Mark Teixeira won Texas’ 21st Congressional District, defeating Democrat Kristin Hook to succeed Republican Rep. Chip Roy in the U.S. House of Representatives. The former Texas Rangers and New York Yankees star will enter Congress after a 14-season Major League Baseball career.
NBC News projected Teixeira as the winner. Its tracker, updated at 4:59 a.m. Eastern on November 4, showed him with 194,302 votes, or 54.5%, to Hook’s 162,088 votes, or 45.5%, with 99% of the expected vote counted. Those figures are a reporting snapshot, not certified final totals.
The result keeps the seat in Republican hands. Roy did not seek reelection to the House, having announced a run for Texas attorney general.
Teixeira secured more than 61% of the vote in a 12-candidate Republican primary in March, avoiding a runoff, Fox News reported. The general election against Hook decided who would take the seat, rather than who would represent the party on the ballot.
The district covers a heavily Republican area west of Austin and San Antonio. Teixeira announced his candidacy after Republican state lawmakers approved a redistricting map intended to strengthen the party’s position in the 2026 election. The available reporting does not establish how much of his winning margin came from the map, his name recognition or his campaign.
President Donald Trump endorsed Teixeira during the campaign. Teixeira pledged to work with the president on border security and to end what he called “radical woke indoctrination.” These were campaign positions, not measures he has enacted as a member of Congress.
The Rangers selected Teixeira fifth overall in the 2001 MLB draft. He earned three All-Star selections, five Gold Gloves and three Silver Slugger awards during his playing career, and helped the Yankees win the 2009 World Series.
Teixeira and his family returned to Texas in 2021 after his retirement from baseball. His election gives the district a representative whose national profile was established in professional sports. He has won election but has not yet taken office; the remaining count and certification will establish the final official vote totals.
