Susan Wright advances to runoff in Texas House special election

May 2 (UPI) -- Republican Susan Wright advanced to a runoff election to represent Texas' 6th Congressional district, media outlets projected Sunday.

Wright emerged atop a field of 23 candidates seeking to fill the seat formerly held by her late husband, Rep. Ron Wright, as the election is set to go into a runoff as no reached the threshold of 50% of total votes needed to win outright, according to projections from Politico and NBC News. A runoff date hasn't been chosen for the district that serves three North Texas counties: Tarrant, Ellis and Navarro.

Wright was projected to win 19.2% of the vote, while GOP state Rep. Jake Ellzey with a projected 13.8% of the vote and Democrat Jana Lynne Sanchez with a projected 13.4% of the vote are locked in a tight race for the second-place spot.

The total split of votes in the first round of voting saw 60% go to Republicans and 40% to Democrats as Democrats face the possibility of being shut out of the runoff, in the longtime GOP district covering portions of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.

Ron Wright, who was first elected to represent the district in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2018, died at the age of 67 on Feb. 7, due to complications related to COVID-19. He was diagnosed with the coronavirus a month before and had also been battling lung cancer.

His widow, Susan Wright, emerged as the favorite to take over his seat and also received an endorsement from former President Donald Trump in the race last week.

"Susan Wright will be a terrific Congresswoman (TX-06) for the Great State of Texas," Trump said in a statement. "She is the wife of the late Congressman Ron Wright, who has always been supportive of our America First Policies."