Cogito Ergo Non Serviam
Texas Primaries Give Dems Shot at US Senate Seat
The states of Arkansas, North Carolina and Texas held primaries yesterday, and the first two went more or less as planned with the favorites winning easily. In Texas, however, voters decided to change things up, and with the help of some electoral shenanigans from the Republican Party, the stage is set for a Republican run-off for the Senate nomination and a general election that could go either way. Texas is just a little less GOP territory today than it was yesterday. That does not mean that the Democrats are going to win the seat necessarily. It does mean they have an excellent chance of picking up the seat.
The seat currently belongs to John Cornyn, a "good ol' boy" Reaganite. He entered the US Senate in 2002, after a stint as a Texas judge and as state Attorney-General. Last, night, he won about 42% of the vote, far below the 50% threshold for avoiding a run-off. His main challenger is Ken Paxton, the current AG, and a MAGA piece of work who won 40.7% of the ballots . He was impeached by the state House in 2023, and the state senate failed to convict on charges of bribery, abuse of public trust and obstruction of justice. The other challenger is Congressman Wesley Hunt, who got about 13-14% of the vote (Texas is still counting) and who can be a kingmaker if his voters are loyal to their guy.
Messrs. Cornyn and Paxton will campaign for another couple of months before their run-off in May. This will bleed off campaign funds that they might prefer get used for the general election, and of course, the loser will be making the arguments that the Democrats will later use in their commercials. The GOP nominee will enter the lists weakened.
On the Democratic side, Texas State Representative James Talarico won 52.8% of the vote in defeating Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett who secured 45.9% of the vote. While the GOP candidates are fighting it out, he will be able to raise and spend money focusing on November. This is about as good as it can get for the Democrats.
That particular election was marred by silliness from election officials. The Texas Tribune reported:
The results began coming in Tuesday evening after a day of turmoil at the polls in Dallas County, Crockett’s home base and the state’s second most populous county. Confusion arose over a rule change about where voters could cast ballots -- pushed by the Dallas County GOP -- which led to numerous voters being turned away at the polls.
Earlier Tuesday evening, a district judge granted the Dallas County Democratic Party's request to extend polling hours in the county to 9 p.m. Soon after, at the request of Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Texas Supreme Court temporarily ordered that votes cast by people who were not in line to vote by 7 p.m. -- when polls were originally set to close -- should be separated out, casting uncertainty over whether those ballots would be included in the county's final tally.
One must point out that the primaries are not public elections. They are elections for office in a private organization. Why the GOP can influence in any way how the Democrats select their nominee is insane, and it is just as foolish with the Democrats influencing the Republican election. In a proper electoral system, the parties would run their own primaries as they see fit. America still has some work to do in bringing electoral politics some sense.
So, here is the big chance the Democrats have been waiting for, a chance to win a state-wide race in Texas. Their candidate is new and a frensh face, their opponent will be the opposite. Their war chest will not be depleted in the next two months the way the Republicans' will. And there is a fair chance the Republican nominee will have the smell of scandal on him, if it is Mr. Paxton.
Yet thanks to the electoral game-playing, the Democrats could still lose this one.
© Copyright 2026 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.
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