AUSTIN (KXAN) — Ellen Troxclair won the Republican primary runoff election for the newly-drawn Texas House District 19. The race pit the former Austin City councilmember against an Austin police officer. The winner of this runoff is the favorite to win the seat in November general election.

Troxclair received 12,530 votes (56.48%) while Berry got 9,653 (43.52%).

Austin Police officer Justin Berry advanced to the runoff in the race. In 2019, Berry ran for the District 47 seat in the Texas House. He narrowly lost to incumbent Democrat Vikki Goodwin.

Berry is one of 19 APD officers under indictment over 2020 racial injustice protests. He calls the indictment “frivolous.”

After leaving City Hall in 2018, Troxclair worked as a Senior Fellow for the Texas Public Policy Foundation.

Justin Berry and Ellen Troxclair are on the ballot in the May 24th Republican Primary Runoff for Texas House District 19.

District 19 is currently held by Republican State Rep. James White. He’s not running for re-election. White instead ran in the GOP primary for Commissioner of Agriculture, losing to incumbent Sid Miller.

But the new district boundaries, drawn during the 2021 redistricting process, are far different from the area White currently represents. The old boundaries put the district in east Texas. The new map puts the district in the Hill Country. It now covers Burnet, Blanco, Gillespie and Kendall counties, along with a portion of western Travis County.

Boundaries of Texas House District 19

The winner of the Republican runoff will face Democrat Pam Baggett in November. She was unopposed in the March primary.

District 19 is drawn to favor a Republican, so the winner of the May 24 GOP runoff will be the favorite to win the seat in November.