Former Major League Baseball first baseman Mark Teixeira has vaulted to the front of a crowded Republican primary field in Texas’ 21st Congressional District, leveraging personal wealth, high-profile endorsements, and name recognition in his first bid for elected office. With Rep. Chip Roy leaving the seat to run for Texas attorney general, the open race has attracted a dozen Republican candidates, though Teixeira has quickly separated himself from the pack.
The district, which stretches from parts of San Antonio into several deeply conservative Hill Country counties, strongly favors Republicans. Under new boundaries, it would have backed Donald Trump by nearly 22 points in the 2024 presidential election, making the GOP primary the de facto contest to determine the next member of Congress.
Teixeira, a former Texas Rangers and New York Yankees star, has dominated fundraising. He has loaned his campaign $2.5 million and raised an additional $545,000 from donors, giving him far more resources than any of his rivals. He has also consolidated establishment support, securing endorsements from Trump, Gov. Greg Abbott, and nine members of the Texas Republican congressional delegation. Abbott’s backing followed Teixeira’s public support for the governor’s push to expand private school vouchers.
Political analysts say the combination of money and endorsements has allowed Teixeira to blanket the district with advertising, giving him a significant advantage. Still, the size of the field makes a runoff election possible if no candidate wins a majority in the March 3 primary. With so many contenders drawing small but potentially meaningful shares of the vote, even a clear frontrunner could fall short of outright victory.
Teixeira’s background is well known to sports fans. Drafted by the Rangers in 2001, he spent five seasons in Arlington before later joining the Yankees, where he finished an eight-year run and retired after the 2016 season. According to his campaign, he returned to Texas in 2021 and now lives in Bee Cave, west of Austin.
In the campaign, Teixeira has cast himself as a reliable conservative aligned with Trump-era priorities, including stricter border enforcement, reductions in federal spending, and strong support for gun rights. He has publicly expressed backing for Immigration and Customs Enforcement following a recent fatal shooting involving an ICE agent in Minnesota. His messaging has focused on portraying himself as a fighter for conservative values and an outsider entering politics from outside the traditional political pipeline.
Some opponents, however, have questioned the authenticity of that positioning. Rivals have criticized Teixeira as a recent arrival to Texas politics and highlighted his past involvement with environmental causes. At a January debate in San Antonio, activists distributed materials drawing attention to comments Teixeira made about a decade ago regarding the role of athletes in speaking out on climate issues. Those remarks came during his service on the board of an Atlanta-based environmental nonprofit focused on restoring greenspaces and waterways.
Beyond Teixeira, several candidates have emerged as potential contenders for a runoff spot. Trey Trainor, a prominent Republican election lawyer and former chair of the Federal Election Commission, entered the race about a month after Teixeira launched his campaign. Trainor has held senior roles with the Texas secretary of state’s office and the Republican Party of Texas, worked on former Gov. Rick Perry’s 2012 presidential campaign, and assisted with Texas’ 2003 congressional redistricting. He also played a key role at the 2016 Republican National Convention and was later appointed to the FEC by Trump.
Trump’s endorsement of Teixeira dealt a setback to Trainor’s campaign, given Trainor’s long-standing ties to the former president. Nonetheless, Trainor has emphasized his loyalty to Trump and his experience navigating election law and party politics.
Another experienced candidate is Mike Wheeler, the former Kendall County Republican Party chairman. Wheeler serves on the State Republican Executive Committee and previously worked in global finance. In 2024, he was appointed by Trump as a senior adviser to the Small Business Administration. Wheeler is among the few candidates, along with Daniel Betts, Navy veteran Jason Cahill, and engineer Paul Rojas, to raise more than $100,000 aside from Teixeira.
Betts, an Austin-based defense attorney and former chemist, is running on what he calls an evidence-driven conservative platform, with a particular emphasis on combating fentanyl trafficking and expanding access to addiction treatment. He previously ran for Travis County district attorney in 2024, losing decisively in the heavily Democratic county. Cahill, an oil and gas businessman and Navy veteran, has self-funded $250,000 of his campaign and presents himself as a political outsider in the mold of Trump.
The field also includes Kyle Sinclair, a former Bexar County GOP vice chair who previously lost a general election in a neighboring Democratic district; Jacques Dubose, a Navy veteran and former Boerne Chamber of Commerce chair; Marine Corps veteran Zeke Enriquez; Weston Martinez, an arbitrator who has represented Jan. 6 defendants; attorney Heather Tessmer; and petroleum engineer Peggy Wardlaw.
While Teixeira remains the clear frontrunner, political observers note that a runoff could give another candidate an opportunity to consolidate opposition support. Even so, the former baseball star’s financial edge and high-level endorsements position him as the candidate to beat in a race that will likely shape the district’s representation for years to come.
