FROM THE TEXAS TRIBUNE AND STAFF REPORTS

Sen. Jeff Wentworth, R-San Antonio, has nine more weeks of battle ahead, after finishing first in a tight three-way primary with less than 36 percent of the vote.

Wentworth

He’ll be in a runoff with Donna Campbell, a favorite of movement and Tea Party conservatives who moved into the district just for this race and who overtook former Railroad Commissioner Elizabeth Ames Jones, who was recruited and financed by Wentworth’s foes. If Campbell overtakes him, the Senate would move another notch to the right.

Hays County turned out to be a Campbell stronghold. She won 4,368 votes here to Wentworth’s 2,516 and Jones’ 1,471; she likewise excelled in Travis County. But Wentworth found an edge in his home base of Bexar County where he won 13,853 votes to Jones’ 12,949 and Campbell’s 8,935.

Districtwide, Wentworth polled 27,040 (35.77 percent) to Campbell’s 24,458 (33.68 percent) and Jones’ 23,075 (30.53 percent). As the Austin American-Statesman put it, all three candidates said it was possible for them to win and the evenly matched results prove they were all right.

Campbell

She came out swinging after the results were in: “I want to congratulate Elizabeth Ames Jones for her public service and for running a passionate race,” Campbell said in a news release. “There were many things we disagreed on, but we both agree that Sen. Wentworth has been there too long to be an effective voice for the constituents of District 25. I look forward to a lively and spirited debate with him on the challenges facing Texas.”

Wentworth, meanwhile, told the San Antonio Express-News before final results were clear that he welcomed a runoff with Campbell over Jones.

“If the runoff candidates were Dr. Campbell and me, I don’t think it will have the same flavor at all. I have a lot of respect for Dr. Campbell’s integrity, and truthfulness. I have not found one time when Dr. Campbell said something about me that’s not true,” Wentworth said.

The winner will run against Democrat John Courage, who was unopposed in his party.