(AURN News) — In the first major vote of the 2026 midterm season, Texas voters advanced key candidates and spotlighted problems at the polls.
State Rep. James Talarico has won the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, defeating Rep. Jasmine Crockett in a closely fought primary.
On the Republican side, incumbent Sen. John Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton failed to reach the 50% threshold, setting up a runoff election on May 26.
But the night was marked by confusion and legal battles over voting access. After local Republicans eliminated countywide vote centers, many voters in Dallas and Williamson counties showed up at the wrong precincts and were turned away under the new rules.
A county judge extended polling hours to 9 p.m. to address the confusion, but the Texas Supreme Court intervened, blocking the extension and ordering ballots from voters not in line by the standard deadline to be separated.
The problems raised alarms about what could happen in the November midterm elections.
Click play to listen to the report from AURN White House Correspondent Ebony McMorris. For more news, follow @E_N_McMorris & @aurnonline.
