On Tuesday, Democrat James Talarico beat Republican Ken Paxton in Texas, becoming the first Democrat elected to that Senate seat since Lloyd Bentsen in 1988.
NBC News and CBS News projected his victory.
No Democrat had won a statewide race in Texas since 1994.
Talarico cast the night as an upset of biblical proportions. “We defeated Goliath,” he told supporters at his election-night gathering.
He went on to name the forces he said his campaign had faced.
In this race, we went up against our own Goliaths: the richest man in the world, the most powerful man in the world, and the entire Washington, DC, establishment.
On the money spent against him, he was direct. "We just took back Texas," he said.
He also addressed the Texans he said had gone through the campaign wondering whether anyone in politics listened to them.
This win, this win is for every Texan who's ever wondered if anyone is listening,
He added: "I hear you, we hear you. And tonight the world hears you."
A supporter at the gathering put it more briefly. "Up and down the ballot Texas is turning blue, and it's about damn time," the supporter said.
More than half a billion dollars
The contest cost more than half a billion dollars, making it the most expensive Senate race in US history.
More than $200m was spent against Talarico. Tech billionaire Elon Musk put $158m (£117m) into a super PAC supporting Paxton.
| Amount | |
|---|---|
| Total spent on the race | More than half a billion dollars |
| Spent against Talarico | More than $200m |
| Musk's gift to the super PAC backing Paxton | $158m (£117m) |
Talarico's own message focused on household bills. He centred his campaign on how much dearer life had become under Republican rule in the state.
Paxton repeatedly joined Trump on the campaign trail, portraying his opponent as too progressive for the state.
Trump made repeated trips to Texas to bolster Paxton and other Republicans, stopping in places the party reliably wins.
Scandal followed Paxton into the race. His party impeached him in 2023 over corruption accusations, but the state Senate later acquitted him.
Federal regulators went after him, too. The US Securities and Exchange Commission indicted Paxton on fraud charges, which were later dismissed.
Little known until last year, Talarico is a former schoolteacher who beat Dallas congresswoman Jasmine Crockett in the Democratic primary.
Two members of the Bush family backed him.
- 1988Bentsen's last win Lloyd Bentsen is the last Democrat elected to the Texas Senate seat.
- 1994Last statewide win The most recent Democrat to win a statewide race in Texas.
- 2023Impeachment and acquittal Paxton's party impeaches him over corruption accusations; the state Senate acquits him.
- TuesdayThe flip Talarico beats Paxton as Democrats take the House and Senate.
Reaction in Texas and Washington
Outgoing Republican senator John Cornyn congratulated Talarico and offered to help with the transition.
Democrats had a second historic result in Texas that night. Gina Hinojosa will become the state's first Latina governor after ousting Republican incumbent Greg Abbott, giving the party its first win in a Texas governor's race since the 1990s.
Trump's public response went to Abbott rather than to the Senate seat.
If Greg Abbott, the Governor of Texas, hadn't become a RINO [Republican in name only] in the last six months of his Political Life, he wouldn't have lost.
Quardricos Driskell, a political science professor at George Washington University, said Paxton was a major part of the Republicans' downfall, calling him an objectively terrible candidate.
This wasn't just a tsunami, not just a referendum, but this was a bloodbath,
Taken with Abbott's defeat, the Texas result was absolutely historic, he said, describing it as "a clear distinction that the country wants to go in a different direction".
Costs, the border and Hispanic voters
Voters were angry about prices, frustrated by high consumer costs, including petrol, and largely blamed Trump's tariff policies and the Iran war.
Immigration cost the president support in the state. Hispanic voters and people living along the southern border objected to his immigration policies. Polls suggested his backing among Hispanics, who account for a third of Texans, had ebbed significantly, even as crossings at the border fell sharply under him.
Since late summer, surveys have put a majority of Texan Hispanic voters against the president, with Democrats favoured over Republicans by a significant margin.
Democrats took the House and Senate, Cybernews reported. The BBC said Talarico's win helped cement the party's control of Congress, among Democratic gains across the country.
The accounts differ over the paperwork. One treats the 1988 comparison as settled, while the other says it stands only if the result is confirmed. The result hadn't yet been officially confirmed.
How the outlets frame the win
The 1988 first
Stated as fact
- Talarico is the first Democrat elected to the Texas Senate seat since Lloyd Bentsen.
Subject to confirmation
Stated with a condition
- The 1988 first holds if the result is confirmed.
- The result had yet to be officially confirmed.
What we know
- NBC News and CBS News projected Talarico's victory.
- Lloyd Bentsen, in 1988, was the last Democrat elected to the seat.
- More than $200m was spent against Talarico.
Still unclear
- Whether the result has been officially confirmed.
- The final margin, turnout, and the Hispanic share of the vote.
- Whether Democratic control of the Senate rests on other races still to be called.
