Crenshaw Secures Landslide Victory in Texas GOP Runoff

Retired Navy SEAL Dan Crenshaw notched a landslide victory Tuesday in the Texas Republican primary runoff for the seat of the retiring U.S. Rep. Ted Poe (R.), securing nearly 70 percent of the vote to his opponent's 30 percent.

Crenshaw's definitive win came less than two months after he finished a distant second behind state Rep. Kevin Roberts in the March 6 primary election, upending early predictions by party operatives that the ex-SEAL didn't have a shot.

"We spent our entire campaign trying to create this fire that spread throughout the district and I think we succeeded," Crenshaw told the Washington Free Beacon on Wednesday.

"Political experts miss this all the time because they lose sight of the heart behind politics. They take a very cerebral approach to politics with polling, statistics, looking at the money raised and the power brokers in the race, that's all they care about, so they completely lose sight of what you can accomplish if you know why you're there and you're willing to connect with people, you're willing to spark fires, and your supporters then spark that fire in someone else."

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