(The Guardian) Early voting begins in hotly contested Texas primaries
A Texas-sized showdown is brewing deep in the heart of the largest red state in the US. As early voting begins on Tuesday for the Lone Star state’s 3 March primaries, Republicans and Democrats alike face a high-stakes choice that could set the stage for one of the fiercest Senate races of the 2026 midterm cycle.
At the center of the fractious Republican contest is a clash between the party’s old guard and a Maga culture warrior, with four-term incumbent John Cornyn, a conservative fixture of Senate leadership locked in the fight of his political career against the state’s scandal-plagued attorney general, Ken Paxton.
Democrats, meanwhile, are waging their own internal battle – a race between two rising liberal stars: Austin-based state senator, James Talarico, who grounds his Bernie Sanders-style populism in biblical teachings and Representative Jasmine Crockett, a civil rights attorney and liberal media darling known for her sharp-tongued clapbacks to Republicans.
It has been three decades since Democrats last won a statewide election in Texas. In 2024, Donald Trump dominated the state, widening his margin of victory with the support of Hispanic voters. But now, as Trump contends with sagging approval ratings amid economic unease and a backlash to his deportation agenda, Texas Democrats sense an opening.
www.theguardian.com
A Texas-sized showdown is brewing deep in the heart of the largest red state in the US. As early voting begins on Tuesday for the Lone Star state’s 3 March primaries, Republicans and Democrats alike face a high-stakes choice that could set the stage for one of the fiercest Senate races of the 2026 midterm cycle.
At the center of the fractious Republican contest is a clash between the party’s old guard and a Maga culture warrior, with four-term incumbent John Cornyn, a conservative fixture of Senate leadership locked in the fight of his political career against the state’s scandal-plagued attorney general, Ken Paxton.
Democrats, meanwhile, are waging their own internal battle – a race between two rising liberal stars: Austin-based state senator, James Talarico, who grounds his Bernie Sanders-style populism in biblical teachings and Representative Jasmine Crockett, a civil rights attorney and liberal media darling known for her sharp-tongued clapbacks to Republicans.
It has been three decades since Democrats last won a statewide election in Texas. In 2024, Donald Trump dominated the state, widening his margin of victory with the support of Hispanic voters. But now, as Trump contends with sagging approval ratings amid economic unease and a backlash to his deportation agenda, Texas Democrats sense an opening.
Early voting begins for high-stakes Texas primary elections
Democrats, who haven’t won statewide race since 1994, aim to gain ground with rising stars as Republicans clash between incumbent and embattled Maga ally
www.theguardian.com
