Ron Wright, who had cancer and died in February after contracting Covid-19.

Trump endorsed Susan Wright shortly before the first round of voting, which ended with none of the 23 candidates securing a winning majority, then doubled down ahead of her one-on-one race with Ellzey.

He recorded a robocall for Wright in the final days of the campaign and his super PAC, Make America Great Again Action, made a late $100,000 ad buy.

But Ellzey outraised Wright by a 2-to-1 margin among smaller dollar donors and collected the support of a number of high profile Texas conservatives, including a pair with close ties to Trump: former Gov.

Dan Crenshaw, who defended Ellzey against a barrage of attacks from the Club for Growth, an anti-tax group, and testified to his allegiance to Trump.

Despite his inability to boost Wright into Congress, the results were not a full rebuke of Trump, who remains popular in the state.