Mark Teixeira Wins Texas House Seat as Michele Tafoya Falls Short in Minnesota

Former baseball first baseman Mark Teixeira won a seat in the U.S. House on Tuesday, keeping a Texas district in Republican hands. He beat Democrat Kristin Hook in the race for Texas's 21st Congressional District. By Wednesday morning, with 99 percent of ballots counted, Teixeira had 54.5 percent of the vote, according to The Guardian.

Say his last name tuh-SHARE-uh. He goes by "Tex" on the campaign trail. His win came in a seat Republicans have held since 1979. The previous holder, Chip Roy, did not run again, leaving the seat open.

Teixeira had the backing of President Donald Trump and Texas Governor Greg Abbott, both Republicans. Decision Desk HQ, a vote-projection service, called the race on Tuesday night with 86 percent of votes counted. It projected Teixeira would win by 7 percentage points, according to Yahoo News.

In Minnesota, the outcome went the other way for Republicans. Michele Tafoya, a former NFL sideline reporter, ran as a Republican for U.S. Senate. She lost to Peggy Flanagan, the state's Democratic lieutenant governor. NBC News, CBS News and The Associated Press all projected Flanagan as the winner.

Flanagan is the first Native American woman elected to the U.S. Senate. Minnesota has not sent a Republican to the Senate since 2002, and the seat stays in Democratic hands. Tafoya had broken ranks with fellow Republicans over the war with Iran, and she did not actively seek Trump's support during her campaign.

Elsewhere, Republican Tommy Tuberville, the former Auburn football coach and a U.S. senator from Alabama, won the race to become governor of his state.

For sports fans, Tuesday's results offered two familiar names on the ballot. One won a House seat in Texas. The other came up short in a Minnesota Senate race that Democrats kept.