{"id":193955,"date":"2026-03-06T23:27:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T23:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/193955\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T23:27:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T23:27:10","slug":"dan-crenshaw-blames-primary-loss-on-clickbait-misinformation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/193955\/","title":{"rendered":"Dan Crenshaw blames primary loss on clickbait misinformation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy<\/a>, and give us feedback<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rep. Dan Crenshaw blamed unfounded attacks and a culture of misinformation for his primary loss to state Rep. Steve Toth, saying in an interview that the \u201cpower of clickbait\u201d proved too much to overcome.<\/p>\n

Crenshaw, a fourth-term congressman from Atascosita, lost to Toth, one of the most conservative members of the Texas Legislature, by a decisive 15-point margin, according to unofficial returns.<\/p>\n

His district, which includes Kingwood, Lake Houston and The Woodlands, is split between Harris County and Montgomery County, a hotbed of conservative activism where Attorney General Ken Paxton received twice as many votes as incumbent John Cornyn in the Senate Republican primary.<\/p>\n

One of the more prominent Republicans in Congress, Crenshaw has received outsized attention \u2014 and criticism \u2014 as a frequent media presence and national security hawk who has sparred with a handful of influencers and podcasters in the MAGA-sphere.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s had a target on his back for years from some of the most hardline conservatives in Congress, including in the House Freedom Caucus, for calling out their legislative tactics and referring to some members of his party as \u201cgrifters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Columns in the Houston Chronicle<\/a> and the Wall Street Journal<\/a> this week lamented Crenshaw\u2019s loss, arguing that his true sin was a willingness to tell base voters hard truths, including that Trump lost the 2020 election and speaking out against the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. <\/p>\n

Crenshaw acknowledged that the \u201ctelling the truth thing\u201d is viewed as \u201ca real crime\u201d among some voters. But he heaped most of the blame for his loss on what he said were baseless attacks over his alleged insider trading and stance on red flag laws \u2014 leaving Crenshaw, in his eyes, to fend off talking points that twisted the truth.<\/p>\n

\u201dIt\u2019s not like anyone was going to the polls saying, \u2018I don\u2019t like that you said that. I disagree with it.\u2019 Because at least then, they would be debating with me on something that I actually said,\u201d Crenshaw told The Texas Tribune. \u201cI could deal with that. \u2026 But that\u2019s never what came up in people\u2019s minds and out of their mouths.\u201d<\/p>\n

Toth and right-wing host Tucker Carlson had criticized<\/a> Crenshaw for allegedly profiting on insider trading through the stock market. Crenshaw hasn\u2019t made any stock trades since March 2023, and said in the entirety of his congressional career, he made under<\/a> $50,000 on the stock market.<\/p>\n

In 2019, meanwhile, Crenshaw said state legislators \u2014 not Congress \u2014 should have a conversation about red flag laws, a mechanism opposed by gun rights absolutists that allows for the temporary seizure of firearms from people deemed to pose a risk to themselves or others. Crenshaw caught flak for the comment among conservatives, who saw it as tantamount to a show of support for the policy. He noted on his campaign website that he regrets jumping into the discussion, and that he has introduced a bill prohibiting the use of federal funds for red flag laws<\/a> each term he has been in Congress. <\/p>\n

Still, Toth reshared<\/a> snippets of Crenshaw\u2019s 2019 video, calling him \u201cRed Flag Law Crenshaw.\u201d<\/p>\n

But as the adage goes in politics, if you\u2019re explaining, you\u2019re losing. And Crenshaw said his campaign was unable to counter the narratives, in part because they caught fire among conservative influencers who seized on them as an easy way to generate attention, the currency of the internet.<\/p>\n

\u201cA large part of this election was about the power of clickbait,\u201d Crenshaw said. \u201cMemes became truth. Too many people are not discerning through the clickbait. People voting \u2014 one after the other \u2014 literally thought I was making millions in the stock market doing inside trading. Even though I haven\u2019t made a trade in three years. I\u2019ve made under $46,000 over my entire seven years in office. The truth didn\u2019t matter to people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Supporters and critics alike had varying explanations for Crenshaw\u2019s loss.<\/p>\n

Freedom Caucus Fund, the political arm of the House Freedom Caucus, endorsed Toth. Allison Weisenberger, the fund\u2019s executive director, said Crenshaw \u201cfound out the final consequence for being a RINO\u201d \u2014 a Republican in Name Only \u2014 and bad-mouthing members of the hard-right caucus.<\/p>\n

Crenshaw, for his part, said his recognizability also contributed to the result, as it made him an attractive target for influencers who saw there were more clicks to be had for those bringing up his name \u2014 rather than others facing a \u201creal scandal,\u201d he said, like Reps. Tony Gonzales<\/a> and Cory Mills.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir name just doesn\u2019t make the internet excited like Dan Crenshaw\u2019s does,\u201d Crenshaw said. \u201cI don\u2019t have a mistress who set herself on fire. I don\u2019t have a mistress who reported me to D.C. Metro Police for domestic violence, like Cory Mills.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crenshaw also pointed to the influence of Robert Marling, a billionaire GOP donor in The Woodlands who seeded a pro-Toth super PAC with $675,000.<\/p>\n

Marling has donated large sums to Sen. Ted Cruz in the past. Cruz endorsed Toth during the early voting period; CNN reported<\/a> that he and Crenshaw have a long-standing feud.<\/p>\n

Political influencers and podcasters in the online chattering class played key roles in both parties\u2019 primaries this year, a new trend that Crenshaw said is exacerbated in the Houston area by conservative hosts who put out full endorsement slates that voters follow.<\/p>\n

The result, Crenshaw said, is voters getting their information from \u201cpeople who have no allegiance to the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s troubling for the future,\u201d he said. \u201cOnly voters can stop it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story. See our AI policy, and give…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":193956,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2671,27691,288,3098,27,2850,29,28],"class_list":["post-193955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-congress","tag-dan-crenshaw","tag-elections","tag-steve-toth","tag-texas","tag-texas-congressional-delegation","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=193955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/193955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/193956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=193955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=193955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=193955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}