James Talarico becomes first Democrat to win statewide in Texas since 1994

By Nolan D. McCaskill

Nov 3 (Reuters) – State Representative James Talarico won the US Senate race in Texas on Tuesday, according to media projections, defeating President Donald Trump-backed Republican Ken Paxton to end Democrats’ 32-year statewide losing streak and give his party a major boost in the battle for Senate control.

It was a striking Democratic breakthrough in a state Republicans have long dominated. Trump carried the state by 14 percentage points in 2024. Paxton, the Texas attorney general, has been at the center of controversies that include a 2023 impeachment and a securities fraud case.

Talarico, a four-term state legislator and one of the nation’s top Senate fundraisers, overcame heavy outside spending in the most expensive Senate race of the cycle. He began as an underdog against former US Representative Colin Allred, the 2024 Democratic Senate nominee, who later withdrew to run for Congress again.

Talarico went on to defeat US Representative Jasmine Crockett for the Democratic nomination, dealing a political blow to his former state legislative colleague.

Republicans spent more than $316 million to retain the seat. Republican US Senator John Cornyn was ousted in a primary runoff after Trump endorsed Paxton. Republican leaders had viewed Cornyn as the stronger general-election candidate.

Paxton used his role as attorney general to sue former President Joe Biden’s administration more than 100 times.

Republicans held a 53-47 Senate majority going into Tuesday’s elections, with Democrats needing a net gain of four seats to take control.

(Reporting by Nolan D. McCaskill; Editing by Michael Learmonth and Howard Goller)

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