James Talarico defeats Ken Paxton, flipping Texas's U.S. Senate seat
Democrat James Talarico defeated Republican Ken Paxton in Texas's U.S. Senate race, the first Democratic Senate win in the state since 1988. Paxton is Texas's attorney general; he is not the sitting senator. He beat Sen. John Cornyn in the GOP primary earlier this year.
Bias breakdown and outlet coverageon the RUSH story page →
The result
BBC and The Guardian reported that Talarico, a Democratic state representative and former teacher, defeated Paxton and becomes the first Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate from Texas since Lloyd Bentsen in 1988. NPR reported the Associated Press called the race. New York Post reported Paxton conceded.
The race
Paxton defeated Cornyn in a May primary runoff with a late assist from President Trump, then faced Talarico in the general election, MS NOW reported. Coverage described the contest as among the most expensive of the cycle; the New York Post put overall spending above half a billion dollars and said nearly $200 million came from Elon Musk in support tied to Paxton. Talarico campaigned on living costs and corruption; Paxton and Trump cast him as too progressive for Texas, BBC and the Guardian reported. The Epoch Times likewise covered the flip in a state long treated as a Republican firewall.
Why this matters
A Democratic Senate win in Texas is rare in modern cycles and adds to Democratic Senate gains elsewhere. The seat had been held by Republicans for decades; Paxton was the GOP nominee after ousting the incumbent Cornyn, not an incumbent senator himself.
What the right is saying
Right-leaning coverage emphasized the scale of the upset in a state Trump carried in 2024 and Paxton's primary win over Cornyn, including The Epoch Times and the New York Post.
What the left is saying
Left-leaning outlets cast the result as a historic breakthrough and a blow to Trump's midterm map, including BBC, the Guardian, NPR and MS NOW.