By Katie Serrano
In the early hours of Wednesday morning, state Rep. James Talarico (D-Austin) was announced the victor of the Texas Democratic primary for US Senate. He received 53% of the vote, defeating US Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Dallas).
Talarico, who announced his Senate run in September, centered his campaign around fighting billionaires and Republican corruption.
“The biggest divide in our country is not left vs. right—it’s top vs bottom. Billionaire mega-donors and their puppet politicians have taken over our state and our country, rigging the system for themselves,” he said during his campaign announcement.
Talarico will now face either Republican US Sen. John Cornyn or his GOP primary challenger, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, in the general election on Nov. 3. Right now, it appears neither Cornyn nor Paxton will have the 50% of the vote needed to win the primary, sending them to a May run-off.
If Talarico wins in November, he’ll become the first Democrat to win a statewide election since 1994.
Why was the vote delayed?
During early voting, residents could vote at any polling place in their county, but on Election Day, voters were forced to cast their ballots at their designated polling location—a change prompted earlier this year by county Republicans.
After hundreds of voters were turned away from polls on Election Day because of confusion over the new precinct-based system, the Dallas County Democratic Party obtained an order to extend polling hours until 9 p.m.
Then, Attorney General Ken Paxton submitted a petition to the Texas Supreme Court to block the order, which was granted. Votes across Dallas County remained in limbo, causing both Crockett and Talarico to delay declaring victory or defeat until all the votes were counted. But now with a majority of the votes now counted, Talarico has secured the nomination.
