The first primary of the 2018 midterm elections has already scrambled the political landscape, after a Democratic candidate spurned by the national party qualified for a primary runoff in one of the districts central to Democrats' efforts to win back control of the House next year.

Laura Moser, an activist and journalist, finished second in Tuesday's Democratic primary in a Houston-area congressional district held by Republicans — despite opposition from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which called Moser a "Washington insider" who would lose in the general election.


Moser lived in Washington but moved to the Houston-area district to run. She had written in 2014 that she would "sooner have her teeth pulled" than relocate to the Dallas suburb where her grandparents live — a past statement the DCCC sees as potentially disqualifying.

She will face attorney Lizzie Pannill Fletcher, the leading vote-getter on Tuesday. But because Fletcher did not win a majority of the vote — she led Moser, 30 percent to 24 percent, when The Associated Press called the race — the two will advance to a runoff on May 22.

In the closing weeks of the campaign, the DCCC posted a memo featuring opposition research about Moser, including her residency, until recently, in Washington. The committee declined to back Fletcher explicitly early Wednesday but did reiterate in a statement its commitment to defeating Culberson, noting that Democrats in the district had picked "a clear front-runner" and "are in a strong position to win in November."

That race was just one of three dozen congressional contests on the ballot Tuesday, as voters in Texas fired the starting pistol of the 2018 midterms. Voters also chose nominees for governor and a U.S. Senate seat.

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Two statewide, Republican incumbents with national aspirations, Gov. Greg Abbott and Sen. Ted Cruz, won renomination easily. Cruz will face Rep. Beto O’Rourke, who dispatched two challengers in the Democratic primary, in November.

While strategists in both parties remain skeptical of O’Rourke’s chances of toppling Cruz in the large, expensive and traditionally Republican state, O'Rourke has managed to outraise the first-term GOP incumbent in three consecutive reporting periods, boosted largely by small-dollar donations.

Abbott's November opponent is still to be determined. Former Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez and Andrew White, the son of former Gov. Mark White, will face off in a runoff on May 22. Valdez led the nine-candidate field, but she finished well short of the majority of the vote needed to win the nomination outright.

Runoffs are also in the offing in two other competitive, Republican-held congressional seats: Rep. Pete Sessions’ North Dallas district and the expansive district held by Rep. Will Hurd, which stretches from the San Antonio suburbs west to just outside El Paso.

Colin Allred, an attorney and former pro football player, was the leading Democratic vote-getter for the Sessions seat. He will face former Obama Administration official Lillian Salerno in the runoff.

In the Democratic primary for Hurd's seat, Gina Ortiz Jones, another former Obama administration official and Iraq War veteran, finished in first place. But her runoff opponent was also unclear early Wednesday: Judy Canales, another former Obama administration official; high school teacher Rick Treviño and former federal prosecutor Jay Hulings were all running close.

In addition to the three seats seen as competitive in the general election, eight other congressional districts are open, without an incumbent on the ballot.

Six Republican members are not seeking reelection this year — with each occupying seats seen as unlikely to switch parties in November: Reps. Ted Poe, Sam Johnson, Jeb Hensarling, Joe Barton, Lamar Smith and Blake Farenthold. Barton and Farenthold are leaving Congress amid sex scandals, with the latter accused of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior toward congressional staff. Republican primaries in each district, with the exception of Johnson's, are headed to runoffs in May.

Two safe Democratic seats are open: Rep. Gene Green is retiring, while O’Rourke is leaving his El Paso-based seat to run statewide. Both are likely to elect the state's first Latina members of Congress this fall: State Sen. Sylvia Garcia won the nomination outright for Green's seat, while former El Paso County judge Veronica Escobar won the primary in O'Rourke's seat.

Kevin Robillard contributed to this report.