The Republican Senate main in Texas has barely began, however the knives are out. Sen. John Cornyn and state Legal professional Basic Ken Paxton are tearing one another aside in a feud that’s private, public, and rising nastier by the week. And the large query now could be: May the GOP’s demolition derby pose a gap for Democrats?
Two new polls recommend it’s potential. If Paxton, the extra scandal-plagued of the 2, wins the GOP nomination—as present polling signifies—he may very well be susceptible in a normal election in opposition to Democrat Colin Allred, a former member of the Home. Allred, who challenged Sen. Ted Cruz in 2024 and misplaced by greater than 8 proportion factors, has hinted he may take one other swing.
One GOP inner ballot, obtained by the Houston Chronicle, confirmed Paxton main Cornyn by 17 factors in a main matchup, 50% to 33%. However in a normal election, the identical ballot had Allred beating Paxton by a surprising 15 factors, 52% to 37%. A separate survey, commissioned by the Senate Management Fund tremendous PAC, had Paxton up 16 factors on Cornyn within the main and located that whereas Cornyn led Allred by 6 factors, Paxton was trailing Allred by 1 level.
For those who’ve watched Texas politics for any size of time, you’ve seen this film earlier than. Each few years, Democrats hope a rising star—Wendy Davis, Beto O’Rourke, and now perhaps Allred once more—can lastly flip Texas blue, whether or not it’s the governor’s mansion or a Senate seat. And each few years, they fall quick.
Nonetheless, Texas’ 2026 Senate election will draw nationwide consideration once more. Texas is just too massive and too pivotal to disregard, and the GOP main is shaping as much as be a cash-burning brawl that would depart the eventual nominee bloodied and broke. Allred, for his half, didn’t run a foul marketing campaign final time, and there’s each purpose to consider some Democrats need him to take one other swing.
However let’s be actual: It’s far too early to take these normal election polls severely. Additionally, inner polls are largely untrustworthy. The events behind them not often don’t have a vested curiosity in an election end result, and the polls’ outcomes are virtually at all times disclosed to push a selected narrative.
Additionally, Allred has already misplaced one Texas Senate race, and no Democrat has gained statewide since 1994. Moreover, hopes that the state’s rising Latino inhabitants would shift the state towards Democrats have but to materialize. And whereas Paxton could also be broken, so was Cruz. A couple of polls even confirmed Allred forward late in final yr’s race—and Cruz nonetheless beat him.
That mentioned, Democrats do have causes for cautious optimism in 2026. For now, they’ll sit again and watch Cornyn and Paxton tear one another to shreds in a main that’s already poisonous. It’s not simply messy—it’s costly. And it might fracture the social gathering sufficient to pressure exterior GOP teams and President Donald Trump to step in.
Elsewhere within the South, the panorama is shifting. Republican Gov. Brian Kemp’s determination to sit down out Georgia’s Senate race simply improved Democrat Jon Ossoff’s odds for reelection. In North Carolina, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper might run for Senate, placing one other Republican-held seat in play.
It’s nonetheless a steep climb, although. Democrats must internet 4 seats to flip the Senate, however the nationwide atmosphere in 2026 may assist. Election prognosticator Nate Silver lately identified that the common midterm benefit for the out-of-power social gathering since 1994 is 4.4 factors within the Home nationwide well-liked vote. However with Trump’s persistent unpopularity and Democrats’ overperformance in 2025’s elections, that benefit might swell, maybe resembling the blue wave of 2018, the place Democrats led Republicans by 8.6 factors within the Home well-liked vote.
A wave like that might change the Senate map. North Carolina and Georgia would lean Democratic quite than be toss-ups, in line with Silver, and whereas Alaska, Florida, Iowa, Ohio, and Texas would nonetheless lean Republican, none could be off the board.
There are some wild playing cards too. In Ohio, former Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, might try a comeback in opposition to Republican Sen. Jon Husted. In the meantime, in Alaska, the state’s ranked-choice voting system offers a reasonable Democrat—presumably former Rep. Mary Peltola—a preventing probability in opposition to incumbent Dan Sullivan, whose approval numbers are mushy.
Some races could also be wanting simpler as nicely. Ossoff is unquestionably respiratory simpler with Kemp out. In New Hampshire, the GOP didn’t recruit former Gov. Chris Sununu, leaving the social gathering prone to recycle Scott Brown, who has misplaced Senate races in each Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
Long run, the map seems higher. As Silver famous, between 2026 and 2028, 4 Senate races will happen in presidential battlegrounds—one every in Maine (2026) and Wisconsin (2028), and two in North Carolina (2026 and 2028). If Democrats flip three of these 4 and win again the White Home, he argued, they’d doubtless safe a governing trifecta in 2028.
It gained’t be simple. Texas most likely gained’t be the state to interrupt the GOP’s stranglehold on the Senate. Nevertheless it may, simply perhaps, assist loosen it.
