Voters in three states are heading to the polls on Tuesday, with a four-term incumbent Republican senator in Texas seeking to fend off a primary challenge from his state’s starkly conservative attorney general while Democrats will be choosing their own candidate in hopes of breaking their decades-long losing streak in the state.
There are also contests in North Carolina and Arkansas. Here’s what to know about the races:
Texas senate race
Democrats’ attempt to win statewide office for the first time since 1994 may hinge on which candidates make it out of Tuesday’s primaries where partisan infighting on both sides has spiraled for weeks.
At the top of mind is the Senate seat held since 2002 by GOP Sen. John Cornyn, a well established leader in Washington who’s at risk of becoming the first elected incumbent in the chamber since 2012 to lose his nomination for re-election.
That turmoil on the Republican side may create an opening for Democrats to win in a way they haven’t been able to realistically consider in years — but their voters are also being roiled by a primary of their own that could upend momentum on the left.
Political dynamics in Texas shifted considerably in spring 2025, when the state’s controversial Attorney General Ken Paxton announced he would challenge Cornyn for control of the seat. Paxton alleged in his social media announcement that “for years, John Cornyn has betrayed President Trump and the America First movement.”
Paxton, who was impeached by the Texas House and then acquitted by the state Senate in 2023, has a clear base of conservative support but also faces major questions about his ability to win November.
Nearly a year — and millions of dollars in political spending — later, Cornyn is attempting to not only stave off Paxton, but also overcome the late insurgent candidacy of Republican Rep. Wesley Hunt as he makes a case for generational change.
“24 years is long enough! Texans have moved on from career politicians like John Cornyn,” Hunt posted on social media in February 2026.
If no one is able to come away with the majority of the vote, the primary will lead to a late May runoff between the top two finishers, and it’s possible that the incumbent Cornyn may not end up making it even that far.
“If the attorney general is at the top of the ballot, which is where the Senate race will be, we will have an Election Day massacre. Republicans up and down the ticket will pay the price of having an albatross like our corrupt Attorney General hung around their neck,” Cornyn said during a February 2026 campaign appearance. “He will jeopardize not only the Senate seat. We haven’t lost a statewide election in Texas since 1994, but we could this year if the wrong person is at the top of the ticket.”
President Trump has also not endorsed any one of the three main Republican contenders.
Democrats are facing a tense primary of their own for the same seat, in what has become a progressive versus progressive standoff over how to win in a place where the party has lost ground and influence. State Rep. James Talarico is contending with a late announced primary challenge from U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett.
“The biggest divide in our country is not left versus right, it’s top versus bottom. Billionaires want us looking left and right at each other so that we’re not looking up at them,” Talarico has said in a campaign video.
The contest between the two has become a flashpoint on electability and ability to appeal to voters in a state that hasn’t sent a Democrat to the Senate in decades.
“Our path to victory is through reaching the people who’ve been ignored, bullied, or pushed out of the process,” Crockett said on social media after announcing her run in December.
It’s also notable that Crockett’s campaign has been cheered by some Republicans at a time when she is viewed as potentially being easier to defeat than Talarico in this fall’s general elections.
After Democrats lost the Senate and White House and failed to retake the House in the 2024 presidential election, it has become clear that the left’s path back to power will likely come from winning in parts of the country that have been alienated by the party’s brand over the last decade. What form that messaging takes, however, may be influenced by how the party performs in primaries like the one playing out on Tuesday in Texas, where the state’s large Latino population could be influential in the midterms.
Down-ballot, several incumbent Texas Republicans are also facing primary challenges of their own that could be decided after polls close on Tuesday or may head to the late May runoff.
House races in Texas
GOP Rep. Tony Gonzales in the state’s 23rd congressional district is contending with a repeat challenge from a far-right candidate named Brandon Herrera he narrowly defeated in 2024. But Gonzales is now contending with misconduct allegations involving a staffer who later died by suicide.
And in the state’s second district, incumbent Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw is facing a primary challenge from the right in the form of state Rep. Steve Toth. Crenshaw notably has not been endorsed by Mr. Trump while his main challenger is being supported by the state’s conservative U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz.
The Republican-led redistricting effort in Texas, which targeted five Democratic seats in an attempt to make them more favorable to the GOP, has also impacted a trio of notable primaries on the left. In the 18th district, incumbent Democratic Rep. Al Green is running against Rep. Christian Menefee, who won a recent special election.
Redrawn congressional boundaries also pushed Texas Democratic Rep. Julie Johnson to campaign for a different seat. She is now facing Collin Allred, a former congressman who fell short of defeating Cruz in a 2024 Senate contest.
And in south Texas, famous Tejano musician Bobby Pulido is contending with a left-leaning challenge candidate Ada Cuellar to try to make it to the general election in the state’s conservative 15th congressional district.
North Carolina and Arkansas
Elsewhere on Tuesday, Arkansas is holding contests as well while the presidential battleground of North Carolina moves closer to what is expected to be a crucial Senate race this fall.
Hefty political spending is already expected to head to North Carolina for this fall’s midterms, where former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper represents one of his party’s most straightforward chances at winning back a GOP-held seat in the Senate. He is facing a handful of lesser known challengers in the primary for this seat, but none are expected to make the race very competitive.
On the GOP side, Michael Whatley left his role as chairman of the Republican National Committee to run for the Senate and has Mr. Trump’s support. Like Cooper, he’s also facing a handful of primary opponents that lack the institutional support Whatley has for his run.
But the southern state is seeing a potentially competitive congressional primary in a safe blue seat. Federal records show major outside money is attempting to help incumbent Rep. Valerie Foushee as she faces a progressive challenge from candidate Nida Allam in a Durham-area district.
The primary here may serve as the first major tension point in the 2026 midterms between established Democrats in safe blue seats and younger members of the party urging that they want Democrats to fight more.