(CNN) — Democratic state Rep. James Talarico will win the Senate race in Texas, CNN’s Decision Desk projects, delivering a stunning defeat to Republican state Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Talarico, 37, is the first Democrat elected to the US Senate to represent Texas in 38 years and the first Democrat elected statewide since 1994.
His victory marks one of the biggest upsets of the 2026 midterms, beating the Republican candidate in a state President Donald Trump won by nearly 14 points in 2024.
Talarico, a Presbyterian seminarian and former teacher from Round Rock, was not well-known in Texas before launching his campaign in September of last year. But he gained a following in Texas and nationally after making his faith a prominent focus of his messaging and broadening his pitch to independent and Republican voters.
Talarico was also aided in the race by running against a weak Republican opponent in Paxton, who was bogged down by a series of controversies, including his wife filing for divorce “on biblical grounds.” Paxton was also indicted on securities fraud charges in 2015 and was impeached by the Texas House in 2023, though he was later acquitted by the state Senate. He struck a deal with prosecutors in 2024 to pay restitution to victims in the fraud case, avoiding a trial.
