DALLAS — Longtime Sen. John Cornyn and MAGA favorite Ken Paxton are heading to a May runoff in Texas’ Republican Senate primary, while Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett and state Rep. James Talarico are in a close race for the Democratic nomination.
Texas is one of three states kicking off this year’s midterm elections with primaries on Tuesday that come as the U.S. and Israel are at war with Iran.
Cornyn is seeking a fifth term but facing a tough challenge from Paxton, the state attorney general, and hoping to avoid becoming the first Republican senator in Texas history not to be renominated.
The GOP primary race also featured U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt – ensuring that neither of the top two finishers in Cornyn and Paxton won a majority and setting up a second round of voting May 26. Hunt was running a distant third and conceded.
The three Republicans campaigned on their ties to Trump, who did not make an endorsement in the race.
Cornyn immediately slammed Paxton, telling reporters: “I’ve worked for decades to build the Republican Party, both here in Texas and nationally. I refuse to allow a flawed, self-centered and shameless candidate like Ken Paxton to risk everything we’ve worked so hard to build over these many years.”
Crockett and Talarico, meanwhile, have each argued that they are the stronger general election candidate in a state that backed Trump by almost 14 percentage points in 2024 and where no Democrat has won a statewide race in over 30 years.
Voting was extended in Dallas County and Williamson County, outside Austin, after voters reported being turned away and directed to different voting precincts because of new primary rules. Paxton’s office later challenged a decision keeping the polls open longer, and the state Supreme Court ruled that ballots cast by people not in line by 7 p.m. should be separated from others.
It was not immediately clear how the court’s action would be carried out.
The races also featured new congressional district boundaries that GOP lawmakers – urged on by Trump – redrew to help elect more Republicans.
Cornyn fights to hold seat
Cornyn is hoping to avoid becoming the first Republican senator in Texas history not to be renominated.
His cool relationship with Trump is part of what makes Cornyn vulnerable. He and allied groups have spent at least $64 million in television advertising alone since July to try stabilize his support.
Paxton began campaigning in earnest only last month. He’s made national headlines for filing lawsuits against Democratic initiatives. He remained popular in Texas despite a 2023 impeachment trial on corruption charges, of which he was acquitted, and accusations of marital infidelity by his wife.
On Tuesday evening a man wearing a camouflage hat, sunglasses and a mask covering his mouth and nose entered the Uptown Marriott hotel in Dallas, where Paxton was expected to address supporters later. He was asked to leave, and it was not clear whether his presence was connected to Paxon’s event. The man was later detained by police, who removed ammunition magazines and shotgun shells from his vehicle. Paxton’s campaign declined to comment.
All three Republicans have run ads boasting of their coziness with Trump. But Senate GOP leaders, who are backing Cornyn, worry that Paxton’s liabilities would make it harder to defend the seat if he is the nominee – and require significant spending that could be better used elsewhere.
“Republican voters are going to need to decide, do we want to win?” Cornyn told Fox News Channel.
Stylistic opposites vie for Democrats’ Senate nomination
Crockett and Talarico waged a spirited race as Democrats look for their first Senate win in Texas since 1988.
Talarico, a seminarian who often references the Bible, has held rallies across the state including in heavily Republican areas. Crockett has built a national profile for zinger attacks on Republicans and has focused on turning out Black voters in the Dallas and Houston areas.
As vote counting continued, Crockett told supporters who gathered in Dallas that she did not plan to make a public appearance before them.
Tanu Sani, who cast a Democratic ballot in Dallas, said she’d been undecided until recently but opted for Talarico because he “really spoke to me in the way he tries to unify.”
Andrew Kern, another Democratic voter in Texas, explained his support of Talarico similarly, describing “an approach that’s bridging some of the divisiveness.”
Tomas Sanchez, a voter in Dallas County, said he supported Crockett because “she cares about immigrants, she cares about the American people in a way that a lot of the Republicans have proven they haven’t.”
Talarico had outspent Crockett on television advertising by more than four to one as of late February. He got a burst of attention – and campaign contributions – last month from CBS’ decision not to air his interview with late-night host Stephen Colbert, who said the network pulled the interview for fear of angering Trump’s FCC.
Key House primaries
Texas Republicans’ mid-decade redistricting was aimed at helping the GOP pick up Democratic-held seats and maintain its threadbare House majority in Washington. The result matched several Democratic incumbents in primary fights and set up new general election battlegrounds.
In the 34th District, former Rep. Mayra Flores is attempting a comeback. Flores made history in a 2022 special election as the first Republican to win in the Rio Grande Valley in 150 years, but lost her bid for a full term later that year. She faces Eric Flores, a lawyer endorsed by Trump, for the nomination to run against Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez.
In the 23rd District, Rep. Tony Gonzales is considered vulnerable after an alleged affair with a staffer who killed herself. He’s being challenged by gun manufacturer and YouTube influencer Brandon Herrera, who calls himself “the AK guy.” The district includes Uvalde, site of a deadly 2022 shooting at Robb Elementary School.
Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw is challenged in the 2nd District by state Rep. Steve Toth, who was endorsed by Sen. Ted Cruz.
Former Major League Baseball star Mark Teixeira is running as a Republican to succeed Republican Chip Roy in southwest Texas’ 21st District.
Democrat Bobby Pulido, a Latin Grammy winner, won his party’s primary in South Texas’ 15th District against physician Ada Cuellar. The nominee will face two-term Republican Rep. Monica De La Cruz.
In the 33rd District, Democratic Rep. Julie Johnson faces former Rep. Colin Allred, a former NFL linebacker and 2024 Senate nominee.
Democratic Rep. Al Green also is fighting to stay in office after his Houston-based 9th District was drawn to be lean Republican. Green, 78, is now running in a newly drawn 18th District against Democratic Rep. Christian Menefee, 37, who won a January special election for the current 18th District.
Easy win for Abbott, will face Hinojosa
Republican Gov. Greg Abbott easily won his primary and will face Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa.
Roy who is running for attorney general, will face a primary runoff with Mayes Middleton after neither captured more than 50% of the votes Tuesday.
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Weissert reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Sara Cline and Jamie Stengle in Dallas and Bill Barrow in Atlanta contributed.
