James Talarico defeated Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton Tuesday, becoming the first Democrat to win a Texas Senate race since 1988.
The big picture: Talarico's victory flipped a seat Democrats had chased for decades and helped deliver their new Senate majority. The result also showed how far the national wave reached into a state that had elected Republicans statewide for a generation.
- Talarico, 37, is a former middle-school teacher, Presbyterian seminarian and state representative who ran as a progressive Christian focused on lowering costs and fighting corruption.
- By mid-October, campaign spending had topped $500 million, making it the most expensive race in Texas history, according to CBS News.
The backstory: Paxton, 63, unseated Republican Sen. John Cornyn in the primary with a late endorsement from President Trump. Paxton had been impeached by the Texas House in 2023 on bribery, obstruction and abuse-of-public-trust accusations, then acquitted by the state Senate.
The other side: Republicans cast Talarico as too progressive for Texas and highlighted past comments on veganism and gender. Talarico said some of those comments missed the mark and called others cringey.
What's next: Talarico joins a Democratic caucus that can set the Senate floor schedule, control committees and decide which Trump nominees advance. His win gives Texas Democrats their first Senate victory in 38 years and a new statewide benchmark.
Why it matters: Texas is the country's second-largest state and a pillar of Republican national power. A Democratic Senate win there changes both parties' maps, fundraising plans and assumptions about which voters remain safely out of reach.
