Talarico Beats Crockett as Texas Democrats Pick Their Senate Sacrifice — Again

Texas Democrats just picked their candidate for a Senate seat they haven't won since 1994, and the real story isn't who won — it's that they're about to watch Republicans tear each other apart for three more months while spending enough money to fund a small country's GDP.

State Rep. James Talarico defeated U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett in Tuesday's Democratic primary with 53% of the vote, according to CBS News projections. Crockett conceded Wednesday morning, calling for party unity with the kind of grace that's become rare in American politics. "Texas is primed to turn blue, and we must remain united because this is bigger than any one person," she said in a statement, pledging to work for Democratic victories up and down the ballot.

The Talarico-Crockett race was billed as a clash of styles rather than substance — both are progressive, both support left-wing populist platforms that cast billionaires as antagonists. Crockett's camp argued she could turn out new voters and energize the base. Talarico's supporters bet that his approach could appeal to moderates in a state that hasn't elected a Democrat statewide in 32 years. NPR called it Democrats' "white whale," their "Lucy and the football" — close, but never quite there.

But here's the twist: while Talarico pivots to the general election, Texas Republicans are stuck in what has already become the most expensive Senate primary in American history. Sen. John Cornyn and Attorney General Ken Paxton are heading to a May 26 runoff after neither cleared 50% on Tuesday, with Cornyn leading by fewer than 30,000 votes out of nearly 400,000 cast, according to CBS News. Nearly $100 million has already been spent, mostly propping up Cornyn. Another $100 million could flood the race before it's over, NPR reported.

This is the old Republican establishment versus the new MAGA insurgency, and it's getting ugly. Cornyn, a longtime senator with leadership backing, faces Paxton, a scandal-plagued attorney general who's a close Trump ally. President Trump stayed neutral during the primary, saying he liked all three candidates (Rep. Wesley Hunt also ran but finished third). On Wednesday, Trump posted on social media that he would endorse "soon" and ask the loser to drop out immediately, arguing Republicans must unite to win in November, according to CBS News.

The question is whether Trump cares enough to intervene or whether he'd rather see that $200 million go to swing districts where it might actually matter. Texas' other Republican senator, Ted Cruz, said he'll stay neutral and let voters decide. Translation: even Cruz sees this as a mess.

Meanwhile, the voting itself was a disaster in Dallas County, a Democratic stronghold where Crockett expected to dominate. Dallas GOP officials changed the rules this year, requiring voters to cast ballots at their assigned precincts instead of anywhere in the county. Hundreds of voters showed up at the wrong polling sites Tuesday, according to NPR. A county judge ordered polls to stay open two extra hours. Then the Texas Supreme Court mandated that votes cast by people not in line at the original 7 p.m. closing time be held separately.

Dallas County processed more than 57,000 Democratic ballots between 2 a.m. and 11 a.m. Wednesday, CBS News reported, with unofficial totals showing 279,788 Democratic ballots and 103,607 Republican ballots cast. That's a 19% Democratic turnout versus 7% Republican in a county with 1.4 million registered voters. Crockett alleged voter disenfranchisement, though The Associated Press and others had enough votes to call the race for Talarico overnight.

The Dallas chaos matters because it's a preview of what's coming. Trump has spent months issuing unfounded warnings about widespread voter fraud, and election officials have been bracing for possible federal interference, NPR reported. These kinds of issues get magnified in close races, especially with a president who reflexively questions election results. Concerns about voting access aren't going away.

Elsewhere in Texas, incumbents had a rough night — a sign of broader anti-establishment sentiment. Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw lost by double digits. Scandal-plagued Rep. Tony Gonzales is in a dead-heat runoff against a gun-rights influencer. Democratic Rep. Valerie Foushee is locked in a nail-biter in North Carolina. Longtime Rep. Al Green, kicked out of presidential addresses to Congress the past two years for protesting Trump, is headed to a runoff in a newly drawn district against someone who didn't start serving until last month, NPR reported.

In North Carolina, the Senate matchup is set: former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper will face Michael Whatley, a former Trump Republican National Committee chairman, for the seat being vacated by retiring Republican Sen. Thom Tillis. Cooper's message was telling — he talked up affordability, attacked Whatley as a "D.C. insider," and tried to separate himself from partisan labels. He promised to be an "independent" senator who would work with Trump when possible but "stand up to him" when North Carolina needed it, according to NPR. That's the tightrope Democrats think they need to walk in a state Trump won three times.

Back in Texas, Talarico now has 12 weeks to build momentum while Republicans savage each other. For Democrats to win, NPR noted, "it's going to take a triple-bank shot" — total unity, maximum turnout, and probably some luck. Recent polling from The New York Times shows Democrats with a modest national advantage on the congressional generic ballot, though by single-digit margins. The party out of power typically gains ground in midterms, and these early surveys suggest that pattern may be emerging.

But Texas isn't a generic ballot. It's a state where Democrats have been tantalizingly close for a decade and haven't broken through. Talarico's left-wing populism might energize the base, or it might alienate the moderates he needs. What's certain is that he'll face a Republican nominee in November who's either been bloodied by three months of intraparty warfare or emboldened by Trump's endorsement — assuming Trump picks a side at all.

The irony is that Texas Republicans are spending historic sums on a seat they'll almost certainly keep, while Democrats are unified behind a candidate who faces near-impossible odds. If Democrats do flip Texas in November, it won't be because of superior strategy — it'll be because Republicans burned their own house down first.