(AP) – Republican challenger Steve Toth defeated U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw on Tuesday night, ousting the only House Republican in Texas who President Donald Trump didn\u2019t endorse heading into the nation\u2019s first big primary of 2026.<\/p>\n
Crenshaw, a former Navy SEAL whose independent streak sometimes clashed with fellow Republicans, spent the primary trying to fend off attacks from the party\u2019s hard right that he was not in step with Trump\u2019s agenda.<\/p>\n
Toth, a state representative and member of the GOP\u2019s hard-right caucus in the Legislature, picked up a big endorsement late in the primary from Republican Sen. Ted Cruz.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis campaign has been a referendum on representatives who campaign one way and govern another, and the people have spoken,\u201d Toth said in a statement after his victory.<\/p>\n
Crenshaw, who lost his right eye when he was hit with an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan in 2012, had clashed with Cruz over the senator\u2019s support of Trump\u2019s unfounded claim that he won the 2020 presidential election.<\/p>\n
Crenshaw was one of the few Texas Republican candidates for Congress in 2022 who acknowledged that President Joe Biden\u2019s victory in 2020 was legitimate, a position that occasionally found him at odds with fellow Republicans.<\/p>\n
Crenshaw also drew the ire of conservatives when a video clip went viral of him criticizing some Republican politicians as \u201cgrifters\u201d and \u201cperformance artists\u201d who simply tell conservative voters what they want to hear.<\/p>\n
The 41-year-old Crenshaw was seeking his fifth term. His 2nd Congressional District spans the suburbs north and east of Houston.<\/p>\n
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