It’s run-off night here in Texas, and the much-anticipated bout between Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and incumbent Sen. John Cornyn will finally be decided. While all eyes are on the U.S. Senate race, some of the most interesting (and consequential) races will be decided down the ballot. Polls close at 8 PM ET, so stay tuned for all of the latest updates for the races in the heart of GOP country!
The other key races that we will be watching are a battle between the notorious Democrat Rep. Al Green and freshman Congressman Christian Menefee, the two controversy-laden run-offs featuring Maureen Galindo and State Rep. John Lujan in the 35th District, and the contest to replace Attorney General Ken Paxton between Rep. Chip Roy and State Senator Mayes Middleton.
As a reminder, Texas has open primaries and allows for individuals who did not cast a ballot during the first round to vote in the run-off elections, so turnout could be a significant factor in each of these races. Before polls have even closed, experts have estimated that 103,000 voters who stayed home in March went out to cast a ballot in the Republican side of the races for the run-off.
My apologies for not sending out reports for the Republican Runoff. Last week was a doozy so this fell to the wayside. Attached is who voted during early voting. Enjoy. #txlege pic.twitter.com/bLX0JVWykK
— Derek Ryan (@longhornderek) May 26, 2026
Likewise, March's election faced controversy on the Democrat side after voters were reportedly turned away after confusion arose at polling places. A repeat of that has already come to light in the 18th District as Menefee pled for extended voting hours.
View the live results below thanks to our partnership with Decision Desk HQ.
Polls are now closed and the first votes are flooding in. Early returns show that Paxton has a commanding lead over Cornyn. Likewise, the MAGA-orbit Middleton, French, and Smith are all maintaining a lead in their races. Metro areas in Texas have pulled far harder toward Paxton than even his most ardent of supporters would have expected. It will be hard for Cornyn to make up the ground required to swing the vote in his favor against Trump-endorsed Paxton even this early in the night.
In TX-19, Tom Sell will take the cake. Sell had narrowly missed out on winning the race outright during the first round of voting and was the heavy favorite heading into tonight. Needless to say, it was an early night for opponent Abraham Enriquez. Similarly in TX-18, Al Green will be without a job on inauguration day as Menefee had a blowout victory against the highly-performative Green.
Early results in the TX-35 races show a neck and neck contest between Lujan and Trump-endorsed Carlos De La Cruz. Lujan managed to secure the endorsements of his former primary opponents and was considered to be a heavy favorite to carry the run-off. This will likely extend into the night. On the Democrat side, the infamous Galindo has fallen heavily back against Johnny Garcia. Galindo narrowly secured a plurality of the vote in the first round of voting, but looks like she is unlikely to move on.
The lead has become totally insurmountable for Cornyn to overcome as Paxton's margin is currently more than 25 points. Cornyn is the second incumbent to have fallen prey to a primary opponent pushed by President Donald Trump after the loss of Bill Cassidy in Louisiana just weeks ago, showing that the MAGA base still wields far greater power than many on social media would like to admit.
Nearly the whole slate of MAGA candidates managed to win their races fairly early in the night. Mayes Middleton managed to take down Rep. Chip Roy, who has butted heads with President Donald Trump on a number of issues and even campaigned for Ron DeSantis in 2024. Thomas Smith has taken down Alison Fox in the often-forgotten Criminal Court of Appeals race.