The former vice president previously endorsed U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett in the Democratic primary, but has since called for the party to unite behind Talarico.
Texas Democrats have picked James Talarico as their Senate nominee, and the state lawmaker now becomes a national voice against President Donald Trump.
Two blockbuster Senate primaries dominated attention, chaos reigned in down-ballot races and an intense runoff season looms.
The most expensive state House primaries this cycle were proxy wars over issues including casinos, tort reform and a lingering battle between establishment Republicans and more hardline conservatives.
The Austin Democrat’s win comes after a bitter primary that focused on which candidate’s political and electoral strategy would get the party’s first statewide victory in over 30 years.
A rule change for primary voting in two Texas counties led to mass voter confusion that eventually led to a state supreme court ruling, threats of more legal action and the potential that an untold number of voters could find themselves disenfranchised.
Dallas and Williamson counties closed centralized voting centers, which had become a common practice, at the request of local Republicans.
Longtime Sen. John Cornyn and MAGA favorite Ken Paxton are heading to a May runoff in Texas’ Republican Senate primary, while Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett and state Rep. James Talarico are in a close race for the Democratic nomination.
This Tuesday, Tribune reporters are watching two blockbuster Senate primaries, an open attorney general seat, and more high-stakes, competitive races up and down the Texas ballot.
State Rep. James Talarico topped Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett in Texas' closely watched Democratic Senate primary.
A super PAC supporting James Talarico is running ads online warning that the GOP is “boosting” Jasmine Crockett. Her spokesperson said Republicans “who underestimate her do so at their own peril.”
Days out from the March primary, Republicans called for changes to immigration law. Democrats repeated their calls for stricter gun laws.
A heated U.S. Senate race in Texas is entering its final stretch before voters decide Tuesday who will be their party's nominee in November.
Jasmine Crockett and James Talarico face off in the state’s first blockbuster Democratic primary in decades. The race will likely conclude Tuesday, with the outside chance of a runoff.
Democrats are banking on Tejano music star Bobby Pulido to help them win back Hispanic voters in a South Texas congressional district that favors Republicans.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris has endorsed Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett in Texas’ Democratic Senate primary, giving Crockett a big boost as she faces concerns about electability.
The call gives Crockett a jolt of support from one of her party’s biggest stars in the home stretch of her Senate Democratic primary against state Rep. James Talarico.
President Donald Trump says he's “pretty much” made his decision on whom to endorse in Texas’ heated Republican Senate primary, but he still refuses to name his pick publicly.
Before she was a firebrand congresswoman, Jasmine Crockett was a public defender — and local Democratic party chair — in Texarkana.
In the Senate Democratic primary, Talarico has made his church’s ethos of compassion central to his campaign, while Jasmine Crockett is tapping into the civic power of Black churches.
On the Republican side, Ken Paxton and John Cornyn were neck-and-neck and in position for a runoff, according to the poll from the University of Texas’ Texas Politics Project.
Turnout during the first week of early voting for the Texas midterm election exceeded the same period for the previous two presidential elections, years that typically see higher voter engagement.
The latest campaign finance reports show big-money interests are heavily invested in the Texas primaries — but unwilling to reveal their identities at a critical juncture of the race.
Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas is urging supporters to look at experience in a heated U.S. Senate primary with state Rep. James Talarico as he rides on wider attention thanks to late-night host Stephen Colbert.
The Federal Communications Commission is investigating ABC’s “The View” over possible violations of the requirement that broadcast stations give equal time to political candidates when they appear on-air.
Late-night host Stephen Colbert isn't backing down from his public dispute with CBS bosses over what he can air on his show.
Stephen Colbert says his interview with Texas Democrat James Talarico was pulled from Monday's broadcast over fears it would violate “equal time” guidance from the Federal Communications Commission under the Trump administration.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is stepping up his race for the U.S. Senate with early voting about to begin for the March 3 GOP primary.
Jasmine Crockett has built enormous enthusiasm among Black voters based in part on her reputation as a fighter, while her opponent in the Texas primary, James Talarico, has struggled to win their support.
Talarico’s haul, announced days before early voting, already outpaces what he raised over the last three months of last year.
Our hosts are joined by Democratic strategist and content creator Olivia Julianna and political reporter Kayla Guo to unpack what all the recent social media drama means about the Democratic party.
Jasmine Crockett and James Talarico are adept at creating digital media moments and collecting social media followers.
The near-constant stream of takes from content creators has come to frame the primary between Jasmine Crockett and James Talarico as a referendum on identity politics in the Democratic Party.
Allred also urged Democrats to vote for Talarico’s opponent, Jasmine Crockett. The former Dallas congressman was Talarico’s main rival in the Senate primary before dropping out the day Crockett entered the race.
Crockett raised about $2 million between her Dec. 8 campaign launch and year’s end, about one-third of Talarico’s haul over the first three weeks of his Senate bid.
After coming under fire for some earlier comments about Latinos, Crockett is working to narrow Democratic rival James Talarico’s lead among the key voting bloc.
The survey of likely Democratic voters suggests the March 3 primary is a toss-up less than three weeks out from early voting.
Democratic Reps. Joaquin Castro and Jasmine Crockett have met with a 5-year-old Ecuadorian boy and his father at a Texas immigration detention center, a case that has stirred anger over the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
While GOP lawmakers accused the Austin Democrat of overstating his role in passing a statewide cap on insulin copays, his Democratic colleagues said his personal battle with diabetes generated key momentum for the effort.
In a story published Jan. 24, 2026, about a debate for the U.S. Senate in Texas, The Associated Press erroneously reported the date that a man was fatally shot in Minneapolis by federal officers.
Saturday’s debate, hosted by the Texas AFL-CIO, gives voters their first side-by-side glimpse of the candidates’ contrasting styles and proposals ahead of the March 3 primary.
The spot, which describes the Austin Democrat’s work on education issues in the Legislature, will air this week in nearly a dozen of the state’s largest media markets.
Democrats could be more competitive financially in the U.S. Senate race, but their comparatively small fundraising hauls for state office leave them with fewer resources to reach voters.
Talarico’s two years as a public school teacher is central to his Democratic Senate campaign after shaping his policy goals and driving his political rise through the Texas House.
Texas’ Senate Republican primary, meanwhile, looks headed for a runoff. The survey found U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in a dead heat against Attorney General Ken Paxton, with neither eclipsing 30%.
The Democratic Senate hopeful’s campaign said virtually all the donations, 98%, were for $100 or less. Candidates must file updates by the end of the month.
Court documents detailing the divorce of Republican U.S. Senate candidate and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and his wife have been made public following a judge's order.
State Rep. James Talarico faces an uphill battle in his U.S. Senate bid while 15th Congressional hopeful Bobby Pulido aims to flip the district, but he must first win his primary.
Crockett had higher name recognition and an overwhelming edge among Black voters, while Talarico kept her margin to single digits through greater support among white and Latino voters.
Some Democrats dismissed the Dallas congresswoman as too polarizing to capture the swing voters needed to win. Others said her turnout-over-persuasion approach is the recipe to break through.
Crockett, a second-term congresswoman, has skyrocketed to fame through viral spats with Republicans, becoming one of her party’s most prolific fundraisers.
Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett has launched a campaign for the U.S. Senate in Texas.
The U.S. Supreme Court seems likely to expand presidential control over independent federal agencies, signaling support for President Donald Trump’s firing of board members.
The former Dallas congressman said he wanted to help his party avoid a runoff. In his campaign to return to the House, he will face U.S. Rep. Julie Johnson, his successor in Congress.
Allred’s comments at The Texas Tribune Festival marked the first time either leading Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate publicly criticized the other.
The San Antonio Democrat said at The Texas Tribune Festival that he hoped to form a statewide slate with Colin Allred, Beto O’Rourke and James Talarico, but the group couldn’t find consensus.
The two leading Senate Democratic candidates have made it a point to spend time along the border early in the cycle, a sign of the region’s importance in 2026.
Republican congressman Wesley Hunt is running for the U.S. Senate in Texas, defying Senate GOP leadership and adding a new element to an already contentious primary campaign.
The Austin state lawmaker took in $6.2 million in the three weeks since he launched his bid, outpacing the $4.1 million Allred raised over the last three months.
The Austin lawmaker says his faith fuels his vision of a Democratic Party that “fights back” against billionaires. Republican critics say his stances are at odds with Scripture.
The survey found many Texas voters are either undecided or would support candidates who haven’t actually entered the race. It also showed GOP Sen. John Cornyn leading Attorney General Ken Paxton.
A former public school teacher, Talarico has emerged as one of Texas Democrats’ strongest communicators. He joins Colin Allred and Terry Virts in the primary.
The Austin Democrat has made a name for himself with his viral social media presence. His entry to the race pits him against former U.S. Rep. Colin Allred in the increasingly crowded primary.
In this week’s episode, Matthew and Eleanor talk to Texas Tribune climate reporter Emily Foxhall about the emotional pleas Camp Mystic parents made to state lawmakers and analyze the proposed new laws in response to the Kerrville floods.
The push to redraw congressional maps in Texas is shifting the dynamics of the state’s 2026 Senate campaign.
In this week’s episode, Matthew and Eleanor ask University of Houston law professor David Froomkin to help them break down the legal cases seeking to remove 13 Democrats from the Texas House.
Reps. Caroline Fairly and James Talarico, along with Texas attorney general candidate Aaron Reitz, also join us to talk Texas’ future this November
Allred says he has learned to show up more in his attempt at a Senate do-over. But critics contend he’s not generating enough attention.
The Democratic state lawmaker has inquired about Senate television ad rates, two sources told the Tribune.
Democrats concede there’s only so much they can do to keep Texas from redrawing its maps. But they want to encourage blue states to retaliate.
Texas Democratic lawmakers who left the state to block a Republican plan for congressional redistricting are pleading for donations to help cover their costs.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has asked the state Supreme Court on Tuesday to remove from office a top state lawmaker he called the “ringleader” of Democrats who left the state to block a vote on a new congressional voting map pushed by President Donald Trump.
Former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke was joined at his San Antonio town hall by U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro and state Rep. James Talarico, whose names have been floated for statewide office.
Democrats will need to sort through a pileup of potential candidates who see an opportunity to harness backlash to the Trump administration in next year’s midterms.
Gov. Greg Abbott signed Senate Bill 10, even though a similar Louisiana law was deemed unconstitutional. Supporters say Christianity is core to U.S. history.
Anti-voucher Republicans said they voted for the bill so they could fight to improve it, and also to fend off political retribution.
The lower chamber overwhelmingly voted in favor of House Bill 2, a sweeping $8 billion piece of legislation that would also limit schools’ reliance on teachers without formal classroom training.
The average age of Texans last year was 37, while the Legislature’s average age was 55. Hurdles to voting and the unique challenges young candidates encounter fuel the mismatch.
Republican lawmakers may try to force Texas cities to allow greater housing density as the state faces a housing crunch.
Gov. Greg Abbott called lawmakers back to Austin to try again to pass education savings accounts, which would let families use state funds to pay for their children’s private schooling. Teacher pay was not part of his agenda.
The groups work in dozens of school districts across the state, but some public health experts say their curricula can be misleading and biased.
Lawmakers at a Texas Tribune Fest panel found common ground on school funding and teacher pay but took starkly different stances on “school choice.”
Passage of a school choice measure is anything but a sure bet, as there is little evidence that the governor has been able to convince rural Republicans in the Texas House — who have for years been a reliable firewall — to drop their opposition.
The authors of bills in both legislative chambers say their bills’ aim is simple: keeping sexually explicit content off school bookshelves. But opponents say the legislation is vague and broad enough to wreak havoc.