Democrat James Talarico's victory over Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton was powered by a coalition that Texas Democrats have spent decades trying to assemble: dominant support in the state's largest cities, breakthroughs in once-reliably Republican suburbs, and a renewed advantage in South Texas. Talarico defeated Paxton 55.1 percent to 43 percent, becoming the first Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate from Texas since 1988 and helping deliver the party's first statewide victory in Texas since 1994.
"I knew we were building something special. I didn't know we were going to win Texas by double digits," Talarico told CNN Wednesday. The county-level results reveal how Talarico assembled a winning statewide coalition in a state that President Donald Trump carried by 13.7 percentage points in the 2024 presidential election.
It also shows where Paxton and Republicans lost ground. "The key constituencies we lost were blue-collar voters ... evangelical Christians who didn't show up with the same numbers and fervor as prior elections, farmers and ranchers. Tragically, we alienated rural America.
Young people ... shifted hard blue this cycle. And of course, Hispanics." Republican Senator Ted Cruz said in a post-election podcast. Newsweek reached out to both campaigns for comment.
Talarico’s victory came against the backdrop of a state transformed by rapid population growth and demographic change. Texas had an estimated 31.7 million residents in 2025, an increase of 8.8 percent since 2020 and more than 6.5 million since the 2010 census, according to the U.S. Hispanic or Latino residents now account for 40.9 percent of the state’s population, compared with 37.3 percent who are non-Hispanic white.
Black residents make up 13.4 percent of the population and Asian residents 6.7 percent. More than one-third of Texans age 5 or older speak a language other than English at home. The change is evident within the electorate as well.
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