Voters in Texas finalized their statewide races for the November midterms on Tuesday night, settling scores in a number of races and bringing an end to months of contentious primary fights within both parties.
Runoffs were settled in 15 congressional districts in Texas to finalize the state’s midterm ballot for later this year as well as the highly anticipated Senate primary runoff between Sen. John Cornyn and state Attorney General Ken Paxton — which once again saw President Donald Trump’s endorsement reign supreme.
Both Republicans and Democrats were closely watching how the runoff elections would pan out, with plenty of national figures attempting to place their finger on the scale to better ensure victory in November.
Here’s where things stand after Tuesday night.
Paxton ends Cornyn’s 2-decade career
The biggest race of the night was the battle between Cornyn, who has represented Texas in the Senate for more than 20 years, and his Trump-backed challenger Paxton, who the president endorsed in a surprise statement last week.
Shortly after Trump weighed in, Cornyn’s fate was all but sealed — and his loss on Tuesday has bolstered the president’s endorsement record that Republicans, who have the pleasure of receiving it, are calling the most powerful in politics.
Paxton won with more than 68% of the vote share as of Wednesday morning, with Cornyn trailing at 36%.
Cornyn conceded the race Tuesday night, telling supporters that “the voters of Texas made their decision and I must respect it.” The four-term incumbent vowed to support the Republican ticket despite party leaders previously warning that Paxton is a weaker contender to face state Rep. James Talarico, the Democratic nominee.
The runoff also serves as the latest test of Trump’s hold on the party after the primary defeats of Sen. Bill Cassidy in Louisiana and Rep. Thomas Massie in Kentucky, with the president endorsing both of their challengers. Trump similarly endorsed against Cornyn, claiming the four-term senator was not sufficiently loyal to the president’s agenda.
But after his loss on Tuesday, the president issued a statement calling Cornyn a “friend” who will remain that way “for a long time to come.”
Still, Paxton’s win will force a course correction for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which has spent months attacking Paxton in the hopes of boosting Cornyn’s chances of winning. Many of those posts attacking Paxton now appear to be deleted.
Early polling showed Cornyn with a greater chance to defeat Talarico, with Paxton either trailing or in a dead heat with the Democratic nominee. Talarico leads both in recent polling, but the race has been rated as likely Republican by the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.
A Democrat hasn’t won a statewide race in Texas since 1994.
Trump ally and SAVE America Act author loses his own race
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, lost his bid to replace Paxton as state attorney general in a contentious primary fight against state Sen. Mayes Middleton, who sought to position himself as a closer ally to Trump.
The president declined to endorse in the primary runoff.
Middleton defeated Roy by roughly 11 percentage points, and the Texas House representative called his challenger to concede late Tuesday night — bringing an end to what became the most expensive attorney general primary in U.S. history.
Although the two ran on similar conservative platforms, the race became a proxy battle over who is more loyal to Trump.
Middleton argued Roy, a high-profile member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus and lead author of the SAVE America Act, wasn’t doing enough to represent the president’s MAGA base in Congress. On the other hand, Roy accused Middleton of self-funding his campaign in order to “buy” his way into office.
“MAGA is not something you just buy. My opponent thinks you can buy the brand,” Roy told Fox News ahead of the election. “I’m a longtime defender and supporter of the president’s agenda, of the America First agenda, the MAGA agenda, but I’m also an independent thinker who will stand up and make your case. And by the way, as a result, I’m able to deliver better than most members, and that’s what I’ll do as attorney general.”
Democrats manage to defeat controversial candidate with antisemitic comments
One of Democrats’ biggest wins of the night was the defeat of one of their party’s own primary candidates.
Democratic candidate Johnny Garcia defeated his primary opponent Maureen Galindo in a closely watched runoff race in Texas’ 35th District that garnered national attention. The district is one of the seats redrawn by Republicans last year to try to secure the party five additional seats in the midterm elections.
Despite being redrawn, Democrats still view this seat as their best chance to flip in their favor — but they were worried that if Galindo won, she would ruin their odds of winning the seat.
That’s because Galindo had been accused in recent weeks of making offensive comments and expressing antisemitic views, after suggesting an immigration detention center should be turned into a “prison for American Zionists.” This prompted national Democratic figures such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to campaign against her.
Garcia will face Trump-backed candidate Carlos De La Cruz, who defeated state Rep. John Lujan.
Democratic incumbents toppled as voters seek generational change
Elsewhere in Texas, two incumbent Democrats lost their primary runoffs after they were forced into newly redrawn districts thanks to Republican redistricting efforts.
Rep. Al Green, who has served in the House for two decades, was defeated by freshman Rep. Christian Menefee by more than 35 percentage points in a major upset for the 11-term congressman. The race was called just 30 minutes after polls closed on Tuesday.
Menefee’s victory on Tuesday concludes a highly contentious primary fight as the 38-year-old congressman called for generational change in Congress.
Elsewhere in Texas, incumbent Rep. Julie Johnson lost her bid against former Rep. Colin Allred in Texas’ newly redrawn 33rd District. Allred is projected to win the Democratic-heavy district in November.
The runoff quickly amounted to a battle between two of the party’s rising stars, as Johnson positioned herself as the first LGBTQ+ representative elected in a Southwestern state and Allred, a former NFL player, became well known after previously serving in the House for three terms and running for the Senate twice.
Allred won with 53% of the vote compared to Johnson’s 46%, according to results as of Wednesday morning.