Democrat James Talarico has won a key Senate race in Texas, delivering one of the biggest upsets for Republicans in this year's elections.
Talarico's victory over Republican Ken Paxton marks the first time a Democrat has won a US Senate seat in Texas since 1988. The win has helped solidify Democratic control of the full US Congress, as part of a broader wave of Democratic gains across the country.
Talarico, a former schoolteacher and state legislator, was a relatively little-known figure until last year. He made the rising cost of living under Republican leadership a central theme of his campaign.
Paxton sought to portray Talarico's views as too progressive for the state and campaigned alongside former President Donald Trump on several occasions. Trump made multiple stops in Texas to boost support for Paxton and other Republicans, including in reliably Republican areas, signalling the level of concern within party leadership over turnout.
Supporters at a watch party in Austin erupted as television screens projected Talarico as the winner. Emerging on stage to loud applause at a nearby performing arts theatre, Talarico declared: "We just took back Texas."
"We just proved that all the money in the world is no match for the people of Texas," he continued.
He invoked religious themes familiar from his campaign, comparing his unlikely odds to the biblical story of David and Goliath. "This win, this win is for every Texan who's ever wondered if anyone is listening," he said. "I hear you, we hear you. And tonight the world hears you."
Spending in the race skyrocketed, making it the most expensive US Senate race in history, with more than half a billion dollars spent. Billionaire Elon Musk poured $158 million into a super PAC supporting Paxton's campaign, a fact Talarico repeatedly highlighted in attacks on his opponent.
In a striking development during the campaign, two members of the Bush family — the Republican political dynasty that counts Texas as its political launchpad — backed Talarico, a move widely seen as foreshadowing Paxton's defeat.
Paxton had been beleaguered by political scandals, including his impeachment by his own party in 2023 on corruption accusations, before he was later acquitted by the state Senate. He was also indicted on federal fraud charges by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, though those charges were later dismissed.
George Washington University political science professor Quardricos Driskell described Paxton as an "objectively terrible candidate" and a major factor in the Republican collapse in the state.
Talarico's Senate win was compounded by another major upset on the same night: the defeat of Texas Republican Governor Greg Abbott, marking the first time a Democrat had won the governorship in the state since the 1990s.
"This wasn't just a tsunami, not just a referendum, but this was a bloodbath," Driskell said of the Democratic gains in Texas. "A clear distinction that the country wants to go in a different direction."
Talarico had previously defeated Dallas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett in the Democratic primary. He maintained strong polling numbers throughout the general election campaign despite a wave of negative advertising, including attacks on past comments in which he expressed support for transgender people.
Throughout the campaign, Talarico frequently drew on his religious upbringing as the grandson of a Southern Baptist preacher who spent time in a seminary, weaving biblical references into his stump speeches.
Voters across the state have expressed frustration with high consumer costs, including fuel prices, and have largely attributed those pressures to Trump's tariff policies and the ongoing Iran war.
Shocked Republican supporters of Paxton have been left trying to make sense of the loss, with some blaming Trump and others expressing fear of political retribution.
