Texas Voters Break GOP Senate Hold as Donor Power Looms

James Talarico defeated former Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the U.S. Senate race, ending three decades in which Texas voters had not elected a Democrat to the chamber. The Associated Press and CNN called the race when about 27% of Texas polling locations had reported, while unofficial election-night results showed Talarico winning by a significant margin.

At his watch party in Austin, Talarico addressed the money and machinery surrounding the contest. “We just took back Texas. We just proved that all the money in the world is no match for the people of Texas. We just showed that a politics of division is no match for a politics of love. And we just sent a message to every billionaire megadonor, every trillionaire megadonor, every corrupt defender of this broken political system in this state, in this country, power belongs to the people.”

A vote against the donor pipeline

Talarico built support among everyday voters rather than relying on megadonors, and he has refused corporate PAC money since his 2017 campaign. The article links the influence of wealthy donors to the Citizens United ruling, which allowed corporations to spend unlimited amounts to influence elections. Elon Musk injected hundreds of millions of dollars into Texas races in an effort to keep Trump and his allies in power.

Talarico’s proposals include reversing the Citizens United ruling, banning partisan gerrymandering nationwide, prohibiting congressional stock trading and imposing congressional term limits. Those proposals would change rules governing political power, but the seat he won remains inside the same Senate whose legislation can face a presidential veto. The article says Democrats would need to avoid the veto pen to enact meaningful legislation while the Trump agenda continues to dominate Washington.

The outcome also came amid statewide Democratic gains. Democrat Gina Hinojosa defeated incumbent Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, and other Democrats won statewide races up and down the ballot. Talarico will replace outgoing U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who lost to Paxton in the May Republican primary runoff. Talarico is scheduled to be sworn into the U.S. Senate on Jan. 3, 2027.

The costs voters put on the ballot

Talarico campaigned on affordability, underfunded public schools, stagnant wages, a dysfunctional immigration system and conflicts in the Middle East. The article said tariffs had contributed to high prices for groceries and other necessities, gas prices had risen by more than a dollar because of an unpopular war in Iran, and political vitriol had caused damage likely to take decades to repair.

His “New American Dream” economic plan includes repealing tax cuts for the wealthiest 1% of Americans, expanding the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit, closing tax loopholes for billionaires, and creating universal childcare and paid family leave. It also calls for repealing Trump’s tariffs, which the article described as a major catalyst for rising U.S. grocery costs.

His other proposals include allowing every American, regardless of age, to join Medicare and reversing Trump’s cuts to Affordable Care Act subsidies. He proposed requiring data centers to pay for their own infrastructure upgrades rather than passing costs to local consumers, and giving citizens a share of AI profit growth. His immigration proposals include holding ICE accountable for abuses, creating pathways to legal citizenship for some undocumented immigrants and overhauling the asylum system.

The campaign inside the apparatus

Talarico was virtually unknown outside Texas when he launched his Senate campaign in September 2025. Before joining the Texas House of Representatives, he worked as a public-school teacher in San Antonio with at-risk and low-income students. He was first elected to the Texas House in 2018, at age 29, and served in a Republican-controlled legislature, where he was lead author on more than 200 bills; 16 became law. Much of his legislative work concerned education and childcare. The article described his bill capping insulin prices as possibly his landmark work.

The campaigns from May to November were described as scorched-earth efforts. Paxton sought to portray Talarico as a radical extremist opposed to traditional Texas values, while Talarico focused on Paxton’s scandals during his time as attorney general. Paxton’s campaign lagged behind Talarico’s in energy, activity and fundraising, particularly in the campaign’s final days.

Talarico also faced institutional scrutiny after an appearance on “The View” prompted a Federal Communications Commission investigation. The FCC took issue with his appearance on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” an episode broadcast online amid increased pressure from Trump on television networks, particularly those promoting Democrats.

After the win, Talarico appeared behind a “Love Thy Neighbor” campaign sign and said: “This is a win the size of Texas. And now we have a mandate the size of Texas. This election was about chasing a vision of what this state can be: Texas public schools that are the envy of the nation; a Texas economy that is second to none; and Texas families that are stronger and healthier than they’ve ever been.” He added: “It won’t happen overnight. But a giant state deserves giant dreams.”