Talarico Claims Senate Seat, Ending Republican Control in Texas

State politics in Texas have long operated under a single party dominance, a pattern that ended Tuesday night when Democrats captured a major legislative target. The Associated Press called the U.S. Senate race for Democratic state Rep. James Talarico, who defeated Republican state Attorney General Ken Paxton.

The result marks the first time a Democrat has won a Texas Senate seat since the 1990s. Paxton, who had never lost an election since entering the Texas House of Representatives in 2002, held the Republican nomination after defeating incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in a primary runoff. That primary victory came with a last-minute endorsement from President Donald Trump.

President Trump and his allies invested millions of dollars in the campaign, frequently targeting Talarico at rallies across the country. The president used the Texas challenger as a national symbol for the opposition party. However, the president's declining popularity may have hindered Paxton's bid. The attorney general voiced concerns about this dynamic after Trump campaigned for him at the Republican midterm convention in Dallas in September.

Talarico, a four-term legislator from Austin, maintained a lead or tie with Paxton in most statewide polls from midsummer onward. He outpaced his opponent in fundraising for the majority of the year. Conservative super PACs supported by the attorney general spent heavily on advertising in the final two months to close that gap.

The challenger built his profile in 2018 by winning a state House district that had supported Donald Trump for president two years earlier. A former middle school teacher and Presbyterian seminarian, Talarico centered his message on education and opposed the inclusion of religion in public schools. He led the opposition to a law requiring the display of a Protestant Ten Commandments poster in classrooms, a measure now facing multiple federal lawsuits.

National attention surged for Talarico following a July 2025 interview on The Joe Rogan Experience and a February 2026 appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. CBS initially withheld the Colbert interview, reportedly under pressure from the Trump administration via the Federal Communications Commission. The video later circulated widely on YouTube, boosting his name recognition and fundraising capacity.

Paxton faced challenges from past controversies during the campaign. In 2023, the Texas House impeached him on corruption charges, though the Texas Senate acquitted him. His ongoing divorce from state Sen. Angela Paxton, which involved allegations of marital infidelity, also weighed on his public image.