The 2026 election season began with a bang yesterday as Texas held highly competitive U.S. Senate primaries. With epic turnout, Democrats narrowly nominated state legislator James Talarico over his opponent U.S. Representative Jasmine Crockett — two rising stars who gave their party fresh hope for turning the state blue. With epic spending by the embattled incumbent, Republicans sent Senator John Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to a late May runoff. So while Democrats have many months to smooth over hurt feelings from a relatively civil primary, Republicans could face a brutal battle for the nomination in a place where they haven’t lost a statewide election since 1994.

Polls had been divided on the Talarico-Crockett contest, though everyone agreed the Dallas congresswoman would do exceptionally well among her fellow Black voters and Talarico would do well enough among his fellow white voters (particularly among the white progressives in his home town of Austin). As it happens, Talarico handily won the........

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