Democrat James Talarico wins Texas U.S. Senate seat, defeating Ken Paxton
The gist
Democrat James Talarico won Texas' U.S. Senate race, beating Republican Ken Paxton with 59% of the vote.
The win ends three decades of Republican control of Texas statewide offices.
How it unfolded
- Mar 2, 2026State Rep. James Talarico defeated U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate; on the Republican side, John Cornyn and Ken Paxton headed to a May runoff.
- Sep 22, 2026Affordability dominated the Senate race, with both Talarico and Paxton promising to help voters' pocketbooks.
- Nov 3, 2026Talarico held an early lead with 59% of the vote to about 39% for Paxton and 1.5% for Libertarian Ted Brown, per AP results; as of 7:45 p.m. the race was still too early to call.
Key terms
- primary runoff
- A second election between the top two vote-getters when no candidate wins a majority in the first round.
- Libertarian
- A member or supporter of a U.S. political party favoring limited government, free markets, and civil liberties.
- EST
- A time zone five hours behind Coordinated Universal Time, used in the eastern United States and Canada.
Source: Wikipedia