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The 2026 primary season kicks off Tuesday with a pair of high-profile Texas Senate contests — and it’s all playing out in the shadow of U.S. military strikes on Iran.

On the Republican side, John Cornyn, a four-term senator with conservative credentials and a reputation as a bipartisan dealmaker, faces a bitter challenge from scandal-plagued, MAGA-aligned state Attorney General Ken Paxton and two-term Rep. Wesley Hunt.

All three were in Corpus Christi last week with President Donald Trump, who hadn’t endorsed a candidate in the race as of Monday night.

Senate Republicans’ campaign arm has backed Cornyn, who has emphasized his allegiance to Trump. He’s been hitting Paxton hard on ethical issues, including on allegations of infidelity. But Paxton’s appeal has proved durable with GOP voters, and he holds a narrow lead in recent polls. 

On the Democratic side, state Rep. James Talarico, a Presbyterian seminarian with a populist streak, is battling Rep. Jasmine Crockett, a sharp Trump critic with a knack for going viral.

The Democrats are energized by the prospect of competing in Texas, a state that has remained stubbornly out of the party’s grasp in recent years. But their primary has turned more on style than ideology, with Crockett embracing fiery rhetoric and an aggressive stance against Republicans and Talarico quoting Scripture and preaching unity.

The Senate primaries have drawn outsize attention, but Texas is also home to a slew of competitive House races. And it might not be over on Tuesday: If no candidate in any contest secures more than 50 percent of the vote, the two top finishers will compete in a May 26 runoff election, as seems likely in the Republican Senate race as well as in several House contests.

Meanwhile, Trump has vowed that the U.S. will continue its strikes against Iran, potentially for weeks or “whatever it takes.” As lawmakers in Washington react to the anti-regime operation, known as “Epic Fury,” they’ll also be keeping an eye on how it plays with voters, after a Reuters-Ipsos survey conducted over the weekend found that just 27 percent of respondents approved.

Texas House tea

Several House members risk losing their seats in primaries rife with intraparty tension, after the state’s GOP-led Legislature redrew its congressional map.

They include Rep. Julie Elizabeth Johnson, who is battling her predecessor, fellow Democrat and former Rep. Colin Allred, in the redrawn 33rd District. Meanwhile, in the new 18th District, longtime Rep. Al Green is running against Rep. Christian Menefee, who has been in office for just a month after winning a special election for a Houston-area seat that was open for nearly a year.

On the Republican side, 2nd District Rep. Daniel Crenshaw is once again facing a challenge from his right, this time from state Rep. Steve Toth, who was backed last week by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. And then there’s Rep. Tony Gonzales, who is facing political fallout and calls to resign after allegations of an affair with a former staffer who died by suicide. Gonzales has drawn three challengers, led by pro-gun activist Brandon Herrera, who nearly defeated the incumbent two years ago. 

Republicans could pick up as many as five seats under the new lines drawn by the Legislature at Trump’s urging. Three of those don’t have an incumbent on the ballot and have drawn packed Republican fields.

In the 9th District, the leading contenders are state Rep. Briscoe Cain and Trump-backed Army veteran Alex Mealer. In the 32nd District, candidates include pastor Ryan Binkley, businessman Paul Bondar, 2024 nominee Darrell Day and the Trump-endorsed Jace Yarbrough. In the redrawn 35th District, the crowded GOP primary includes state Rep. John Lujan, Navy veteran Jay Furman and Air Force veteran Carlos De La Cruz, the brother of Rep. Monica De La Cruz. Democrats will also choose between Bexar County Sheriff’s Deputy Johnny Garcia and Marine veteran John Lira. 

Two Democrat-held seats in South Texas that are top Republican targets this fall also became redder through redistricting: In the 28th District, Webb County Judge Tano Tijerina is favored as the GOP nominee to challenge Rep. Henry Cuellar, while former Rep. Mayra Flores and Army veteran Eric Flores are competing to take on Rep. Vicente Gonzalez in the 34th District.

A half-dozen Texas Republicans are retiring or running for other offices, leaving safe red seats that have drawn a bevy of GOP primary contenders. In the 22nd District, former constable Trever Nehls is likely to succeed his twin brother, Rep. Troy Nehls. In the 8th District, former Ted Cruz aide Jessica Hart Steinmann is the front-runner to succeed Rep. Morgan Luttrell, and in the 10th District, attorney Chris Gober is favored to succeed Rep. Michael McCaul.

Meanwhile, Bobby Pulido, a Tejano music star, and fellow Democrat Ada Cuellar, an emergency room physician, are vying to take on Monica De La Cruz in the competitive 15th District.

North Carolina and beyond

Not all of Tuesday’s action is in Texas. Voters in North Carolina will select nominees for the state’s open Senate seat and three key House races. 

The Senate race is set to be one of the most closely watched this fall, but Tuesday’s primaries are more low-key. Republican front-runner Michael Whatley, the former Republican National Committee chairman, is facing off against Don Brown, a former Navy JAG officer, and Michele Morrow, a frequent critic of public schools who made an unsuccessful run for state superintendent of public instruction in 2024. The winner will face the presumed Democratic nominee, former Gov. Roy Cooper.

In the battleground 1st District, voters will choose a Republican opponent for Don Davis, one of the most vulnerable House Democrats whose district was redrawn last year to be more favorable to the GOP. Republican contenders include retired Army Col. Laurie Buckhout, who was the 2024 nominee, state Sen. Bobby Hanig and former Carteret County Sheriff Asa Buck.

In the Asheville area, five Democrats are competing to take on two-term Republican Rep. Chuck Edwards. Farmer Jamie Ager was named to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s initial list of candidates slated to receive extra attention and resources, a distinction that frustrated several of the other Democrats in the field.

And in a safe blue district centered in Durham, progressives face their first big test of the election cycle, as Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam challenges Rep. Valerie P. Foushee in the Democratic primary.

Arkansas voters also go to the polls on Tuesday, but Rep. French Hill is the only member of the four-person House delegation to face a Republican primary challenger. Democratic voters will also pick between Lewisville Mayor Ethan Dunbar and farmer and small-business owner Hallie Shoffner to challenge Sen. Tom Cotton.

Photo finish

Nowadays, Sen. John Cornyn is running in a hotly contested reelection primary race — but back in the spring of 2006, he was finishing up the annual ACLI Capital Challenge 3-miler in Anacostia Park. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

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