Former MLB Star Defeats Ex-NIH Scientist To Win House Seat

Republican former World Series champion Mark Teixeira hit a home run at the polls yesterday, winning a U.S. House seat in Texas’ 21st Congressional District — beating out a former federal scientist in the process.

The three-time Major League Baseball All-Star for the Texas Rangers and New York Yankees defeated Democrat Kristin Hook, a biological scientist who served as an adviser for Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and worked in policy for the National Institutes of Health, per Hook’s campaign website. The former slugger took 55 percent of the vote, edging out Hook’s 45 percent, according to the Associated Press — a much closer race than the 2024 contest which Hook lost by a 26-point margin.

President Donald Trump carried the 21st District, which was redrawn during Texas’ mid-decade redistricting, by 22 percentage points during the 2024 presidential election, according to data from the nonpartisan Dave’s Redistricting App.

Teixeira’s office did not respond to DCNF request for comment in time for publication.

“Together, we can build a better future for our families, our neighbors, and every community across Texas 21,” Teixeira said in a statement posted on X. “I’m excited to get to work. I will be praying for all of you and for the future of this great nation. God bless Texas, and God bless America.”

Teixeira will take the seat currently held by Republican Rep. Chip Roy, who served four terms but did not seek re-election and instead ran for Attorney General. Teixeira won the Republican primary for Congress with more than 61 percent of the vote back in March. A Republican has held the 21st District since 1979, with former Rep. Lamar Smith, Roy’s predecessor, serving 16 terms before retiring in 2019.

Hook ran for the seat last election, against Roy back in 2024, winning only 36 percent of the vote to Roy’s 62 percent.

Teixeira began his baseball career with the Rangers in 2001 and was the No. 5 pick in the MLB draft, ESPN reported. He played fourteen seasons in the major leagues and made three All-Star Game appearances, five Gold Gloves, three Silver Sluggers and a World Series title with the Yankees in 2009 before retiring from baseball in 2021 and moving back to Texas with his family.

Hook’s campaign website describes her as an organizer for female scientists who was empowered by Trump’s policies she claims were anti-science.