Talarico Wins Texas Senate Seat, Ending a 38-Year Drought
Democrat James Talarico defeated Republican Ken Paxton in Texas, the first Senate win there for his party since 1988. Advertising spending topped $500m.
A Republican stronghold has sent a Democrat to the US Senate for the first time since 1988. James Talarico beat Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general and a staunch ally of President Donald Trump, in one of the most closely watched races of the midterms.
The man who lost
Paxton is 63. Trump backed him, and he defeated incumbent Republican senator John Cornyn in a bitter primary.
His record gave Talarico's campaign material. The Republican-controlled Texas House impeached Paxton in 2023 over allegations of corruption and abuse of power, and the state senate acquitted him. In 2024 a deal settled separate securities fraud charges: it required community service, ethics training and restitution. Paxton denied wrongdoing.
Talarico portrayed him as corrupt and argued that Republicans were trying to distract voters from economic pressure such as rising fuel and everyday costs.
The man who won
Talarico is 37. He is a Presbyterian seminarian, a former middle school teacher and a state representative. His campaign rested on the cost of living, economic inequality, Christian faith and a call for political unity.
He argued that wealthy donors and entrenched interests had too much influence over US politics. His coalition drew independents, younger voters and Republicans disillusioned with Trump.
$500m and a small-donor answer
Advertising spending topped $500m, according to campaign spending estimates. That makes this one of the most expensive Senate contests in US history.
Republican-aligned groups put hundreds of millions of dollars into electing Paxton. Elon Musk gave $158m to the Senate Leadership Fund, which transferred matching sums to a super PAC backing Paxton.
Talarico's campaign reported raising $64m in the third quarter, with 97% of donations under $100. Republican ads centered on his positions on transgender issues, his religious views and his reading of scripture. Factcheckers have challenged claims in some of them.
A state that kept slipping away from Democrats
Texas is the country's second biggest state, and Trump carried it by nearly 14 percentage points in 2024. No Democrat had won a Senate seat there since Lloyd Bentsen in 1988, or any statewide office since 1994.
Democrats had come close before. In 2018 Beto O'Rourke lost to Ted Cruz by just under 215,000 votes, or 2.6%.
Republicans were defending a narrow majority in the Senate. The loss complicates Trump's efforts to advance his agenda during the final two years of his presidency.
Our View
The race will be read as a test of small donations against large outside funds. Whether Talarico's mix of faith and economic messaging works outside Texas is a question for the next campaigns. The more immediate matter is the Senate itself: how Republicans manage a narrow majority after this loss will show how much the result complicates Trump's agenda.
Source: The Guardian