The 2026 U.S. Senate race is poised to be one of Texas’ most competitive statewide races in years. We’re tracking the latest polls so you can see who’s ahead.
Like his U.S. Senate rival, Ken Paxton, the Austin state lawmaker introduced a plan to address what he called an “affordability crisis.” But they differed on who is to blame for rising costs.
After hitting his GOP foe for voting under an address where he no longer lived, the Tribune and ProPublica found the Democratic Senate candidate also appears to have done so.
In the survey released Tuesday, just 7% of Black Texans who voted in recent elections said they are less likely to vote in November due to Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s Democratic primary loss.
The Republican attorney general is starting a tour next week to promote the plan, which would create new housing and healthcare tax write-offs.
The poll found the Austin Democrat with a commanding lead among independents and a surprising edge with non-college-educated voters, who have consistently favored Republicans.
James Talarico’s comments come after ProPublica and The Texas Tribune found that the attorney general may have broken state law by voting using an address where he no longer appears to live.
Residents along the U.S.-Mexico border said they want crossings under control and the state’s next senator to actually do something on immigration policy.
Gina Hinojosa, the Democratic nominee for governor, unveiled her own plan this week and called on Gov. Greg Abbott to take executive action to pause data center development.
See the latest fundraising totals, where the money is coming from and how super PACs are spending in what’s poised to be Texas’ most expensive Senate race.
The Democratic Senate nominee faced pointed questions from some Black voters and was confronted by a political content creator who said “you cannot win without us.”
Paxton rallied in McAllen while Talarico toured the border this week, offering an early look at how each will vie in the coming months for the Latino voters who swung to Trump in 2024.
The LinkedIn co-founder’s donation was nearly 80% of the pro-Talarico super PAC’s second-quarter haul. It comes as the Austin Democrat wages a campaign focused on keeping big money out of politics.
Paxton's campaign said he plans to debate after Talarico challenged him to do so, though it did not commit to a specific host.
Cody Campbell, a major Texas Tech booster and GOP megadonor, has vocally defended Brendan Sorsby’s right to play amid a legal battle stemming from his betting scandal.
Abortion isn’t polling as high as other issues that matter to women voters, and Democrats have also retreated on the topic.
As attorney general, Paxton threw unprecedented resources into stopping Biden’s agenda. That record is his sword and shield as he runs for U.S. Senate.
The Tribune spoke with nine people who voted for the senior senator in the primary, offering a window into how that key voting bloc is thinking about the general election.
Calling into Gov. Greg Abbott's guest-hosted Hannity radio show, the Republican senator said Talarico is “charming” enough to win over voters “who may not be paying close attention to the issues.”
A new accusation that Graham Platner once sexually assaulted a woman he was dating has rocked the U.S. Senate race in Maine and cast fresh doubt on Democrats’ path to a Senate majority.
Black elected officials said the Senate nominee had more work to do to engage voters in their communities, while noting there was still time to do so before November.
The vast majority of Republicans indicated they had moved on from the bitter GOP primary and now support Paxton. Talarico had commanding leads among independents and moderates.
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders is headlining the event, as Democrats seek to drum up support and excitement for James Talarico and other downballot candidates ahead of November..
The attorney general has won statewide elections twice since his legal woes began. This time he will be at the top of the ticket, facing a fundraising juggernaut in James Talarico.
The Republican National Committee has not yet announced the midterm convention or its location, but it has teased the event as an opportunity to put Trump on the ballot.
A GOP leader, Patrick has been a staunch advocate for Christian values in his role presiding over the Texas Senate.
The more than $800,000 ad buy — the first by either candidate in the general election — continues the Austin Democrat’s push to win Latino voters as his race against GOP nominee Ken Paxton ramps up.
Gov. Greg Abbott is a top sponsor and Speaker Dustin Burrows will be the first sitting speaker to address the gathering, as Republicans close ranks ahead of a tough midterm.
An attorney who defended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in his impeachment trial has endorsed Paxton's Democratic opponent in the U.S. Senate race.
Dan Cogdell, who represented Paxton for nearly a decade in two high-profile cases, said his former client “has lost sight of his core mission.”
U.S. Senate hopefuls Ken Paxton and Graham Platner are in Washington, D.C., to rally party support.
Texas Democrat James Talarico has launched his general election campaign for the U.S. Senate.
Texas' Ken Paxton and James Talarico focus their energies — and attack ads — on each other as the fight for U.S. Senate narrows to two.
Paxton’s blowout win on Tuesday compelled an alliance by necessity, if not natural synergy, between the attorney general and the Washington groups that spent months trying to elect John Cornyn.
The survey is the latest to measure eroding Latino support for the president and the GOP after historic gains in 2024. But a polling expert said Democrats were “still underperforming” among the bloc.
President Donald Trump convened his Cabinet on Wednesday at a precarious moment for talks aimed at ending the Iran war, saying “things are going very well” days after insisting a settlement was “largely negotiated.”.
President Donald Trump has been showcasing his influence in Republican primaries, recently endorsing Ken Paxton in Texas.
Johnson succeeded Allred in Congress, but Republican redistricting pushed them into an unusual primary confrontation for the 33rd Congressional District.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has defeated four-term Sen. John Cornyn in a massively expensive, drawn-out U.S. Senate primary race.
John Cornyn is trying to fend off Ken Paxton. Both parties are picking attorney general nominees. And an oil and gas regulatory race has become uncharacteristically costly.
Texas Republican Senate candidates Sen. John Cornyn and state Attorney General Ken Paxton are going to be scarcely visible in public on the last day of campaigning ahead of Tuesday's runoff.
Nearly 14 months and $135 million later, Texas’ blockbuster Republican Senate primary will finally be decided Tuesday.
Ken Paxton is playing up President Donald Trump's endorsement as the Texas attorney general heads into the final days of U.S. Senate primary runoff against incumbent John Cornyn.
Some party leaders are also also alleging GOP interference on behalf of Galindo, who said she would “turn Karnes ICE Detention Center into a prison for American Zionists” if elected.
President Donald Trump has endorsed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, supercharging his effort to oust incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in a Republican primary runoff.
Early voting for Texas’ May 26 primary runoff election begins Monday, giving voters across the state another chance to decide key races ahead of the November general election.
As the Austin Democrat campaigns against big money in politics, he is being supported by a super PAC bankrolled by several billionaires, as well as nonprofits that do not have to disclose their funders.
The former president greeted patrons while stopping for tacos near the University of Texas at Austin campus — a notable show of support for the Democrats atop the ticket this fall.
James Talarico, the Democratic U.S. Senate nominee, has pushed to suspend the federal gas tax amid soaring fuel costs. Cornyn previously opposed the idea.
The pastor of the largest United Methodist Church in the U.S. has launched a campaign for the Democratic nomination for a U.S. Senate seat in Kansas.
The Austin Democrat, who won his party’s nomination in March, led Cornyn and Paxton by margins of 3 and 5 percentage points, respectively. Both results were within the survey’s margin of error.
A trade group argued that a federal gas tax suspension would be unlikely to show up in savings for drivers and would diminish needed infrastructure revenue.
The Austin Democrat’s haul is the largest-ever sum for a Senate candidate — in any state — in the first quarter of an election year.
The president could still weigh in over the next seven weeks. But his inaction before last month’s dropout deadline has only hardened the rivalry.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has positioned himself as the grassroots favorite in the runoff election to determine the party's Senate nominee.
As the dust settles for James Talarico following his victory over Jasmine Crockett in the Democratic primary for U.S. senator from Texas, Republicans from his home state are digging up quotes they deem “anti-Texas.”
President Donald Trump says he plans to endorse a candidate in the Texas Republican Senate runoff to end the painful primary.
Talarico has suggested he would communicate some of his views differently today, but stood by the principles behind the comments Republicans are using to tar him as an extreme liberal.
In this week's episode, we're joined by Dallas-Fort Worth radio host Mark Davis to discuss whether Donald Trump will pick a side in the GOP runoff for U.S. Senate and what impact that would have on the race.
Crockett embarked on her primary bid with a makeshift operation that lacked a campaign manager, a developed fundraising strategy and comprehensive infrastructure for a ground game.
After James Talarico won the Democratic Senate nomination in Texas, Republicans are racing to paint him as too progressive.
Sen. John Cornyn is going on offense against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton as they fight for a Republican Senate runoff, and President Donald Trump’s endorsement hangs over it all.
The president could scramble the traditional assumptions about a runoff if he carries out his promise to make an endorsement “soon” and urge whoever he snubs to drop out.
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.