Republican Dillon Travis elected in HD 35 special election

Republican rancher Dillon Travis won the House District 35 election Tuesday night to succeed former Rep. Ty Burns, who resigned after pleading guilty to domestic violence charges last year. While Travis will be the last member of the Legislature sworn into office for the 2026 regular session, voters in HD 92 will also elect a lame duck successor to former Rep. Forrest Bennett the same day they elect a new member for the 61st Legislature.

With all 26 precincts reporting, Travis received 64.2 percent of the vote, although Kruse gave Democrats their best performance in the district since 2008.

After a special election in the Republican-favored Texas Senate District 9 resulted in an upset victory for the Democratic party, Oklahoma Democrats had hoped Kruse, a teacher from Stillwater, could pull off a similar upset. He raised more than $28,000 during the cycle, including more than $6,000 in the final weeks of the campaign, in a district Democrats last contested in 2022. The only sitting legislator to donate to Kruse was Rep. Trish Ranson (D-Stillwater).

Republican Dillon Travis elected in HD 35 special election