James Talarico has flipped a U.S. Senate seat in Texas, defeating Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton on Tuesday night, NBC News and Decision Desk HQ project. The win makes Talarico the first Democrat to win a statewide race in Texas since 1994 and the first Democrat to win a Senate race there since Lloyd Bentsen in 1988.
Flipping a seat means taking it from the other party. This seat belonged to Republican John Cornyn, who served four terms before losing the Republican nomination to Paxton earlier this year. With Cornyn out, the seat was open, and Talarico took it.
Votes were still being counted when the race was called. With about two thirds of the vote in, Talarico led Paxton roughly 55% to 43%, with Libertarian Ted Brown pulling under 2%.
James Talarico is 37, a former public school teacher and Presbyterian seminarian who has served four terms in the Texas House representing the Austin area. He first got on the map in 2018 when he won a state House district that had voted for Trump two years earlier.
Before he could face Paxton, Talarico had to get through Rep. Jasmine Crockett in the Democratic primary. Crockett entered the race with a national profile built on her clashes with Trump and Republicans, and Talarico called himself the underdog. He won the nomination, and Crockett urged Democrats to unite behind him.
Paxton came into the general election carrying plenty of baggage. The Republican controlled Texas House impeached him in 2023, meaning it formally charged him, over allegations of bribery and corruption. The state Senate acquitted him, and Trump took credit for that outcome after pressuring lawmakers. Trump endorsed Paxton in the primary and campaigned for him in the general election.
The race turned personal. Paxton went after Talarico’s manhood, calling him “low T,” a jab at testosterone levels that is popular with online manosphere influencers. Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff, called Talarico the “first transgender Senate candidate.” Talarico is cisgender, meaning he identifies with the sex he was assigned at birth, and he is in a relationship with a woman. Republicans also falsely claimed he was vegan.
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Talarico kept his message on affordability, arguing that wealthy donors and corporate interests have too much power in Washington. In the final days, he cast the race as a David versus Goliath fight, and the Goliath he named was Elon Musk, not Paxton. It became the most expensive Senate race in Texas history, with hundreds of millions of dollars spent by the candidates and outside groups.
James Talarico also picked up support from Republicans who would not back Paxton. Barbara Bush and Neil Bush, the daughter and brother of former President George W. Bush, threw their support behind Talarico, as did personal injury lawyer Thomas J. Henry, a former Paxton donor.
Beto O’Rourke came close to winning statewide in 2018 but fell short. Talarico campaigned across the entire state, working to cut into the huge Republican margins in red parts of Texas that sank Democratic candidates in recent years.
The win is a major pickup for Democrats as they push to take control of the Senate. Democrats are also projected to win control of the House, and earlier Tuesday night Dr. Annie Andrews flipped South Carolina’s Senate seat. Talarico will serve a six year term.
