Amna Nawaz:
For those of you staying with us, tomorrow, voters head to the polls in Arkansas, North Carolina, and Texas.
But it’s in the Lone Star State where competitive races on both sides of the aisle have fueled unprecedented spending.
Political correspondent Lisa Desjardins has more on what’s at stake in Texas’ U.S. Senate race.
(Cheering)
Lisa Desjardins:
Welcome to the race for the U.S. Senate, Texas-sized, with two larger-than-life primaries, one in each party.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX):
Character is on the ballot. I believe voters still care about their elected officials, and they want people who will tell them the truth.
Lisa Desjardins:
The incumbent, Republican John Cornyn, faces two other Texas lawmakers, Attorney General Ken Paxton and Congressman Wesley Hunt. It’s the fight of his 24-year career.
Tony Plohetski, The Austin-American Statesman:
He’s tried and true in the minds of many voters in Texas.
Lisa Desjardins:
Tony Plohetski is a journalist with The Austin-American Statesman.
Cornyn is running as experienced and battle-tested. However, while he was once ranked among the most conservative senators, now?
Tony Plohetski:
Paxton and his voters and his supporters have really been able to nurture this idea that John Cornyn has not been hard right enough.
Lisa Desjardins:
Paxton’s policies are ultra-MAGA.
Ken Paxton (R), Texas Senatorial Candidate: I want you to know, I’m not going up to Washington, D.C., to join the swamp club.
Lisa Desjardins:
As A.G., Paxton emphatically enforced the state’s abortion ban and filed the lawsuit challenging the 2020 presidential election result.
Man:
Attorney General Paxton, please rise.
Lisa Desjardins:
But he has faced sharp scrutiny. In 2023, the Texas House passed 20 articles of impeachment against Paxton for bribery and abuse of power with charges that he had an affair and got the woman a job as part of a quid pro quo. The state Senate narrowly acquitted him, but his wife filed for divorce, and Cornyn has put out this new ad.
Narrator:
Crooked Ken Paxton cheated on his wife. She’s divorcing him on biblical grounds.
Lisa Desjardins:
It is personal, and Paxton responded so.
Woman:
My dad is a really good guy. He loves God, he loves his family, and he loves this country.
Lisa Desjardins:
With his daughter, son-in-law, grandkids, and him on FaceTime.
Plohetski says it may work.
Tony Plohetski:
He has successfully dodged and overcome so many allegations, and yet the MAGA base in particular has continued to support him.
Lisa Desjardins:
But what about the MAGA chief?
President Donald Trump:
Well, thank you very much, everybody. I’m thrilled to be back in the great state of Texas.
Lisa Desjardins:
President Donald Trump seems to be endorsing everyone.
President Donald Trump:
We have a great attorney general, Ken Paxton. Where’s Ken? Hi, Ken. Hi, Ken. And we have a great senator, John Cornyn. Hi, John. Thank you, John.
Lisa Desjardins:
For example, Friday.
President Donald Trump:
And another friend of mine who’s doing very well, Wesley Hunt. Where’s Wesley? Wesley Hunt. Doing a good job.
Lisa Desjardins:
As for Hunt, his dogged, crisscrossing of the state may mean neither Paxton nor Cornyn can get a majority, which would force a run-off in may. All that is again raising Texas Democrats’ hopes, even as they face their own brutal battle between electeds, Austin Statehouse Representative James Talarico and Dallas Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), Senatorial Candidate: You’re spending more taxpayer resources arresting journalists than you are prosecuting pedophiles and creeps.
Lisa Desjardins:
On Capitol Hill, Crockett is a rhetorical brawler, known for not pulling punches, as seen with A.G. Pam Bondi.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett:
I completely don’t get how it is that you’re sitting at the top of DOJ, because you don’t seem to be good at your job.
Lisa Desjardins:
She argues Democrats in Texas and across the country want a fighter.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett:
Right now, people are not happy with the Democratic Party. I have seen the polling. What they want is someone who is going to be unafraid in the face of what we are facing right now.
State Rep. James Talarico (D-TX), Senatorial Candidate: We have to win in November. I think she and I are committed to that.
Lisa Desjardins:
Talarico differs little from Crockett on policy, but enormously on style. He leans into God and does not throw elbows.
State Rep. James Talarico:
My faith teaches me that love is the strongest force in the universe.
Lisa Desjardins:
Talarico rose to national prominence when he and other state Democrats left Texas to delay GOP remapping efforts.
Stephen Colbert, Host, “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert”: It’s not the first time you have caused some drama.
Lisa Desjardins:
More recently, he benefited after CBS blocked his interview with late-night host Stephen Colbert. It went on YouTube instead, and Talarico raised more than $2 million the next day.
For Democrats, it’s an important decision about who is stronger and who is more electable. And it could offer guideposts for Democrats nationally, including with Hispanic voters, with whom Trump saw major gains in 2024.
Tony Plohetski:
We have seen President Trump’s very aggressive immigration policies. What we know is that a lot of those Hispanic voters appear to be shifting and walking away from the president.
But, in addition to even the immigration issue, they say is that the president has not delivered in the way that they were hoping in the economy.
Lisa Desjardins:
Democrats are raising cash and expectations in a high-stakes year.
Ingrid Bond, Voter:
I’m hopeful that the country is going to decide and Texans will decide that this has gone too far and that there will be a change in the direction of our policies.
Lisa Desjardins:
But that does not change their recent reality. No Democrat has won statewide in more than 30 years.
Tony Plohetski:
There is so much hope and enthusiasm going into this race that this may be the time. But keep in mind, Democrats in Texas are consistently used to having their hearts broken. They think that, every race, it could happen. Yes, there is a path, but that path is certainly not a straight path.
Lisa Desjardins:
To win, both parties are pushing the opponent they want. The governor and Republican interest groups are sending texts and ads to boost Crockett. Speaking with Democrats, they largely think Paxton gives them the best chance. Cornyn, the Republican incumbent, agrees.
Sen. John Cornyn:
If Ken Paxton is at the top of the ticket, we risk losing the Senate seat, losing the majority in the House of Representatives, and it will take the toll on everybody on the ballot.
Lisa Desjardins:
It is a five-way race in Texas that blares out a signal for 2026. It will be a rugged and rough road to November.
For the “PBS News Hour,” I’m Lisa Desjardins.
