Baseball star Mark Teixeira has won the open-seat race for Texas’s 21st Congressional District, defeating Democrat Kristin Hook. Teixeira, a Republican, is set to succeed Rep. Chip Roy, who did not seek re-election after an unsuccessful bid for Texas attorney general.
With roughly 87% of the vote counted, the Republican led Democrat Kristin Hook by about 19,400 votes at the time of Decision Desk HQ’s race call. The race was much tighter than expected, with Teixeira projected to win by a single-digits in a race that was carried by President Donald Trump carried by roughly 20 percentage points in 2024.
Congrats to Mark Teixeira (@teixeiramark25) on his election in Texas’ 21st District!
Teixeira returned his NAGR candidate survey 100% pro-gun, pledging to defend the Second Amendment. pic.twitter.com/9KoXvM7x5j
— National Association for Gun Rights (@gunrights) November 4, 2026
The results were less favorable for Republicans throughout the Lone Star state, however, as Democratic nominee James Talarico defeated Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the state’s closely-watched Senate race. Talarico is set to become the first Democrat to be elected to the U.S. Senate from Texas since the late 1980s.
In addition, three-term Governor Greg Abbott was soundly defeated by Democrat challenger Gina Hinojosa in a stunning political upset. Additional Republicans lost statewide races amid historic defeats nationwide for the party.
Teixeira, 46, played 14 seasons in Major League Baseball from 2003 to 2016. Drafted fifth overall by the Texas Rangers in 2001, he later played for the Atlanta Braves and Los Angeles Angels before joining the New York Yankees, with whom he won the 2009 World Series.
Over his career he earned three All-Star selections, five Gold Glove Awards and three Silver Slugger Awards, retiring with 409 home runs
After leaving baseball he worked as an ESPN analyst and in business and real-estate investments. A Georgia Tech graduate, he returned to the Austin area with his family in 2021 and had not previously held elected office.
The 21st District covers much of the Texas Hill Country. It includes all of Bandera, Blanco, Comal, Gillespie, Kendall, Kerr and Real counties, plus portions of Bexar and Hays counties that encompass northern San Antonio and some of the western Austin suburbs. Roughly 767,000 residents live in the district, while state data lists the population as about 54 percent white and 34 percent Hispanic.
The seat became open when Roy chose to run for Texas attorney general rather than seek another term in the House. He finished second in the March 2026 Republican primary and lost the May runoff to state Sen. Mayes Middleton.
The district is strongly Republican. The Cook Political Report rates it Solid Republican with a Partisan Voting Index of R+10, meaning it has voted roughly 10 points more Republican than the national average in recent presidential elections. No Democrat has held the seat since Bob Krueger in the mid-1970s.
