Texas Senate Race: Talarico and Paxton Face Voters on Election Eve
The contest between Democratic state Rep. James Talarico and Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton tests whether Trump-era immigration enforcement backlash reaches deep-red Texas in the 2026...
Texas voters cast ballots Tuesday in a U.S. Senate race between Democratic state Representative James Talarico and Republican Ken Paxton, the state's attorney general, according to CBS News reporting from November 2, 2026. The race is one of several competitive Senate contests nationwide on the 2026 midterm ballot.
Paxton, who has served as Texas Attorney General since January 2015, is seeking a seat in the U.S. Senate. His tenure as attorney general included a 2021 impeachment by the Texas House of Representatives on charges of bribery and abuse of office. The Texas Senate acquitted Paxton on all articles of impeachment in September 2023, according to the official Texas Senate journal. Paxton was also the subject of a federal investigation by the FBI, which he has publicly acknowledged. No federal charges have been filed against him, according to available public records as of November 2, 2026.
Talarico, a Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives representing a district in the Austin area, won his seat in 2018 and has been reelected since, according to the Texas Legislative Reference Library. He secured the Democratic nomination in the 2026 primary to challenge Paxton for the Senate seat.
The broader national context for the race includes Republican headwinds tied to immigration enforcement. A New York Times report dated November 2, 2026 described voter unease in multiple states over Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations, including what the Times characterized as deadly ICE shootings and high-profile raids conducted under the Trump administration's immigration policy directives. Whether that dynamic has penetrated Texas, a state Donald Trump carried by approximately 14 percentage points in the 2024 presidential election according to certified Texas Secretary of State results, remains a key variable in the Talarico-Paxton contest.
Texas has not elected a Democrat to a statewide office since 1994, when Bob Bullock won election as lieutenant governor, according to the Texas Secretary of State's historical election archives. Democrats have competed for statewide seats in recent cycles. In 2018, Democratic candidate Beto O'Rourke held Republican Senator Ted Cruz to a 2.6 percentage point margin, per certified Texas election results. In 2022, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O'Rourke lost to incumbent Governor Greg Abbott by 11.2 percentage points, also per certified Texas results, suggesting a reversal of the 2018 trend.
Federal Election Commission filings for the Talarico and Paxton Senate campaigns reflect fundraising activity through the most recent quarterly reporting period ending September 30, 2026. The specific cash-on-hand and total receipts figures for both campaigns are contained in those FEC filings, which are publicly searchable at FEC.gov. The exact fundraising totals for each candidate were not specified in the CBS News report and are unknown from the source material available.
Paxton's campaign has aligned itself with Trump administration immigration and border security positions, consistent with the broader Republican platform heading into the 2026 midterms. Talarico has positioned himself as a contrast to both Paxton and Trump-era federal policy, according to CBS News coverage. The precise policy platforms of each candidate, including any legislative proposals either has advanced, are documented in their respective campaign websites and in the Texas House legislative record for Talarico.
The seat being contested was previously held by Republican Senator John Cornyn, who announced he would not seek reelection in 2026, creating an open-seat race. Cornyn's decision was reported by multiple outlets in 2025. Cornyn had held the seat since 2002, according to the U.S. Senate historical records.
National party committees have invested in competitive Senate races across the country in the 2026 cycle. Whether the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee or the National Republican Senatorial Committee made independent expenditures in the Texas race is disclosed in FEC filings under the independent expenditure reporting system, which is publicly available at FEC.gov. The amounts of any such expenditures from those filings were not included in available source material.
What remains unknown as of election day includes the final vote totals and the winner of the race. Texas county election administrators will report results through the Texas Secretary of State's office on election night, November 2, 2026, with official canvassing to follow in the weeks thereafter. Certified results will be filed with the Texas Secretary of State and made publicly available on the agency's website.