Cornyn Loss Headlines Texas Primary Runoff Results
Fresh off a long, holiday weekend, voters in Texas went to the polls for a series of consequential runoffs. In some cases, nominees were selected in key general election contests. While in others, runoff winners are now likely members of Congress because they won primaries in either solidly red or solidly blue districts.
Senate. Open; John Cornyn (R), lost primary. When Trump endorsed state Attorney General Ken Paxton, he closed off Cornyn’s last remaining path to victory in this year-long race between two longtime rivals. Paxton, one of Trump’s most vociferous defenders after the president began spreading false conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, rebounded from a second-place finish in the first round of the primary and successfully navigated a perilous moment a day later when it appeared Trump might endorse Cornyn instead. Despite a massive spending advantage and significant outside help, Cornyn lost handily: he trails by 29 points percent with roughly three-quarters of the vote counted. The four-term incumbent was once the second-ranking Republican, as majority whip. Now he is the second senator to lose their primary to a Trump-backed challenger.
Awaiting Paxton in the general election is state Rep. James Talarico, the 37-year-old Austin legislator and seminarian who has turned into a fundraising powerhouse. Republicans remain confident in their ability to defeat Talarico by painting him as a far-left extremist. But that effort will come with a steep…
