Texas Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful James Talarico addresses supporters at his election night watch party in South Austin Tuesday, March 3, 2026.
Mikala Compton/Austin American-Statesman
Supporters cheer for Texas Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful James Talarico at his election night watch party in South Austin Wednesday, March 4, 2026.
Mikala Compton/Austin American-Statesman
Texas Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful James Talarico greets supporters at his election night watch party in South Austin Wednesday, March 4, 2026.
Mikala Compton/Austin American-Statesman
Texas Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful James Talarico greets supporters at his election night watch party in South Austin Wednesday, March 4, 2026.
Mikala Compton/Austin American-Statesman
Primary candidate for U.S. Senate, Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, speaks to her supporters during an election night watch party at Club Vivo in downtown Dallas Wednesday, March 3, 2026. (Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News via AP)
Tom Fox/AP
Supporters on the floor wait for Congressman Jasmine Crockett to speak during an election night watch party at Club Vivo in downtown Dallas, March 3, 2026. Crockett, who is running for US Senate against State Rep. James Talarico, spoke about the Texas Supreme Court decision to shut down the Dallas County polls after they stayed open.
Tom Fox/Staff Photographer
A supporter of Texas state Rep. James Talarico, D-Austin, a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, wears a Texas state flag in their hat during a primary election watch party Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in Austin, Texas.
Eric Gay/AP
Lesa Haney, left, Beth Fuston, right, and supporters react to election results at Texas Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful James Talarico’s election night watch party in South Austin Tuesday, March 3, 2026.
Mikala Compton/Austin American-Statesman
Congressman Jasmine Crockett spoke to her supporters during an election night watch party at Club Vivo in downtown Dallas, March 3, 2026. Crockett, who is running for US Senate against State Rep. James Talarico, spoke about the Texas Supreme Court decision to shut down the Dallas County polls after they stayed open.
Tom Fox/Staff Photographer
In the battle between two of the Democratic Party’s fastest rising stars, state Rep. James Talarico of Austin defeated Dallas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett in Tuesday’s primary election and will carry his party’s high hope heading to the fall campaign.
“We’re about to take back Texas,” Talarico said in a statement shortly after the Associated Press called the race early Wednesday morning. There was no immediate word from Crockett’s campaign.
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READ MORE: Texas Democrats set new turnout record in heated primary
At an earlier election night watch party, Talarico stopped short of declaring victory, but he brimmed with optimism in a short speech to supporters who had watched and waited as votes were counted for about five hours in the contentious primary.
“Tonight, the people of our state gave this country a little bit of hope, and a little bit of hope is a dangerous thing,” Talarico said to loud cheers just before midnight.
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He acknowledged the controversy stemming from the voter confusion in Crockett’s home turf of Dallas County and his own home base of Williamson County, where polls were also open late Tuesday in response to court orders.
“Every every vote must be counted, every voice must be heard,” Talarico said. “The voter suppression in my home county and in Congresswoman Crockett’s home county underscores the gravity of this moment.”
Crockett told supporters at her own watch party in downtown Dallas just before 9:15 p.m. that she didn’t expect any results Tuesday night. “We need to see the Dallas County votes to see where they are,” she said.
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The high-stakes race has been packed with drama as Democrats are more optimistic than they have been in years about their chances in the Nov. 3 general election.
Texas Democrats are hoping to break a 32-year losing streak in statewide elections and take their first U.S. Senate seat since 1988. A Democratic victory in November would reverberate across the national landscape and could help the party wrest control of the upper chamber after the November elections.
Talarico and Crockett were heading into the final weekend of campaigning at a sprinter’s pace. Crockett charged into the Democratic battleground of South Texas on Thursday with rallies in Laredo and Edinburg. From there she planned to barnstorm across North and East Texas with stops that included Tyler, Denton, Grand Prairie and her hometown of Dallas.
Underlying the importance of the South Texas Hispanic vote, Talarico was planning stops there, in San Antonio and Edinburg, before heading to Houston on Monday.
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Both candidates come from the party’s progressive wing, but the primary has been a contrast of styles. Crockett, a 44-year-old former public defender, has cast herself as a partisan fighter who is unafraid to go toe-to-toe with President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans.
The 36-year-old Talarico, a former middle school teacher in San Antonio, skyrocketed to national fame last year by leaning into his Christian faith and warning that Republicans are trying to use religion as a wedge by pushing such legislation as requiring public schools to post placards of the Ten Commandments.
IN-DEPTH: Inside the influencer proxy war roiling the Texas Senate race
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The largely civil primary was upended in early February when social media influencer Morgan Thompson, who had been a Talarico supporter, claimed Talarico called his one-time primary foe Colin Allred a “mediocre Black man.” The accusation went viral and Allred, the 2024 U.S. Senate nominee who left the race after Crockett joined in early December, was withering in his criticism of Talarico, who is white.
“This man should not be our nominee for United States Senate,” Allred said on X.
Talarico insisted his criticism of Allred centered on what he sees as a lackluster Senate campaign in 2024.
But Talarico got a boost in February, when his scheduled appearance on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” was bounced from television under pressure from the Federal Communications Commission, which said it would run afoul of the regulating agency’s “equal time” requirement.
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Talarico framed the ensuing controversy as an effort by the Trump administration to silence his voice. The interview was instead posted on YouTube, where it racked up millions of views — far more than it would have drawn in the late-night broadcast. The Talarico campaign raked in a one-day record of $2.5 million in contributions.
A third candidate in the race, Ahmad R. Hassan, drew a small fraction of the vote on Tuesday.
Lana Ferguson of the Dallas Morning News contributed to this report.
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