The primaries
By 
Talarico indeed won, albeit in an election conducted with the smooth commitment to democracy one expects in Texas:
State Rep. James Talarico won the Texas Senate Democratic primary, defeating Rep. Jasmine Crockett and giving party leaders the candidate they had quietly seen as the stronger option to flip the ruby-red state.
The race was defined by questions of electability and simmering racial tensions, as Talarico and Crockett worked to reassemble the party’s fractured multiracial coalition. That carried over through Tuesday, with both candidates raising concerns that voters had been disenfranchised in Crockett’s home base of Dallas County, which includes a large number of Black voters.
The legal dispute over voting precincts in Dallas could cast a shadow over his victory. Crockett told her supporters not to expect a final call on election night.
Talarico, a progressive Seminarian, took a big-tent approach to his campaign by appealing to voters from both parties and independents. He will face off against either Sen. John Cornyn or Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is mounting a right wing challenge to the four-term incumbent.
My analysis of the race is the same as Dave’s — I don’t think there’s a nickel’s worth of difference between them substantively, but the theory of Crockett and her surrogates that Texas is not actually a red state but merely one in which huge numbers of latent left-wingers have not been mobilized is transparently idiotic, so it’s better to have a candidate who at least recognizes that a winning campaign is going to have to persuade some Trump voters to support it. If Paxton wins the runoff Talarico has a puncher’s chance.
Talarico does not need a +6 ”WAR” score – Texas was Trump+12 in 2024 – Maybe Trump+10 with the Latino reversion we are seeing – That’s R+8 on lean – It’s a D+7 to D+8 year – That puts it at R+0 to 1 – Talarico has potential positive residual -Paxton had documented negative residual
[image or embed]— G Elliott Morris (@gelliottmorris.com) Mar 3, 2026 at 9:55 PM
What happened in North Carolina is even more encouraging:
JUST IN: North Carolina's Dem lawmaker Carla Cunningham gave the GOP the decisive vote to pass a law forcing police to comply with ICE. She said "all cultures are not equal." She just lost reelection BIG in the Dem primary to a progressive pastor & activist, Rodney Sadler. 70% to 22%! Context:
[image or embed]— Taniel (@taniel.bsky.social) Mar 3, 2026 at 8:03 PM
Shelly Willingham and Nasif Majeed, two other Democratic lawmakers who also joined the GOP to help pass conservative priorities (though not the specific ICE bill I'm talking about here), also lost to progressive challengers tonight.— Taniel (@taniel.bsky.social) Mar 3, 2026 at 8:07 PM
I’m not sure why the North Carolina Democratic Party has such a problem with turncoats in safe seats, but this is the only acceptable response.