Democratic state Rep. James Talarico is headed for a showdown for Texas’ U.S. Senate seat, but who he will be facing is yet to be determined.
The Republican primary featured incumbent U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, who was in a fight for his life with Attorney General Ken Paxton, who spent most of the campaign touting his relationship with President Donald Trump and painting Cornyn as out of touch with modern Republican voters.
Election night, however, proved to fall far short of the decisive victory either of the candidates wanted. With 89% of Texas counties reporting, unofficial results showed Cornyn with 43% of the vote compared to 40% for Paxton.
In El Paso County, Cornyn was the clear winner with 46% of the vote compared to Paxton, who received 36%. More than 23,000 votes were cast in the GOP primary contest.
The two will meet in a runoff Tuesday, May 26.
Paxton is likely to follow the same playbook he used during the primary, even taking aim at Cornyn’s record in election night comments.
“When he compromised, we fought,” he said. “It’s not about personal attacks. It’s about what your record of delivering for the people of Texas is. And on that front, John Cornyn has failed us time and time again. I’ve traveled the state asking one simple question. I’ve done this since day one. Every group I’ve been in front of, in his over 40 years of office, you cannot name one single accomplishment that he’s done to help the state of Texas. 40 years. And without fail, everywhere I go, no one has an answer.”
Cornyn made clear that he plans to go on the offensive during the 12-week primary runoff campaign.
“Elections are about choices and the choice in the Republican race for the U.S. Senate is crystal clear,” Cornyn said during an election night news conference. “I worked for decades to build the Republican Party, both here in Texas and nationally — I refuse to allow a flawed, self-centered and shameless candidate like Ken Paxton to risk everything I’ve worked so hard to build over these many years.”
If Paxton earns the nomination, Cornyn said, he’s likely to lose the November General Election, marking a significant impediment to Trump’s conservative agenda. He cited recent polling showing that Paxton was “dead weight” for Republicans up and down the ballot.
“Over the next 12 weeks, Texas Republican primary voters will hear more about my record of delivering conservative victories in the United States Senate,” Cornyn said. “And learn more about Ken’s indefensible personal behavior and failures in office.”
“Just like the primary, we have a plan to win in the runoff and we are in the process of executing it,” he added.
As has been the case throughout his campaign, Paxton did not respond to multiple requests for comment. However, in a speech on election night, Paxton made clear that he believes his campaign has a path to victory.
“John Cornyn spent around $100 million trying to buy this seat,” Paxton said. “We’ve spent around $5 million. It was confirmed today that he received the most ad support for an incumbent in a single primary in U.S. history, but we proved something … they’ll never understand in Washington. Texas is not for sale.”
Talarico topples Crockett in Democratic primary
The Democratic primary race between Talarico and U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett came down to the wire, but the state representative ended up victorious, securing his place in the Nov. 3 General Election.
The two were tied at 49%, but Talarico dashed away as the final counties reported — with 94% in, Talarico secured 52% of the vote compared to 47% for Crockett. For their part, El Paso Democrats showed up in even larger numbers for Talarico, giving him 62% of the vote compared to Crockett’s 47%.
It’s unclear how Talarico will prepare for a showdown with either Paxton or Cornyn — his campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment — but it’s likely Democrats are hoping for a battle with Paxton, who appears most vulnerable in a head-to-head contest.
On election night, Talarico celebrated what started as a long-shot bid for the U.S. Senate and ended with a stunning election night victory.
“This movement is about whether the people will hold the power in this state and in this country,” he said during an election night rally. “We launched this underdog campaign six months ago … and since then, tens of thousands of Texans have shown up to rally with us in every corner of the state.”
“This is a people-powered movement to take on this broken, corrupt political system,” Talarico continued. “This is truly a campaign of, by and for the people.”
Likewise, it’s unclear what might be next for Crockett, as her campaign also did not respond to multiple requests for comment on election night.
Adam Powell covers government and politics for the El Paso Times and can be reached via email at apowell@elpasotimes.com.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Texas Senate race: Cornyn, Paxton head to runoff to face James Talarico
Reporting by Adam Powell, El Paso Times / El Paso Times
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
