2024 Texas primary election: Races to watch

Texas Primary 2024: What to watch for

The presidential candidates are all but decided, but there is plenty of intrigue across several races in the Texas primary. The FOX Texas Trio break down the civil war in the Republican Party, a battle for vouchers and attorney general Ken Paxton's attempt at revenge for his impeachment.

Election day for the 2024 Texas primary election will be Tuesday as voters begin the process of picking candidates for the fall election.

The election includes races for president, Congress, both houses of the Texas Legislature, statewide judges and many local races.

Here a few races we will be watching closely.

We will have full election coverage on election night, March 5, and you can watch the results as they come in live on FOX4News.com.

Texas Presidential Primary: Trump, Biden head toward showdown

Republican

Former president Donald Trump will be on the ballot, where his biggest opponent is former ambassador Nikki Haley.

Trump has overwhelmingly won in previous states.

The Super Tuesday primaries, which include Texas, could mark the end of Haley's campaign.

Democrat

There will be several names on the ballot in the Democratic primary, but President Joe Biden is expected to easily win.

If Trump and Biden win, it sets up a rematch of the 2020 election.

In 2020, Trump defeated Biden in Texas, earning 52 percent of the vote to Biden's 46 percent.

U.S. Senate - Democrat: Can anyone catch Colin Allred?

Democrats running for Senate debate ahead of primary

Texas AFL-CIO held a debate between top Democrats looking to challenge Ted Cruz for a spot in the U.S. Senate. U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, Texas Senator Roland Gutierrez and DeSoto State Representative Carl Sherman took part in the debate.

Candidates:

Democratic candidates will be on the ballot as they look to unseat Republican Senator Ted Cruz in November.

U.S. Representative Colin Allred of Dallas is the front-runner in the primary.

He's running against a field which includes State Senator Roland Gutierrez and State Rep. Carl Sherman from DeSoto.

In a debate leading up to the election, Allred took more moderate positions on gun control, immigration and bipartisanship, while Gutierrez took more liberal and strident positions on those issues.

It is very possible that this race could end in a runoff if no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote.

The top two candidates would then face-off in a runoff election.

Runoffs are scheduled for May 28.

U.S. House District 32 Democratic Primary: Race To Fill Allred's Seat

Voter's Guide: U.S. House District 32 - Dem Primary

There is a crowded field of Democrats looking to replace Congressman Collin Allred. FOX 4 interviewed the four candidates who qualified for, and participated in, a recent primary debate in Richardson.

Candidates:

With Congressman Collin Allred running for Senate, the race to replace him is heating up.

There are 10 candidates on the ballot to take his seat in the redrawn 32nd congressional district, which stretched from Plano to Balch Springs.

MORE ON THE RACE HERE

Civil rights attorney Justin Moore, State Rep. Julie Johnson, trauma surgeon Brian Williams and attorney Callie Butcher were the top four candidates who qualified for a debate in Richardson last month.

U.S. House District 12 Republican Primary: Kay Granger's seat up for grabs

North Texas primaries could indicate future of GOP

Two longtime Republican members of Congress are retiring and now there's a Republican proxy battle to take their place. Candidates backed by former president Donald Trump and Attorney General Ken Paxton will face off against those supported by Governor Greg Abbott.

Candidates:

The U.S. House District 12 Republican primary is one of the races which is serving as a proxy battle between Governor Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton.

The Tarrant County seat has been held by Kay Granger since 1997, but the longtime congresswoman is retiring.

MORE ON THE RACE HERE

One of them, John O'Shea, openly criticized Granger and is endorsed by Paxton.

His biggest threat, State Rep. Craig Goldman, is backed by Governor Greg Abbott.

U.S. House Texas District 26 Republican Primary: Race to replace Rep. Michael Burgess

Candidates:

There will be a new face for Republicans in a seat that has been firmly red for years.

Rep. Michael Burgess is retiring from Congress, where he has held his seat since 2003.

MORE ON THE RACE HERE

Brandon Gill, the son-in-law of conservative movie-maker Dinesh D'Souza, is backed by former president Donald Trump.

Southlake mayor John Huffman is also running for the seat.

Former Denton County judge Scott Armey is again running for the seat after losing to Burgess more than 20 years ago.

Texas House District 67 Republican Primary: Proxy Battle for Paxton vs. Abbott

Candidates:

Another example of the proxy battle between Gov. Abbott and Attorney General Paxton is in Collin County.

Paxton is targeting Texas House Republicans in Collin County who voted to impeach him in 2023.

Paxton targets Republican who tried to impeach him

State Rep. Jeff Leach called Ken Paxton a friend and mentor. Now, Paxton is backing Leach's opponent as the attorney general targets Republicans in his home county who tried to impeach him.

Incumbent Jeff Leach was one of the impeachment managers for the House and gave one of the most memorable moments of the political trial with his tearful call for state senators to vote to remove his former mentor.

Leach has the backing of Governor Greg Abbott, while Paxton is endorsing Leach's opponent, Daren Meis.

MORE ON THE RACE HERE

Meis, a businessman and former pilot, argued that Leach failed the people of his district by voting to impeach Paxton.

Dallas County Sheriff Democratic Primary: Lupe Valdez looks to unseat Marian Brown

Marian Brown (left) and Lupe Valdez (right)

Candidates:

The Dallas County race for sheriff includes a race between the former and current sheriffs.

Sheriff Marian Brown was appointed to the position in 2017 and was elected again in 2018 and 2020.

She will go up against her former boss, Lupe Valdez.

Valdez served as Dallas County Sheriff from 2005 to 2017.

She left the position to run for governor of Texas in 2018.

Valdez was named as the Democratic nominee, but lost to Greg Abbott.

Both Brown and Valdez broke barriers when they became Dallas County Sheriff.

Valdez was the first openly lesbian sheriff in Dallas County. Brown was the first Black sheriff in the county's history.