Republicans spent more than $413 million on the Texas Senate race and still lost it by about 12 points, as Democrat James Talarico defeated Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton on Tuesday. Talarico won by roughly 1.1 million votes, taking about 55% of the vote. He is the first Democrat to win a Senate race in Texas since Lloyd Bentsen in 1988 and the first Democrat to win any statewide race in Texas since 1994.
The Texas Senate race was the most expensive contest of the midterms, with more than $500 million spent overall by both sides, according to the ad tracking firm AdImpact. Republicans had every reason to pour money in. Texas has been the biggest Republican stronghold in the country for three decades, Trump carried it by about 14 points just two years ago, and Democrats needed to flip four Senate seats to take control of the chamber. Texas became one of the seats that put them over the top.
Measured against Trump’s 2024 margin, Texas swung about 25 points toward Democrats, one of the largest shifts anywhere in the country.
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Paxton was a weak nominee from the start, and his own party knew it. He was impeached by the Texas House in 2023 over allegations of bribery and corruption, and the state Senate acquitted him. Republican leaders in Washington lined up behind longtime Senator John Cornyn in the primary, and Cornyn and his allies spent nearly $80 million on ads trying to stop Paxton. Paxton beat him anyway, with Trump’s support, then spent months tied up in a bruising primary fight while Talarico was already on the air introducing himself to general election voters. By Election Day, about two thirds of voters told the AP Voter Poll that Paxton did not have the right personal character to serve as a senator. Paxton tried to paint Talarico as “too extreme,” but only about half of voters agreed.
Talarico, 37, is a former middle school teacher, a Presbyterian seminarian and a four term state representative from Austin. He will become the youngest member of the Senate. He beat Representative Jasmine Crockett in the Democratic primary in March by pitching himself as someone who could win over Democrats, Republicans and independents, and on Tuesday that pitch held up. On election night he told supporters in Austin, “We just took back Texas.”
The Texas Senate race was not a one off. Democrats won up and down the ballot. Gina Hinojosa beat Governor Greg Abbott by about 7 points to become Texas’ first Latina governor, ending Abbott’s bid for a fourth term. Vikki Goodwin defeated Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, one of the most powerful Republicans in the state. Democrats are also on track to win three congressional seats in the Rio Grande Valley along the border that Trump carried in 2024.
Latino voters were a big part of the turnaround. Trump made historic gains with Latino voters in 2024, especially in South Texas. On Tuesday, the heavily Hispanic areas around San Antonio and along the border swung back toward Democrats and helped power Talarico’s win. Texas Republicans had redrawn the state’s congressional map in 2025 to squeeze out more Republican seats, counting on those 2024 Latino gains to hold. They did not.
Texas was part of a larger pattern across the South. Roy Cooper flipped North Carolina’s open Senate seat by roughly 19 points. Annie Andrews became the first Democrat to win a Senate seat in South Carolina since 1998. In Mississippi, Scott Colom is leading Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith as ballots are still being counted. Each of those states swung more than 20 points toward Democrats compared with Trump’s 2024 margins.
Paxton conceded around 10:20 p.m. on election night and told supporters he would be praying for Talarico to represent Texas well. Talarico takes his seat in January, replacing Cornyn, who has held it since 2002.
