Ken Paxton’s defeat a crushing blow to Trump and Republican efforts to keep control of Congress
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Democrat James Talarico has won the US Senate race in Texas, breaking a 38-year drought for his party in the Republican stronghold and delivering a stunning blow to Donald Trump.
Talarico defeated Republican Ken Paxton, the state attorney general and a staunch ally of the US president, in one of the most closely watched contests of the midterm elections to decide control of Congress.
The result has major implications for control of the Senate, where Republicans were defending a narrow majority, and complicate Trump’s efforts to advance his agenda during the final two years of his presidency.
The Democrat’s victory signifies a rupture in the political landscape in Texas, the country’s second biggest state, which Trump carried by nearly 14 percentage points in the 2024 presidential election.
No Democrat had won a Senate seat in Texas since Lloyd Bentsen in 1988 and none had won any statewide office since 1994. Repeated attempts by the party to turn the state blue had fallen short.
A crowd erupted in cheers at Talarico’s watch party at a performing arts center in downtown Austin after the race was called. Supporters wearing Talarico T-shirts hugged one another and punched the air.
Five dimensional chess: inside James Talarico’s extraordinary bid to break Texas Democrats’ losing streakRead moreAdam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, said: “James Talarico just showed Democrats how to win in Texas by consistently challenging billionaire power, calling out Wall Street and Big Tech, and calling for bold structural change.”
Talarico, 37, will become the Senate’s youngest member and replace John Cornyn, 74, who lost a bruising Republican primary to the scandal-plagued Paxton, whose nomination bolstered Talarico’s appeal to Republican and independent voters.
Talarico, a Presbyterian seminarian, former middle school teacher and state representative, built his campaign around economic concerns, Christian faith and a message of political unity.
He sought to appeal to independents and Republicans disillusioned with the administration, arguing that the cost of living and the influence of wealthy donors mattered more to Texans than partisan divisions.
His campaign also sought to capitalise on controversies surrounding Paxton, 63, who, as attorney general, was impeached by the Republican-controlled Texas House of Representatives in 2023 over allegations of corruption and abuse of power. He was acquitted by the state senate.
Separate securities fraud charges were resolved in 2024 under an agreement requiring community service, ethics training and restitution. Paxton denied wrongdoing.
The race became one of the most expensive Senate contests in US history, with advertising spending topping $500m, according to campaign spending estimates. Republican-aligned groups poured hundreds of millions of dollars into efforts to elect Paxton, including substantial funding linked to billionaire Elon Musk, whom Talarico accused of trying to buy a Senate seat.
Talarico countered the spending advantage with a formidable fundraising operation. His campaign reported raising $64m in the third quarter of the year, with 97% of donations under $100.
Republican advertising focused heavily on Talarico’s positions on transgender issues, his religious views, and his interpretation of scripture. Factcheckers have challenged claims made in some of the advertisements.
Texas voters on high gas prices under Trump: ‘Probably made me go more Democrat’Read moreTrump rallied in Texas and branded him “James Talafreako” and falsely claimed that he is vegan, while Vice-President JD Vance implied that Talarico is gay, even though he has a girlfriend. Rightwing influencers even spread a false claim that he checked into a mental health clinic in Ohio (he was ill with flu).
Talarico portrayed Paxton as corrupt and argued that Republicans were attempting to distract voters from economic pressures, including rising fuel and everyday costs.
His victory represents a breakthrough for a party that had repeatedly come close to winning Texas in recent elections, only to fall short on polling day. Among those disappointments was the 2018 defeat of Beto O’Rourke by Ted Cruz by a margin of just under 215,000 votes, or 2.6%.
It is also a setback for Musk, who moved his personal residence to Texas and owns companies that are building datacenters there.
María Teresa Kumar, president and co-founder of Voto Latino, said: “For too long, Texas has been a state others wrote off. Voto Latino never did. We saw the energy building over the cycles, and we’ve always had faith in the state.
“Today, that demand for change turned into history. In a state where Latinos make up over 40% of the population, this win is proof that when young Latino voters are invested in and listened to, they flex their muscle and decide the future.”