The Republican Senate primary race will go to a runoff election between Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, since both candidates failed to retain more than 50% of the vote.
Polling from the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin showed that early voting turnout for the 2026 primary election was close to double the number of voters from the 2022 primary election. Democrats had a record-breaking turnout at the polls, with more than 2.3 million votes cast in the U.S. Senate Democratic primary race. State Rep. James Talarico faced off against U.S. House Rep. Jasmine Crockett and Ahmad Hassan in a competitive primary. Talarico won, garnering 52.4% of the vote, while Crockett took 46.2% and Hassan 1.3% of the vote.
Almost 2.2 million Texans voted in the Republican U.S. Senate primary. Cornyn faced a packed race to retain his seat, competing with Paxton and U.S. House Rep. Wesley Hunt. Paxton received 40.7%, and Cornyn received 41.9% of the votes. The winner of the runoff will face Talarico in the November general election.
The gubernatorial election featured Republican Incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott and Democrat State Sen. Gina Hinojosa. Abbott received 82% of the vote, securing the Republican vote. As for Democrats, Hinojosa received 59% of the votes, moving forward to face Abbott in the November 2026 general election.
Former Mayor of San Antonio Ron Nirenberg ran against incumbent Judge Peter Sakai for Bexar County Judge, taking 62% of the vote to Sakai’s 38%. He will face Patrick Van Dohlen, the unopposed Republican candidate, in November for Bexar County Judge.
U.S. House District 23 featured incumbent Rep. Tony Gonzalez, closely challenged by far-right pro-gun YouTuber Brandon Herrera. The race went to a runoff; however, Gonzalez dropped out of the primary runoff on March 6 after admitting to an affair with a former aide of his who later committed suicide. Herrera will run against Democrat Katy Padilla Stout in November.
The Dallas County and Williamson County Republican Parties removed centralized polling locations this election, turning to assigned polling locations for voters instead. Dallas County extended election day voting hours to 9 p.m. in response to many voters being turned away at polling locations because they went to the wrong location. Williamson County also extended its voting hours at two locations until 10 p.m. because of a similar issue.
The Texas Supreme Court ordered Dallas and Williamson counties to separate votes placed by individuals who were not in line before 7 p.m., after the Texas Attorney General’s office appealed a district court ruling allowing polling hours to be extended.
The primary runoff election will be held on May 26, with early voting open from May 18 to May 22.
