November 7, 2026

By Mary Beth Gahan

District 63 in the Texas House of Representatives will have a Democrat in the seat for the first time in three decades.

State Rep. Ben Bumgarner, a former town council member who was running for a third term as state representative, failed to win reelection and was defeated by Denise Wooten, a clinical pyschologist. Wooten received 54 percent of the vote.

Bumgarner raised more than $1 million in contributions in the last weeks of the campaign, most of which were spent on mailers and text messages to voters. He also appeared on the campaign trail with Gov. Greg Abbott last week.

In the end, it wasn’t enough.

Wooten won by 1,554 votes, according to unofficial results from the Texas Secretary of State. 100 percent of the ballots have been counted in Denton County, but because the margin is less than 10 percent of Wooten’s total votes, Bumgarner could ask for a recount.

Wooten said in a statement that she ran to fund public schools, lower costs for families, and fight corruption.

“Our neighbors asked for a government that works for them, not for billionaires,” Wooten said. “They want schools that are fully funded, bills they can afford to pay, and officials who answer only to them.”

Wooten will be the first Democrat to serve District 63 since 1995, when the district covered Cooke, Parker and Wise counties. She said she will work across the aisle.

“Neither party can govern alone, so both must govern together,” she said. “I will work with any colleague, Democrat or Republican, who wants to improve the lives of Texans. Extremism and distraction serve no one.”