Talarico Wins Dem Primary for Senate
as Cornyn and Paxton Head to Runoff
Capitol Inside
March 4, 2026
Democrat James Talarico claimed the Democratic nomination in the most expensive U.S. Senate primary in U.S. history early Wednesday morning by the same exact margin over rival Jasmine Crockett that AI data aggregators predicted based on the lead he enjoyed in the early vote several hours earlier.
Talarico will face the winner of a Republican runoff that will feature the incumbent U.S. Senator John Cornyn and Attorney General Ken Paxton as widely expected going into Tuesday's vote. But after trailing Paxton in most of the polls on the race in the past two months, Cornyn entered overtime with a slight lead while U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt was never a factor with a distant third-place finish beyond the spoiler role he played by forcing the frontrunners into a runoff.
Talarico had 53 percent of the vote compared to 47 percent for Crockett with more than three-fourths of the ballots counted as the midnight hour approached. A third contender, Ahmad Hassan, scored slightly more than 1 percent of the Democratic primary vote in the Senate contest.
While the Associated Press had yet to project the winner by 12:08 a.m. Wendesday with 79 percent of the votes counted and Talarico still up by 7 points. But the analytics site VoteHub had projected a Talarico victory with 53 percent more than three hours earlier based on the early votes that he and Crockett secured. VoteHub lowered the projected Talarico share to 52.1 percent shortly before midnight when it pegged the Crockett count at 46.6 percent.
But the actor Billy Baldwin wasn't waiting for an official final verdict - vowing in a social media post to sign up as a Talarico volunteer for the general election. "James Talarico will heal and unite. He offers independents, moderates, conservatives and faith voters in Texas and across America an offramp from the Trump incompetence, chaos and corruption," Baldwin said on X. "I will go to Texas to volunteer for him and will continue to support (him) financially."
The AP projected Talarico as the victor shortly before 2 a.m. on Wednesday when he had 53.2 percent with 84 percent of the returns tallied.
While Governor Greg Abbott was the easy GOP primary winner in a re-election race in a field with no serious competition, the state's top leader broke even in a couple of statewide contests in which he was heavily involved when Don Huffines and Nate Sheets ousted Comptroller Kelly Hancock and Agriculture Commission Sid Miller in the election today. Abbott spent almost $3.5 million in the past month in an unsuccessful attempt to lift Hancock, who he appointed to the position last year, into a runoff with Huffines as the favorite in recent weeks.
But the governor got a better return on his investment when Sheets beat Miller on the strength of a strong showing in the early vote. Sheets will square off with Democrat Clayton Tucker, who was unopposed in the first round, in the fight for a farm chief job that's open now. Huffines will do battle with State Senator Sarah Eckhardt in November after she secured an easy victory in the Democratic primary in a bid for a promotion to state comptroller.
State Senator Mayes Middleton of Galveston scored a spot in a runoff for attorney general with U.S. Rep. Chip Roy of Austin - the favorite leading into Tuesday's election before a runner-up finish at the polls today. Democratic State Senator Nathan Johnson of Dallas and State Rep. Vikki Goodwin of Austin were hovering around 49 percent in fights against Joe Jaworski and Marco Velez in primary fights for attorney general and lieutenant governor respectively. Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick was a runaway winner in a primary field with only token competition in a bid for a new term as the Texas Senate president. i
Former Tarrant County GOP chair Bo French grabbed a spot in a runoff for the Texas Railroad Commission with the incumbent, Jim Wright, who Abbott backed in the battle for one of the three seats on the panel that regulates oil and gas.
more to come ...
| 
