Here’s what to know about the results in the Lone Star State.
Voters in Texas went to the polls on Tuesday for a series of critical primary runoff elections in the 2026 midterms.
The most anticipated race came in Texas, where Attorney General Ken Paxton unseated incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) with President Donald Trump’s endorsement.
Republican voters also selected a new attorney general nominee, while Democratic voters in the state made their pick for two critical House seats.
As the second-largest state in the nation, the outcome of these and other races held in Texas on Tuesday will shape the results of the general elections
Here’s what to know about the results in the Lone Star State.
Paxton Defeats Cornyn
A faceoff that could define the future of the Senate ended with a defeat for Cornyn at the hands of Paxton, who benefited from the late endorsement by Trump.
The Associated Press called the race for Paxton at 9 p.m. ET, capping off the most expensive Senate primary in history.
As of May 19, AdImpact counted a record-breaking $25 million in ad spending in the runoff alone, adding to almost $100 million in Republican spending in the initial primary. In both races, most of that money supported Cornyn, a multi-decade incumbent backed by the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
Cornyn’s ouster marks the latest Republican to be defeated by a Trump-backed primary challenger, following Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), and several Indiana state senators in recent weeks.
Paxton’s victory sets him up for a November general election with Democratic nominee James Talarico, whose relatively strong showing in polls against Paxton has drawn national attention to the race in the Republican stronghold.
Middleton Defeats Roy
Texas state Sen. Mayes Middleton edged out U.S. Rep. Chip Roy in a contentious Republican runoff in the race for state attorney general.
Middleton received around 56 percent of the vote to Roy’s 44 percent.
Both candidates competed for conservative support, emphasizing they would tackle issues such as illegal immigration and other crimes.
Middleton will face Nathan Johnson—the winner of the Democratic primary, which also went to a runoff—in the November general election.
A state lawmaker, Middleton also took first place in the March 3 Republican primary with 39 percent of the vote, while Roy grabbed 32 percent.
Middleton branded himself as “MAGA Mayes” and highlighted keeping men out of women’s sports, suing sanctuary cities, opposing sharia law, and blocking land sales to foreign adversaries.
Roy campaigned on protecting Texas from illegal immigrant criminals, as well as “Marxists, Islamists, and the Communist Party.” He ran ads suggesting Trump approved of him.
Because Roy resigned his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, he will not appear on the ballot for any political office in Texas in November.
Menefee Defeats Green
Rep. Christian Menefee (D-Texas) defeated incumbent Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) to win the Democratic primary in Texas’s 18th Congressional District.
Menefee is expected to face Republican Ronald Whitfield in the general election this November. Because the Houston-based district is overwhelmingly Democratic, Menefee is expected to win.
The unusual match-up of Democratic incumbents was driven mostly by state-level politics.
In 2024, longtime Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) died, leaving the seat without representation in Congress. Months later, former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner—who succeeded Jackson Lee in Congress—died just two months into his term.
Gov. Greg Abbott postponed calling a new special election to fill the vacancy until November 2025, leaving the district without representation in Congress for roughly eight months during a closely divided session.
At the same time, Texas Republicans approved a new congressional map that significantly redrew Houston-area districts. The revised boundaries folded much of Green’s 9th Congressional District into the newly configured 18th District, creating the uncommon matchup between two Democratic incumbents.
Allred Defeats Johnson
Former Rep. Colin Allred defeated Rep. Julie Johnson to win the Democratic primary for Texas’s 33rd Congressional District in a runoff election on Tuesday.
Allred will face Republican Patrick Gillespie in the November general election. The heavily Democratic district, located in the Fort Worth area, is expected to remain in Democratic hands.
Allred initially launched a campaign for the Democratic nomination for Senate before dropping out to run for the 33rd District. He entered the race on the same day Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) announced her candidacy for the Senate. Crockett, who was endorsed by Allred, lost the primary to state Rep. James Talarico in March.
Johnson, who is serving her first term in Congress, entered the race after redistricting advanced by Texas Republicans pushed her out of the 32nd Congressional District.
The seat became open after Rep. Marc Veasey (D-Texas) announced he would not seek reelection.
Texas’s 35th Congressional District
In the first of two primary races in Texas’s 35th Congressional District, Bexar County Sheriff’s Deputy Johnny Garcia defeated family therapist Maureen Galindo for the Democratic nomination.
Galindo made controversial comments that drew national attention, including calls to imprison “American Zionists” and to transform a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility into a jail for that purpose.
On the Republican side, retired Air Force veteran Carlos De La Cruz defeated state Rep. John Lujan.
Lujan had spent much of the cycle as the presumed frontrunner in the district—until Trump dropped an endorsement for De La Cruz in the final day before the runoff race.
De La Cruz was selected to be the nominee with 59.5 percent of the vote to Lujan’s 40.5 percent.
The seat is one of five redrawn by Texas Republicans in August 2025.
Though the seat—which Trump would have won had the district existed in 2024—was intended to favor Republicans, Democrats have expressed optimism that a favorable national environment could narrow the margins in the race.
By Joseph Lord, Nathan Worcester, Darlene McCormick Sanchez, Jackson Richman
