Texas special election marks 1st competitive contest of Biden era

Nearly two dozen candidates will face off Saturday in the race to succeed the late Republican Rep. Ron Wright of Texas, who died in February after suffering from COVID-19 and complications from cancer. The contest presents the first competitive election of the Biden political era, but the stakes of the race remain vastly different for candidates across party lines. For Democrats, the race for the state's 6th Congressional District, which includes diversifying portions of the Dallas-Forth Worth suburbs, will test just how tossup-friendly the Republican-leaning area has become since Biden’s win in November and since the subsequent fallout over the Capitol Hill riot in January. In November, Trump won the district by just 3 percentage points after winning by 12 points in 2016. Jana Lynne Sanchez, the leading Democrat in the race, says the narrowed margin is a promising sign for the shift she's seen across the district.