Talarico beats Paxton, first Democrat to win Texas Senate seat since 1988
The state lawmaker and former teacher overcame more than $200 million in spending by Elon Musk to end three decades of GOP dominance statewide.
AUSTIN, Texas — Democratic state Rep. James Talarico defeated Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton in Texas’ U.S. Senate race Tuesday, becoming the first Democrat elected to the Senate from the state since 1988 and ending the GOP’s three-decade hold on statewide offices.
The Associated Press called the race for Talarico. His win gave Democrats their first statewide victory in Texas since 1994, in a state President Donald Trump carried by about 14 points two years ago, Axios reported.
“We just took back Texas,” Talarico told supporters in Austin.
Youngest senator
Talarico, 37, is a former middle school teacher and a Presbyterian seminarian. He will become the youngest member of the Senate. Texas last sent a Democrat to the Senate when Lloyd Bentsen was reelected in 1988, the year before Talarico was born.
He first won his seat in the Texas House in 2018, flipping a district Trump had carried two years earlier. He won the Democratic nomination in March, defeating Rep. Jasmine Crockett.
A costly race
The contest became the most expensive Senate race on record. Republicans poured more than $280 million into advertising, including more than $200 million from Elon Musk, KSAT reported.
Talarico led Paxton by a wide margin in fundraising for most of the year, but conservative super PACs allied with the attorney general offset that edge with heavy advertising spending in the final two months of the campaign, NPR reported. Talarico held a steady lead in polls throughout the general election, though usually within the margin of error.
In the final days, Talarico framed the race as a David-versus-Goliath fight against Musk and billionaire donors. He tied high prices to what he called corruption and attacked Paxton’s reliance on megadonors.
Paxton cast Talarico as a radical whose candidacy threatened the Texas way of life. He avoided debating his opponent.
How Talarico won
Talarico won about two-thirds of moderates, who made up about 4 in 10 Texas Senate voters, as well as most independents, according to AP VoteCast. About 1 in 10 Republicans voted for him.
Paxton reached the general election by ousting longtime Sen. John Cornyn in the Republican primary. Trump endorsed Paxton over Cornyn despite warnings from some Republicans that Paxton would be a weaker nominee who would cost the party money to defend.
Paxton had never lost an election since winning a seat in the Texas House in 2002. He survived an impeachment trial in the Texas Senate, where he was acquitted, and a long-running securities fraud case. He is also going through a divorce from state Sen. Angela Paxton, who filed on what she called biblical grounds.
Down-ballot losses
The Democratic gains in Texas went beyond the Senate race. Democrat Gina Hinojosa defeated Republican Gov. Greg Abbott to become the state’s first Latina governor, the AP reported.
Talarico’s victory was one of seven Senate seats Democrats flipped Tuesday as they won control of both chambers of Congress.
Republicans had pointed to Trump’s gains with Latino voters in Texas in 2024 as the start of a new working-class coalition. Tuesday’s results raised questions about whether those gains will last.
Musk moved his home and the headquarters of Tesla, SpaceX and X to Texas in recent years. Talarico will be sworn in when the new Congress convenes in January.
The race drew national attention because Republicans had held the seat since 2002 under Cornyn, and Democrats had spent years and large sums trying to turn the state blue without success.