Talarico Defeats Paxton to Flip Texas Senate Seat

For the first time in the modern era, a Democrat has won a U.S. Senate race in Texas.

Democratic state Rep. James Talarico defeated GOP nominee Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton as turnout rivaled the 2024 presidential election.

.Talarico’s historic win will put Democrats one state closer to controlling the U.S. Senate in the most expensive non-presidential race in U.S. politics. It gives Democrats a critical foothold in a state long considered a Republican firewall.

​Prior to Talarico’s win, the last Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate in Texas was Lloyd Bentsen in 1988.

On Tuesday, in typically red Collin County outside of Dallas, turnout was heavy in the town of Wylie, with a line stretching out the door at 10:30 a.m. local time at one polling location.

But there were also signs of Paxton’s vulnerability. Voter Charles Allen told The Epoch Times he voted for Abbott, but couldn’t bring himself to vote for Paxton, choosing Talarico instead.

Allen told The Epoch Times he remained undecided on the U.S. Senate race between Talarico and Paxton right up until the end.

Allen said voting for Talarico was painful. “I didn’t want to vote for him,” but he believes Paxton has “just got too much junk in the closet.”

In Dallas County, a traditional Democratic stronghold, J.Z. Rojas, 20, voted for Democrats because of the deportation of illegal immigrants.

“My Hispanic people mean a lot to me,” she told The Epoch Times. “I think it’s wrong to deport people. A lot of people are mad.”

​The Democrats’ near win in 2018 renewed their energy in the GOP-dominated state. Since then, they have poured millions of dollars into the state, hoping to flip it blue.

President Donald Trump endorsed and campaigned for Paxton, praising him as the best attorney general in the country.

Trump visited the state four times before the election, hoping to boost Republican turnout, which the GOP anticipated would be lower without the president on the ballot.

Trump argued a Democratic win would halt or reverse his policies.

Paxton was considered a weak candidate by some Republican analysts because of scrutiny over an extramarital affair, a divorce, and a 2023 failed impeachment effort launched by the Texas House.

But with strong grassroots support, Paxton defeated incumbent U.S. Senator John Cornyn in a contentious 2026 Republican primary. During the primary, Cornyn called Paxton corrupt.

Cornyn did not campaign with Paxton after his defeat, which allowed Democrats to capitalize on the schism.

Some voters interviewed in Texas by The Epoch Times before the election cited high gas and grocery prices as major concerns. Others said they were concerned about socialism and gender ideology.

Most October polls showed Talarico ahead, but a few polls broke the trend. A mid-October poll from InsiderAdvantage showed Paxton at 49 percent and Talarico at 48 percent, according to the polls cited.

Paxton supporters said before Election Day that they don’t trust the polls, which have undercounted Republican support in Texas in the past.

Paxton supporter Bill England told The Epoch Times he doesn’t believe polls.

“They’re usually from a university. I don’t trust universities because they’ve been infiltrated by the leftists,” he said.

The Texas Senate race shattered campaign spending records, with AdImpact Politics ranking it the most expensive non-presidential race on record in the nation at $544.5 million. It surpassed Ohio’s 2024 Senate race, which cost $542.8 million.