%
Texas' 23rd	45.8%	52.9%	48.5%	50.3%
Texas' 24th	43.0%	55.4%	51.9%	46.5%
Texas' 25th	33.8%	64.9%	44.4%	54.0%
Texas' 26th	40.0%	58.6%	42.1%	56.3%
Texas' 27th	38.1%	60.6%	37.5%	61.2%
Texas' 28th	52.9%	45.9%	51.6%	47.2%
Texas' 29th	67.8%	31.0%	65.9%	32.9%
Texas' 30th	77.8%	21.0%	79.8%	18.9%
Texas' 31st	39.0%	59.2%	47.6%	50.4%
Texas' 32nd	65.7%	32.7%	54.4%	44.0%
Texas' 33rd	74.2%	24.4%	73.0%	25.6%
Texas' 34th	57.3%	41.8%	TX-15: 50.4% TX-34: 51.5%	TX-15: 48.5% TX-34: 47.5%
Texas' 35th	71.7%	26.5%	---	---
Texas' 36th	33.6%	65.2%	26.9%	71.9%
Texas' 37th	75.5%	22.7%	67.7%	30.5%
Texas' 38th	40.2%	58.4%	---	---

Competitiveness

See also: Primary election competitiveness in state and federal government, 2022

This section contains data on U.S. House primary election competitiveness in Texas.

Texas U.S. House competitiveness, 2014-2022
Year	Districts/ offices	Seats	Open seats	Candidates	Possible primaries	Contested Democratic primaries	Contested Republican primaries	% of contested primaries	Incumbents in contested primaries	% of incumbents in contested primaries
2022	38	38	6	222	76	17	27	57.9%	19	59.4%^[9]
2020	36	36	6	231	72	24	26	69.4%	18	60.0%
2018	36	36	8	212	72	25	21	63.9%	15	53.6%
2016	36	36	2	127	72	13	20	45.8%	19	55.9%
2014	36	36	1	100	72	6	13	26.4%	12	34.3%