\u201cPersonally, I think that with the results of the Senate race, we\u2019re going to have a good chunk of the people that are going to need to be motivated,\u201d Insler said. \u201cA lot of people really felt they connected with Jasmine [Crockett] and had their heart set on her. It\u2019s going to be a big effort to reenergize them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Republicans, meanwhile, are scrambling to respond to an enthusiasm gap that could spell problems for them in November. <\/p>\n
Going into the election, Gov. Greg Abbott\u2019s campaign even sought to drum up Republican votes with ads<\/a> warning them about how Crockett could be the next AOC or Zohran Mamdani.<\/p>\n Now GOP leaders are scrambling to wrap up messy primaries that didn\u2019t produce a winner \u2014 a sign that seats they don\u2019t usually worry about could potentially be in danger.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat everyone is trying to figure out now is, is this going to be a regular midterm election where Republicans take it on the chin because they\u2019re the party in power? Or is this going to be like a 1994- or 2010-level wave election that ushers in some kind of fundamental sea-change?\u201d said San Antonio political strategist Kelton Morgan, who got his start working in GOP politics. <\/p>\n 2. Fired-up Democrats dealt some unexpected outcomes<\/p>\n A surge of\u00a0Democratic voters<\/a>\u00a0who don\u2019t typically participate in the primary may have led to some unexpected results in down-ballot\u00a0races.<\/p>\n For example, in the new\u00a035th Congressional District<\/a>, which national Democrats plan to spend big money targeting in 2026, San Antonio housing activist Maureen Galindo<\/a> shocked some political watchers with a first-place finish in the four-way primary, over the national party\u2019s favored candidate, Johnny Garcia<\/a>.<\/p>\n Meanwhile in the\u00a0race to replace state Rep. Ray Lopez (D-San Antonio)<\/a>, former Bexar County Constable Michelle Barrientes Vela<\/a> \u2014 known for\u00a0her family\u2019s viral outburst<\/a>\u00a0during her 2022\u00a0sentencing over records tampering\u00a0charges \u2014\u00a0advanced to a runoff with SAISD union leader Adrian Reyna<\/a>, a political legacy who raised the most money in that race.<\/p>\n Political strategists chalk some of that up to voters who were enthusiastic to vote in Democrats\u2019 U.S. Senate primary, but didn\u2019t come with prepared choices in other races.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just kind of a toss-up, when you have like a fifth of the\u00a0vote\u00a0coming\u00a0from\u00a0non-traditional primary voters,\u201d said San Antonio political strategist Bert\u00a0Santiba\u00f1ez.<\/p>\n Among those who cast a ballot in Democrats\u2019 U.S. Senate race in Bexar County, 11,500 of them didn\u2019t vote in the Bexar County Judge race. From the Bexar County Judge race to the open District Attorney race<\/a>, another 21,500 voters dropped off.<\/p>\n \u201cThat tells you that you had a lot of people who were not all that informed, who came out to vote,\u201d said Morgan, who noted that it\u2019s not uncommon for Democratic primary voters to favor women candidates when they don\u2019t have other information to go on.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have a higher percentage of female voters in a Democratic primary than you do in a Republican primary, and than you do in a general electorate as a whole,\u201d he said. \u201cGenerally in a Democratic primary, you expect it to be 56-58% [women voters].\u201d<\/p>\n 3. Democratic disappointments<\/p>\n At the same time,\u00a0six Democratic judges were unseated<\/a>\u00a0by challengers, some of whom put very little effort into their campaigns. <\/p>\n Among those who lost were William \u201cCruz\u201d Shaw, a popular former City Council member who oversaw a juvenile court, Stephanie R. Boyd<\/a>\u00a0in the 187th Criminal District Court, and longtime incumbent\u00a0Yolanda Huff<\/a>\u00a0In County Court at Law No. 12 \u2014 all of the Black judges who were on the ballot.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s been a lot of conversations about how we no longer have any Black judges in Bexar County,\u201d Insler said. \u201cAnd after seeing Jasmine [Crockett] lose too, I think there\u2019s a lot of people just kind of reflecting internally.\u201d<\/p>\n Others who lost were Judge Michael Mery<\/a> in the 144th Criminal District Court fell to former judge Michael De Leon<\/a>, Judge Rosie Speedlin Gonzalez<\/a>, who is under suspension<\/a> for handcuffing a defense attorney in her courtroom in 2024, and Judge Carlo Rodriguez Key<\/a> lost to an earlier-career Democratic primary challenger, Audrey Martinez<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s crazy,\u201d Shaw said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter how hard you work, how much money you raise, how good of a job you do. It does not matter. Most people don\u2019t step into a courtroom, they don\u2019t see what we do on a daily basis, so they just vote based off name.\u201d<\/p>\n 4. Nirenberg pulled more raw votes than Talarico<\/p>\n One outcome that wasn\u2019t random last night: The\u00a0major upset former Mayor Ron Nirenberg pulled off<\/a>\u00a0in the Bexar County Judge primary.\u00a0<\/p>\n Political strategists say it wasn\u2019t a surprise, he polled ahead of incumbent Judge Peter Sakai consistently. But it was notable that Sakai didn\u2019t have major weaknesses, or a low job approval rating.<\/p>\n \u201cRon has a lot of popularity. People still love him, and he has huge name ID,\u201d said Insler. \u201cHe was our mayor, and I think a lot of people know a lot more about what happens at City Hall than what\u2019s going on at the county.\u201d<\/p>\n Nirenberg was one of the few known quantities down-ballot.\u00a0He came into the race with high favorability ratings,\u00a0according to UTSA\u2019s tracking poll<\/a>,\u00a0and ran a well-funded campaign.<\/p>\n Despite the much higher number of votes in the Senate race, Santiba\u00f1ez said, that helped him pull in more raw votes<\/a> across Bexar County than even\u00a0state Rep. James Talarico (D-Round Rock)<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 the popular U.S. Senate candidate who spent big time and resources getting his message out to voters in San Antonio.<\/p>\n 5. Talarico\u2019s home turf<\/p>\n Talarico had his own big night in Bexar County, pulling almost 57% of the vote in his race against Crockett. That\u2019s roughly four points higher than his support was statewide.<\/p>\n Though he lives in Round Rock, Insler chalked it up to a pseudo home court advantage<\/a>. He spent time here working as a middle school teacher, made connections with local officials, and even endorsed some City Council candidates in the past.<\/p>\n \u201cSan Antonio was a huge battleground for Jasmine<\/a> and her team, with an opportunity to maybe come out on top,\u201d she said. \u201cBut I think Talarico just had those inroads, and this was a county that he was going to perform well in.\u201d<\/p>\n 6. A conservative star in the making<\/p>\n Another incumbent who proved popular Tuesday night was Republican state Rep. Marc LaHood<\/a> (R-San Antonio), a freshman lawmaker who weathered expensive attacks<\/a> from GOP outside groups, but took 74% of the vote<\/a> in his primary.<\/p>\n While the final spending in that race has yet to be reported by the campaigns, Morgan said lots of last-minute outside money also poured in to help LaHood, who conservative groups would like to protect as a future leader.<\/p>\n \u201cAs much money as [was] spent against him, I think three times that was spent for him,\u201d Morgan said. \u201cIt was not uncommon to get four pieces [of mail] from four different groups in a day that were pro-LaHood.\u201d<\/p>\n 7. Republicans left scrambling<\/p>\n After a big upset in a deep-red Fort Worth<\/a> special election, Republicans were eager to end messy primaries<\/a> that could grow ugly in a runoff.<\/p>\n In some cases they succeeded, like getting former MLB Player Mark Teixeira<\/a> through his crowded primary<\/a> to replace U.S. Rep. Chip Roy<\/a> (R-Dripping Springs).<\/p>\n In other cases, they\u2019re now asking second-place finishers to give way to the first-place candidate and spare the party another bruising eight-week campaign. <\/p>\n President Donald Trump put that pressure<\/a> on Attorney General Ken Paxton<\/a>, who so far plans to continue with his U.S. Senate bid against U.S. Sen. John Cornyn<\/a> (R-Texas). <\/p>\n GOP leaders were successful in getting U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-San Antonio) to drop<\/a> his reelection bid \u2014 after the damaged incumbent finished second to YouTube creator Brandon Herrera<\/a>.<\/p>\n According to the Bexar County Elections Department, candidates have until March 18 to notify the state party and officially withdraw from the runoff. <\/p>\n If they choose to go that route, the remaining candidate automatically becomes the nominee, and the runoff election is cancelled. <\/p>\n 8. A Congressional delegation ripped up<\/p>\n Between Gonzales\u2019 withdrawal from the race, Roy\u2019s move to the Attorney General contest<\/a> and U.S. Reps. Henry Cuellar (D-Laredo) and Greg Casar (D-San Antonio) being drawn out of their districts, San Antonio is on track to have just one returning member of Congress next year, at best.<\/p>\n U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro<\/a> (D-San Antonio) was renominated by his party, and faces a Republican challenger in a deep-blue redrawn district.<\/p>\n In races to replace some of those members, Tuesday\u2019s primary suggested voters know little about the candidates running. That\u2019s partially due to 43% of residents being put into a new congressional district<\/a>, and also to crowded races where no candidate raised enough money<\/a> to stand out from the crowd.<\/p>\n \u201cSan Antonio loses a lot of clout as a result of a handful of things,\u201d said Morgan.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re about to lose Tony Gonzales. We [replaced] Chip Roy with a guy who lives basically in Austin, Cuellar got drawn out,\u201d he said. \u201cThe people who had influence in the House that were from San Antonio and had San Antonio interests at heart are no longer there.\u201d<\/p>\n 9. Runoffs ahead<\/p>\n Most strategists expect a very steep drop-off from the primary to the May 26 runoff election.<\/p>\n Republicans are still deciding their nominee for Attorney General<\/a> and several other key races. Democrats have runoffs for Bexar County Clerk, District Clerk<\/a> and District Attorney<\/a>.<\/p>\n But parties are still choosing candidates in the new 35th Congressional District<\/a> \u2014 one of the top races on the U.S. House map. <\/p>\n In May, however, Santiba\u00f1ez said that the Democratic primary electorate will probably look more like it does in traditional elections. That could mean some of these surprise finishers, like Galindo and Barrientes Vela, have a tougher road ahead.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s going to be interesting in the runoff,\u201d Santiba\u00f1ez said. \u201cI think what\u2019s going to end up happening is it\u00a0retracts to kind of the\u00a0normal homeostasis,\u00a0turnout drops precipitously, and more of\u00a0the typical crowd that you see in primaries shows up.\u201d<\/p>\n More election results<\/p>\n Democrat Gina Hinojosa<\/a> secured the nomination to take on Gov. Greg Abbott in November. She celebrated surrounded by San Antonians near the Pearl last night. <\/p>\n Former state Sen. Don Huffines shocked<\/a>\u00a0political watchers by winning the 4-way GOP comptroller primary.<\/p>\n An Abbott-backed challenger\u00a0defeated Ag Commissioner Sid Miller<\/a>.<\/p>\n U.S. Rep. Chip Roy\u2019s political career could be over if he doesn\u2019t come back to defeat Mayes Middleton, who finished first in the GOP\u2019s AG primary<\/a>, in a runoff. Democrats have a runoff in that race too.<\/p>\n Republicans bucked state Rep. John Lujan\u2019s chosen successor, instead\u00a0nominating 30-year-old<\/a>\u00a0Jorge Borrego, a school voucher architect, for Texas\u2019 toughest state House race.<\/p>\n Texas House incumbents faced well-funded challengers, but came out on top<\/a>.<\/p>\n Republicans are coming after Democratic state Sen.\u00a0Roland Gutierrez<\/a>\u00a0(D-San Antonio) this year, but Abbott\u2019s chosen candidate faces<\/a> a primary runoff.<\/p>\n Bexar County\u2019s Democratic DA primary is headed to a runoff<\/a>.<\/p>\n Incumbent Bexar County Clerk\u00a0Lucy\u00a0Adame-Clark\u00a0faces a primary runoff\u00a0<\/a>with\u00a0Cynthia Castro, who ran ads attacking her.<\/p>\n District Clerk\u00a0Gloria Martinez<\/a> is also headed to a runoff<\/a>, but final votes could determine who she faces.<\/p>\n State Rep. Liz Campos\u2019 (D-San Antonio) sister, Anna Campos<\/a>, is about to become a Justice of the Peace<\/a> in Bexar County.<\/p>\n U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz\u2019s (R-Edinburg) brother, Carlos De La Cruz<\/a>, is in a GOP runoff for a San Antonio-area congressional seat<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tuesday\u2019s primary election in Bexar County saw a wave of voters who don\u2019t typically participate in the primary…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":195581,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[25661,8519,37405,2135,62999,8774,82,84,83,54952],"class_list":{"0":"post-195580","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-2026-bexar-county-district-attorney-race","9":"tag-2026-election","10":"tag-2026-texas-senate-race","11":"tag-james-talarico","12":"tag-maureen-galindo","13":"tag-ron-nirenberg","14":"tag-san-antonio","15":"tag-san-antonio-headlines","16":"tag-san-antonio-news","17":"tag-texas-21st-congressional-district"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195580","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=195580"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195580\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260110_SAReport_EndorsementForum_SW_0181_A-scaled.jpg\")
Maureen Galindo, candidate for U.S. House Texas District 35, speaks at the Tejano Democrats SD26 endorsement forum at Luby\u2019s on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026 in San Antonio.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260110_SAReport_EndorsementForum_SW_0276_A-scaled.jpg\")
Michelle Barrientes Vela, candidate for Texas House District 125, speaks at the Tejano Democrats SD26 endorsement forum at Luby\u2019s on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026 in San Antonio. Credit: Salgu Wissmath for the San Antonio Report<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/RonNirenberg_BexarCountyJudge_ElectionWatchParty_10_03.03.2026_AmberEsparza.jpg\")
Former San Antonio mayor Ron Nirenberg held his election night watch party for Bexar County Judge at Backyard On Broadway on Tuesday night. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/James_Talarico_Press_Conference_2.18.2026_Diego_Medel-9-2.jpg\")
James Talarico, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, speaks during a press conference outside Rhodes Middle School on San Antonio\u2019s West Side, where he previously taught. Credit: Diego Medel \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/A66A0015.jpg\")
House Representative Marc LaHood, District 121, meets with supporters at the election results watch party at The Angry Elephant Credit: Vincent Reyna for the San Antonio Report<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/SenatorJohnCornyn_PrimaryElection_RepublicanSenate_SchertzCibolo_16_03.02.2026_AmberEsparza.jpg\")
Republican supporters listen as Sen. John Cornyn speaks during a reelection campaign event in Schertz on Monday, March 2, 2026. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1772965633_694_new-districts-1.jpg\")
A breakdown of San Antonio\u2019s congressional delegation now that redistricting shuffled the seats. Credit: Andrea Drusch\/San Antonio Report<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1772965634_994_ALL-8.jpg\")
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Texas Governor candidate Gina Hinojosa addresses the crowd during her campaign watch party at The Creamery on Tuesday, March 3, 2026 in San Antonio, Texas. Credit: Jo E. Norris for the San Antonio Report<\/p>\n