No Majority in Texas Republican Senate Primary as Cornyn and Paxton Head to a May Runoff
On March 3, 2026, Texas held one of the first state primaries of the 2026 midterm elections. According to unofficial returns reported by the Texas Secretary of State, in the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate, incumbent Senator John Cornyn finished first with 910,382 votes and state Attorney General Ken Paxton was second with 878,564; neither passed 50 percent, so the two will meet again in a runoff on May 26. U.S. Representative Wesley Hunt finished third.
The Democratic primary produced an outright winner: state Representative James Talarico took 1,216,412 votes, or 52.4 percent, defeating U.S. Representative Jasmine Crockett, who received 1,071,900 votes, or 46.2 percent. Talarico will face the Republican runoff winner in the November general election.
In the governor's primaries, Republican incumbent Greg Abbott won easily with 1,764,924 votes, or 81.8 percent, while state Representative Gina Hinojosa won the Democratic nomination with 1,289,576 votes, or 58.5 percent.
Cornyn has held the Senate seat since 2002, and the race is regarded as one of the most closely watched Senate contests in the country. Arkansas and North Carolina also held state primaries the same day. The Secretary of State's office noted that the figures are unofficial returns and that final results are subject to the statewide canvass.
Related: Texas Senate Race: Musk and Other Donors Pour Hundreds of Millions Into Rescuing Ken Paxton
Source: Texas Secretary of State
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于美国德克萨斯州奥斯汀的德州议会大厦夜景（资料照片）。Larry D. Moore 摄，CC BY 4.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: The Texas State Capitol at night in Austin, Texas (file photo). Photo by Larry D. Moore, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
