Talarico Wins First Texas Democratic Senate Seat Since 1988
Did this seat flip because of broken promises on costs and the border or because Texas was never truly red?
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Above: James Talarico at the Long Center for the Performing Arts in Austin, Texas, on Nov. 3. Image credit: Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images
The Facts
- Democrat James Talarico defeated Republican Ken Paxton on Tuesday, becoming the first Democrat to win a U.S. Senate seat in Texas since 1988 and the first from his party to win a statewide race there since 1994.
- "We just took back Texas," Talarico told supporters at his Austin watch party, likening his campaign to the biblical story of David and Goliath. The 37-year-old state legislator and Presbyterian seminarian will become the Senate's youngest member.
- President Donald Trump backed Paxton over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in the primary, and national Republicans poured hundreds of millions into the contest, which drew more than half a billion dollars in combined campaign ads.
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The Spin
Republican narrative
This loss stems from broken promises, not any blue wave sweeping Texas. Voters wanted lower costs, a secure border and no new foreign wars, and delivering on that would have kept the majority intact. Endless investigations and culture-war theatrics are coming, and that circus will remind everybody why that crowd got sent packing.
Democratic narrative
Texas was never truly red — just a place where too many voters were convinced that showing up was pointless. Organizing and a message rooted in decency beat the biggest checkbook in politics every time. Division as a campaign strategy finally hit a wall, and that opening stretches well past one seat.
