With more than half the precincts counted, Dan Barrios and Jace Yarbrough are staking out early leads in their respective primaries for Texas’s newly redrawn U.S. House District 32 — a race that’s already telling a bigger story about the state of Texas politics heading into 2026.
Tuesday’s primary elections, held on March 3, 2026, put both parties’ candidates to the test in a district that looks almost nothing like it did two years ago. Once held by Democrat Julie Johnson, District 32 was redrawn after redistricting to cover northern Dallas County, Rockwall County, and stretches of East Texas — territory that leans decidedly red. Cook Political rates it a safe Republican seat. Which makes what’s happening on the Democratic side all the more interesting.
Barrios Builds a Lead, Bridges Holds On
With 58% of precincts reporting, Barrios was pulling in roughly 60% of the Democratic vote, leaving combat veteran and first responder Anthony Bridges trailing at nearly 40%. It’s a sizable gap, but not an insurmountable one — Texas law requires a candidate to clear 50% to avoid a May runoff, and that math isn’t settled yet.
Barrios, who has served on the Richardson City Council since 2023, has leaned into his local government experience as a calling card. Bridges, meanwhile, built his campaign around a different kind of résumé — military service and years on the front lines as a first responder. Two very different pitches to the same primary electorate. Fox4 noted both men are competing for a nomination that, given the district’s partisan lean, may be more symbolic than strategic.
Still, Democrats aren’t exactly conceding the race before it starts. Statewide, Democratic primary turnout in 2026 has outpaced Republican turnout — and is running higher than comparable figures from 2024, according to data the Texas Tribune tracked. Whether that enthusiasm translates into anything meaningful in a redrawn red district is a separate question entirely.
A Crowded Republican Field Narrows
On the Republican side, it was never going to be simple. Six candidates entered the primary, and the field reads like a casting call for a certain kind of Texas conservative politics — a former 2024 presidential candidate who doubles as a lead pastor, a former football player turned business leader, a Marine veteran and mental health advocate, a small business owner who once sat on the Arlington City Council, a retired educator running on a MANA platform, and Yarbrough himself.
Jace Yarbrough — a veteran, constitutional lawyer, and the candidate carrying President Donald Trump’s endorsement — led with 51% of the vote when 53% of precincts had reported. That’s a majority, barely, but enough to put him in the driver’s seat. Whether he holds it as more votes come in will determine if Republicans avoid a runoff of their own. Wikipedia confirms the May runoff threshold applies to both parties.
Trump’s endorsement is no small thing in a district like this one. It has a way of consolidating a fractured field — or at least trying to. That said, Yarbrough still had five opponents chipping away at his margins, and 49% of his own party wasn’t with him yet.
What the District Has Become
Here’s the backdrop worth keeping in mind. This isn’t the District 32 that Julie Johnson won. Redistricting fundamentally altered its character — pulling in more conservative suburban and rural territory, and essentially engineering a seat that Democrats will struggle to compete for in November regardless of who they nominate. The FEC’s own records show campaign financial activity in the race, though detailed breakdowns for individual candidates weren’t immediately available in public reports.
That’s the catch. Democrats are running — and in Barrios’s case, running well — in a district that may have been drawn specifically so they can’t win it. The real contest, for all practical purposes, is happening on the Republican ballot.
Still, primaries have a way of revealing things. Turnout patterns, candidate strength, where the energy actually lives in a party. And in 2026, with Trump back in the White House and Texas Democrats showing signs of renewed enthusiasm, even a “safe” seat is worth watching closely. The general election is still months away — and in politics, months is a very long time.
