The former Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira said on Thursday that he would run for Congress in Texas, aiming to fill the House seat of Representative Chip Roy, a Republican, who announced last week that he would not seek re-election.
In a statement on X, Mr. Teixeira, 45, who retired from baseball in 2016, described himself as “a lifelong conservative” and said that he planned to run “to fight for the principles that make Texas and America great.” He added that he was “ready to help defend President Trump’s America First agenda, Texas families and individual liberty.”
In 2009, Mr. Teixeira won his lone World Series ring with the Yankees, which had signed him to an eight-year, $180 million contract earlier that year. The Texas Rangers had selected him fifth overall in the amateur draft in 2001, and he made his Major League Baseball debut in 2003. Over the course of his 14 seasons, he hit more than 400 home runs and won five Gold Gloves. He was a three-time All-Star.
For much of the 2010s, during his tenure with the Yankees and the early part of his retirement, Mr. Teixeira lived in Greenwich, Conn., where he was an active philanthropist and served on the board of a film festival. The estate where he lived sold for $7 million in 2021, according to a list of sales. Town records showed that he voted in the 2020 election in Greenwich and that his registration became inactive in 2022.
During retirement, Mr. Teixeira and his wife returned with their three children to Texas, where he has supported conservative causes. He is the latest in a series of candidates who have seized the opportunity to run for a safe seat in Congress.
Mr. Teixeira is seeking to represent Texas’ 21st Congressional District, which includes parts of San Antonio and Austin and has a population of nearly 800,000. The seat is considered solidly Republican and has been held by the party for decades.
Mr. Teixeira’s announcement on X said that he “pledged to work with President Trump to secure the border, grow the economy, end radical woke indoctrination, promote American energy independence, defend life and the Second Amendment, end forever wars and strengthen the military.”
He said he planned to advocate for police, firefighters, farmers and ranchers, parents, teachers and other “hard-working taxpayers.”
Representative Roy, who led a conservative revolt against his party’s sweeping domestic policy package, announced last week that he would not seek re-election for his House seat and would instead run for the position of Texas attorney general.
It is not yet clear who might be his Democratic opponent in November.
Livia Albeck-Ripka is a Times reporter based in Los Angeles, covering breaking news, California and other subjects.
Neil Vigdor covers breaking news for The Times, with a focus on politics.
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