Talarico will face Republican John Cornyn or Ken Paxton in the November election for the U.S. Senate. The two Republicans, who outpaced a third candidate, U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt, are headed to a May 26 runoff after neither received at least 50% of the vote Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the other big Texas race, the one for Texas\u2019s 18th Congressional District, it\u2019s still not clear which Democrat will be on the November ballot. Two of the Democratic candidates \u2013 U.S. Reps. Al Green and his challenger, Christian Menefee, both Black \u2013 appeared headed to a runoff on May 26, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Democratic primary in the district matters to Black voters who are worried about the redistricting that took place there and whether it is time for the older generation of Black elected officials to retire and make room for a younger one.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As of Wednesday morning, Green, the elder statesman at 78, had 44.2% percent of the vote and Menefee, the younger at 37, had 46%. The winner of the runoff will face Republican Ronald Whitfield, though the seat is seen as safely Democratic.<\/p>\n
What the candidates are saying<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/GettyImages-2264113835-1024x682.jpg\")
An attendee holds a \u201cCrockett Texas Tough\u201d sign during a Texas primary election night event with Democratic U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas in Dallas on Tuesday. Crockett lost the Democratic primary to run for the U.S. Senate. (Dylan Hollingsworth\/Bloomberg via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Crockett conceded the race Wednesday morning, saying in a statement<\/a>, \u201cTexas is primed to turn blue, and we must remain united because this is bigger than any one person.\u201d She added, \u201cWith the primary behind us, Democrats must rally around our nominees and win.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n In a short statement<\/a>, Talarico said Wednesday morning, \u201cWe\u2019re about to take back Texas.\u201d<\/p>\n Acknowledging the looming Democratic primary runoff pitting two Black lawmakers against each other, Menefee said in a statement Wednesday morning<\/a>, \u201cI didn\u2019t ask for these new maps, Congressman Green didn\u2019t ask for this, and the voters of this district certainly didn\u2019t ask for this.\u201d<\/p>\n In a Wednesday morning interview, Green underscored his tenure in Congress, saying, \u201cI am running on what I have done\u201d and Menefee \u201cis running on what he will do.\u201d<\/p>\n What Black Texans are saying<\/p>\n Texas has the largest population of Black eligible voters of any state, with 2.9 million \u2014\u00a0about 14% of all eligible voters statewide, as of 2022, according to the Pew Research Center.<\/a> Most of those Black voters are Democrats.<\/p>\n For them, this primary election was not just a struggle between their preferred candidates. The race was also a referendum on the issues they care most about, including redistricting, health care, reproductive rights, and the ages of lawmakers.<\/p>\n Texas has been ground zero for a Republican effort to maintain control of the U.S. House by changing the election maps to favor themselves, an effort that has left many Black Democrats, such as Davis feeling threatened.\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2025, Texas Republicans pushed through a map<\/a> that drastically reshaped the 18th and 9th districts<\/a>, \u201cpacking\u201d Black and brown voters into the former and \u201ccracking,\u201d or diluting, the voting strength of these groups in the latter.\u00a0<\/p>\n From her home near the Old Spanish Trail and Cullen Boulevard in the Third Ward of Houston, Davis described congressional lines that curve and stretch north and south across the city and into suburbs. \u201cWhen you redraw lines for a party instead of for people, that\u2019s the downfall of democracy,\u201d said Davis, who lives in the 18th District.<\/p>\n Access to abortion has declined significantly across Texas, troubling many Black women in the state, who saw this primary as a referendum on that.\u00a0<\/p>\n Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, Texas has enforced one of the strictest abortion bans in the country, outlawing almost all abortions except in some medical emergencies and making miscarriages more dangerous<\/a>. Lawmakers have also restricted access to abortion medication<\/a>.<\/p>\n Angela King, 58, is a Harris County, Texas, poll worker who cares about the loss of that abortion access.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI believe that a woman\u2019s body is a woman\u2019s body \u2014 it\u2019s her decision,\u201d King said, noting that abortion access \u201cisn\u2019t something that the government should control.\u201d<\/p>\n