The Full Record

U.S. House · Texas's 21st District

Central Texas, including parts of Austin, San Antonio and the Hill Country.

General election · Tuesday, November 3, 2026

✓ Fact-checked 2026-09-25: 13 claims re-checked against their sources

A second, independent research pass re-opened every cited source for this race and corrected or removed anything the source didn’t support.

On the ballot · 2 candidates

Kristin HookD

Raised $244K · spent $144K · $104K cash on hand (through 2026-06-30) FEC filing ↗

Mark TeixeiraR

Raised $3.9M · spent $3.5M · $382K cash on hand (through 2026-06-30) FEC filing ↗

Where they stand — side by side

Only positions documented in a cited source are shown. Where an officeholder’s recorded votes speak to an issue, the votes set the position (marked “votes”). A dash means we found no clear public position — not that the candidate has none.

ISSUEKristin Hook
D
Mark Teixeira
R
Expand immigration enforcement and deportations—Supports[4]

The candidates, in full

Kristin Hook

D

Won the March 3, 2026 Democratic primary with 60.1% of the vote over Regina Vanburg and Gary Taylor.

Kristin Hook is the Democratic nominee for this open Central Texas seat. A scientist with a Ph.D. in animal behavior, she previously worked as a congressional oversight investigator in the U.S. Senate and at the Government Accountability Office, and ran against Chip Roy for this seat in 2024.[2]

Basic profile — the most important sourced facts we found.

In their words — priorities

  • Running to fight for affordability, expand opportunity, and demand accountability for working Texans.[3]
  • Says her GAO experience protecting tax dollars from waste, fraud and abuse and advising Congress on emerging technologies like AI prepares her for oversight work.[3]

Background

  • Born in Corpus Christi, Texas; earned a B.A. and B.S. in biology from the University of Texas at Austin (2007) and a Ph.D. in animal behavior from Cornell University (2016).[2]
  • Taught middle school science through Teach for America, then worked as a postdoc at the University of Maryland, a policy fellow in Sen. Elizabeth Warren's office and at the National Institutes of Health, and a biologist for the U.S. Government Accountability Office.[2]

Campaign money

Raised $244K · spent $144K · $104K cash on hand (through 2026-06-30) FEC filing ↗

Shareable profile page

Mark Teixeira

R

Won the March 3, 2026 Republican primary with 60.9% of the vote over eleven other candidates.

Mark Teixeira is the Republican nominee for this open Central Texas seat, campaigning on border security, cutting federal spending, and energy production.[4]

Basic profile — the most important sourced facts we found.

Positions on the issues

  • SupportsExpand immigration enforcement and deportations

    Campaign platform calls for fully securing the southern border and deporting people in the country illegally.[4]

    “Fully secure the southern border, deport illegal aliens, and crush the cartels to keep Texans safe.”

In their words — priorities

  • Lists border security and immigration enforcement, cutting federal spending, and energy independence among his campaign priorities.[4]
  • Says he wants to expand DOGE's federal spending cuts and enact congressional term limits.[4]

Campaign money

Raised $3.9M · spent $3.5M · $382K cash on hand (through 2026-06-30) FEC filing ↗

Shareable profile page

Research notes & limits

This is an open seat after Texas redrew its congressional map for 2026; incumbent Chip Roy did not run in the redrawn 21st District's primary. Mark Teixeira has not completed a Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey; his positions are quoted from his campaign website as reproduced on Ballotpedia.

Sources · 4

Researched 2026-09-25. Green citations are official government records.

  1. 1.United States House of Representatives elections in Texas, 2026 · Ballotpedia · 2026-09-25 Reference
  2. 2.Kristin Hook · Ballotpedia · 2026-09-25 Reference
  3. 3.Kristin Hook - Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey · Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey · 2026-09-25 Candidate's own words
  4. 4.Mark Teixeira · Ballotpedia (quoting Mark Teixeira's campaign website) · 2026-09-25 Candidate's own words