Decision 2026
Texas House Rep. James Talarico leads by around one million votes as of midnight on Election Day.
Talarico addressed a crowd at his Austin rally. The candidate for U.S. Senate made his appearance in San Angelo early on during the Democratic primaries, in October of 2025. At that time, he drew a large crowd and a winding queue to take pictures. He presented his campaign on straight economic lines, discussing the campaign in terms like Bottom Vs. Top, making frequent mentions of Billionaires.
Talarico made particular mention of the only living Trillionaire, Elon Musk, who spent lavishly (Around $250 million) for the campaign against him.
His opponent in this race, Ken Paxton, was dogged with scandal from the start, having faced an impeachment trial in the Texas Senate in 2023. This and many other scandals led to significant bad will towards Paxton in the statewide race, despite winning in many rural counties.
The West Texas “Red Firewall” maintained itself, with Tom Green County and other West Texas counties with lower turnout almost all going for Paxton. The last reports received by the Concho Observer have Paxton defeating Talarico by a margin of 2:1 locally.
