Governor Rick Perry set Saturday, March 2, 2013 as the special election run-off date in Senate District 6, to fill the seat previously held by Senator Mario Gallegos, Jr., of Houston. The run-off candidates are both Democrats – State Representative Carol Alvarado and former Harris County Commissioner Sylvia Garcia. The early voting period for the special election will be February 20 – 26, 2013. The winner of the runoff will serve a four- year term which expires in January of 2017. In the 8 candidate special election on January 26, Sylvia Garcia got 45.35% of the vote, and Carol Alvarado got 41.62%. Historically, the second place finisher in an open special election tends to do well in a subsequent runoff.
