James Talarico’s Chances Against Ken Paxton—What Texas Results Show

Newsweek · Alice Gibbs, Jennifer Radcliffe · 2026-11-02 11:42 UTC

Final Texas Senate polls show Democrat James Talarico leading Republican Ken Paxton as the race could prove crucial to control of the Senate.

Texas Senate candidates Ken Paxton and James Talarico closed out their midterm campaigns on Monday evening, with a warning tone from the Republican state attorney general and a promise to "leave it all on the field" from the Democratic state representative.

A Talarico victory would mark the first time since 1988 that Texas voters have sent a Democrat to the U.S. Senate, an outcome Paxton cautioned against. At a Tex-Mex restaurant in Collin County, he told supporters: "Understand what is actually at stake here: Texas has never been this close to slipping away. If Texas falls, we don't have another Texas to move to. Every poll shows that this is going to come down to the wire."

Over 220 miles away, Talarico told a roaring crowd at a concert venue in Austin: "There's that moment in every game, the last play of the last drive, when you have to leave it all on the field. Austin, we are in that moment."

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