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Senate primary candidates await results after months of campaigning
WASHINGTON - Texas' bitter, big-money Senate primary left Republicans fractured Tuesday night as Democrats fought for an edge, all in a showdown that could help decide control of Congress.
Sen. John Cornyn was leading the GOP field with Attorney General Ken Paxton close behind, but neither secured a majority, setting up a May rematch and weeks of renewed attacks. U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt finished a distant third.
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On the Democratic side, state Rep. James Talarico of Austin beat U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Dallas, after pushing rival strategies for a party shut out of statewide office for more than three decades.
Already the most expensive Senate primary in U.S. history, it has topped $125 million in ad spending, and the national parties are watching closely for clues about turnout, messaging and momentum ahead of the midterms.
In the three-way Republican brawl, Cornyn stressed experience and electability, Paxton ran on his MAGA loyalties and Hunt cast himself as a younger, conservative alternative.
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With more than three-fourths of the expected statewide vote counted, Cornyn remained slightly ahead of Paxton.
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Signaling an aggressive runoff fight ahead, Cornyn said late Tuesday that the race comes down to character.
"I refuse to allow a flawed, self-centered and shameless candidate like Ken Paxton risk everything we've worked so hard to build," he told reporters in Austin.
He warned Paxton would be "an albatross around the neck" of Republican candidates in November.
Paxton, at a watch party in Dallas, blasted Cornyn and his allies for heavy ad spending, accusing them of "trying to steal the election."
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Texans "are not for sale," he said. "Tonight, change is on the ballot and change won."
For the Democrats, Crockett leaned into energy and confrontation, while Talarico preached coalition-building and crossover appeal.
Crockett posted Wednesday morning on X that she called and congratulated Talarico. She urged party unity.
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"This is about the future of all 30 million Texans and getting America back on track. With the primary behind us, Democrats must rally around our nominees and win," Crockett said. "I'm committed to doing my part and will continue working to elect democrats up and down the ballot."
Shortly before polls were set to close in Dallas County, the elections department tried to extend voting by two hours to 9 p.m. for Democratic polling sites after widespread problems.
Speaking to supporters late Tuesday night, Talarico criticized the procedures that required precinct-only voting rather than any countywide site, which he described as "voter suppression."
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He said his campaign represented a movement of people challenging a corrupt political system.
"Tonight, the people of our state gave this country a little bit of hope, and a little bit of hope is a dangerous thing," he said.
After the race was called, Talarico issued a one-line statement:
"We're about to take back Texas."
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Republicans
Cornyn has been chasing Paxton from the start.
When the attorney general announced his campaign last April, he opened with a significant polling lead, powered by strong appeal among the party's most conservative voters.
Many view Cornyn as too cozy with Democrats and out of step with President Donald Trump's agenda.
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Backed by deep financial support, Cornyn and his allies spent heavily on ads, highlighting his record of voting with Trump and delivering for Texas.
They also targeted Paxton's 2023 impeachment by the Texas House on corruption charges, of which he was acquitted, and accusations of marital infidelity by his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, who filed for divorce.
In one TV spot, sponsored by Texans for a Conservative Majority, a narrator says at the outset: "Ken Paxton isn't just corrupt. He's weird."
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Paxton brushed off the corruption accusations as establishment fear of a conservative outsider. "I'm not their person and I'm never going to be," he said.
But by Labor Day, Cornyn appeared to have narrowed the gap.
Hunt, a two-term congressman, entered in October, complicating any candidate's path to the majority needed to avoid a May 26 runoff. He has lagged in fundraising, focusing instead on retail campaigning.
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Cornyn's team, and later Paxton's supporters, pounded Hunt for skipping votes in Washington and dismissed his chances of winning.
Hunt told a few dozen backers Tuesday night at a sports bar in Houston that his Senate run was an opportunity of a lifetime and wished Paxton and Cornyn luck in the runoff.
"Whoever the people choose to go to the general election they will have my undying support," Hunt said. "We have got to keep Texas red."
Cornyn has argued Paxton would jeopardize more than just the Senate seat, putting Republicans down the ballot at risk. Paxton countered that Cornyn is the bigger liability.
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All three Republicans highlighted their ties to Trump, but he did not make an endorsement.
Democrats
Crockett, who emerged as a combative voice in clashes with Republicans in Washington, jolted the party by giving up her safe House seat after two terms to seek the Senate.
It prompted former Rep. Colin Allred to leave the Senate field and instead seek a Dallas-centered congressional seat against Rep. Julie Johnson of Farmers Branch, who had switched districts after Republicans redrew the boundaries.
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Talarico, a former middle school teacher, welcomed Crockett and said he wanted a civil contest but the tone soon hardened.
A social media influencer accused Talarico of referring to Allred as a "mediocre Black man," prompting Allred to release a fiery video bashing Talarico and backing Crockett.
Talarico said he was referring to Allred's previous Senate campaign approach, not race.
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As the contest intensified, Crockett faced criticism from some Democrats who questioned her electability, including an outside group running ads supporting Talarico. She said that skepticism reflected racial and gender bias.
Talarico supporters rejected that, saying they were concerned only that her confrontational style could turn off crossover voters.
The two were aligned on most issues but offered voters a stark choice in style and strategy.
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Talarico denounced "politics as a blood sport" and said voters want "a return to more timeless values of sincerity and honesty and compassion and respect."
He said Democrats' best shot at winning statewide hinges on appealing to a broad coalition, including moderates and disaffected Trump voters.
Crockett, a former civil rights attorney, said she wants to confront Trump head-on. One of her ads boasts that she "drives the president crazy." Another carries the tagline "Crockett fights for us."
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She has maintained that the more effective strategy for winning is to be loud and unapologetic in promoting policies to inspire record turnout among Democrats.
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Democrats must net a total of four seats to overtake the GOP's Senate majority in November, targeting Republican-held seats in Alaska, Maine, North Carolina and Ohio.
Staff writers Lana Ferguson and Milla Surjadi in Dallas contributed to this report.