For a Republican Party already facing a difficult midterm election environment, the outcome of Texas’ two U.S. Senate primaries could not have been worse.
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Republicans needed incumbent Sen. John Cornyn to defeat Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt with a majority of votes to avoid a runoff. The Texas primary has already set the record for being the most expensive primary in U.S. history. Spending exceeded $110 million, of which $90 million went to the Republican race.
Watch my thoughts on the Texas primaries:
The last thing Republicans wanted to see was this hard-fought battle between Cornyn and Paxton drag on for another three months, but that’s what they’ll get. Republicans are expected to have to spend an additional $100 million for the runoff election.
There is an idea in the mainstream media that Democrats can only win in Texas if Paxton is the nominee, but even in a hypothetical poll Cornyn is slightly ahead of Talarico. The elections will be close, whoever the candidate is.
The other part of the Republican nightmare scenario was James Talarico’s victory in Texas.