Democrat James Talarico has defeated Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to win the 2026 U.S. Senate race in Texas, flipping the seat from Republican to Democratic control. Talarico’s victory ends a Republican hold on the Senate seat and marks the first time in decades that a Democrat has won a statewide election in Texas.

Talarico will succeed Republican Sen. John Cornyn, who had represented Texas in the Senate since 2002. Cornyn sought a fifth term but lost the Republican nomination to Paxton in a contentious primary runoff in May. President Donald Trump endorsed Paxton ahead of the runoff, helping the attorney general secure the Republican nomination despite opposition from several Republican leaders who questioned his ability to win the general election.

Talarico, a four-term state representative from the Austin area, entered the general election with a campaign focused on economic affordability, government accountability and healthcare access. Before entering politics, he worked as a middle-school teacher in San Antonio. He also attended seminary and frequently incorporated his Christian faith into his campaign message.

Talarico first gained statewide attention in 2018 when he defeated a Republican incumbent to win a Texas House seat in a district that had previously supported President Trump. During his time in the legislature, he became a prominent Democratic voice on education policy and opposed Republican efforts to require the display of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms.

His Senate campaign emphasized reducing costs for working families, expanding healthcare access, protecting reproductive rights and increasing taxes on wealthy individuals and large corporations. He also made Paxton’s political and legal controversies a central issue, arguing that voters deserved a senator focused on public service rather than personal political interests.

Paxton had served as Texas attorney general since 2015 and built a national profile as a conservative Republican who frequently challenged Democratic administrations in court. He campaigned on border security, tax cuts, energy policy and support for Trump's America First agenda. His strong backing among conservative voters helped him defeat Cornyn in the Republican runoff.

However, Paxton's record also became a major focus of the general election. In 2023, the Republican-controlled Texas House impeached him over allegations involving abuse of office and bribery. The Texas Senate subsequently acquitted him. He also faced a separate securities fraud case that ended in a 2024 agreement involving restitution and community service.

The contest became one of the most expensive Senate races in the country, with hundreds of millions of dollars spent on advertising by the candidates and outside political groups. Republicans invested heavily in defending the seat, while Talarico's fundraising operation gave Democrats substantial resources to compete in a state they had struggled to win statewide for decades.

Texas had not elected a Democrat to statewide office since 1994, making Talarico's victory a historic result for the party. Republicans had carried the state in recent presidential elections, including President Trump's victory by approximately 14 percentage points in 2024. The Senate outcome therefore represents a major departure from the state's recent Republican voting pattern and a stark referendum on voter perception of the GOP's work in Washington.

Talarico's win gives Democrats another seat in the U.S. Senate and changes the balance of the chamber as the remaining races are decided. His victory not only places a Democrat in a Senate seat that Republicans had held for more than three decades, ending a long period of Republican representation in the state's upper chamber, but gives the party a large pickup in the fight for control of the senate majority.