Siegel Edges Out Gandhi In U.S. House District 10 Runoff

AUSTIN, TX — With nearly 85 percent of the votes counted, Mike Siegel led Pritesh Gandhi in the runoff election for U.S. House District 10 on Tuesday evening.

Siegel had 54.5 percent of the vote versus 45.6 percent of the vote for Gandhi. The results are based on reporting from 226 of 267 polling places, 84.6 percent of the total. However, the Texas Secretary of State elections hub was beset with glitches throughout the evening, and mail-in ballots had not been included as part of the mix as of early Wednesday.

Patch will update when a final, official count is in.

The race for U.S. House District 10 was something of a David vs. Goliath contest with two Davids as represented by Gandhi and Siegel, who seek to unseat 15-year Republican incumbent Rep. Michael McCaul who poses formidable competition for the seat come November.

The runoff race was Gandhi's foray into politics after a career as a primary care doctor. He related his compelling personal narrative while on the campaign stump, telling would-be supporters of a first-generation experience inspired by his father — a pharmacist who started a small business in home health care while providing discounted medicine and nursing for poor families. In his campaign literature, Gandhi said that early exposure to such altruism led to his own philanthropic efforts: Ensuring access to clean water for the poor during his time as a Fulbright scholar, and a later focus on nutrition for impoverished families as an Albert Schweitzer fellow in Boston. Gandhi touted that experience as a guiding force of his quest to represent District 10.

For his part, Siegel touted his work as a civil rights attorney while running on a progressive populist platform. After law school, Siegel said he worked as a plaintiff-side employment attorney representing women who endured workplace discrimination and whistleblowers suffering retaliation. He also touted his legal representation on behalf of immigrant families, firefighters, low-income renters and those advocating for common-sense gun regulations during his time as an attorney in Austin.

District 10 stretches from suburbs in Austin to Houston.