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Democratic candidate James Tallarico won the U.S. Senate election in Texas. It is evaluated as the upset that caused the greatest shock to the Republican Party in this midterm election.
With Talarico defeating Republican candidate Ken Paxton, the Democratic Party won a U.S. Senate election in Texas for the first time since 1988. This victory also helped the Democratic Party, which caused a strong wave of victories across the United States, take control of both the Senate and House of Representatives.
Talarico, who previously worked as a teacher, was a virtually unknown politician nationwide until last year. He raised the issue of the soaring cost of living under the Republican Party as a key issue in his election campaign.
Paxton, on the other hand, tried to highlight Talarico's political views as too liberal for Texas voters. He also participated in several joint campaigns with President Donald Trump.
Talarico supporters who were watching the vote counting broadcast in Austin, the capital of Texas, were excited when the prediction of his election was shown on the TV screen.
Supporters hugged, kissed and toasted each other. It was a victory that many did not dare believe would become a reality.
For decades, the idea of a Democratic Party winning a statewide election has seemed like an unattainable dream for progressive voters in Texas.
Texas, the second most populous state in the United States, has long been a stronghold of conservatives. It was common for Republican policies first implemented in Texas to later spread to other regions.
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However, polls during the campaign showed that Talarico, a Texas congressman, was gaining wide support from voters. It also energized local Democratic Party supporters who were longing for a new leader.
Election fund spending also surged. The money spent by both sides exceeded $500 million (approximately 670.8 billion won), making this election the most expensive federal Senate election in U.S. history.
Billionaire Elon Musk donated $158 million (about 212 billion won) to the Super PAC (political action committee) supporting Paxton. Talarico used this as material to attack Paxton.
In addition, two members of the Bush family, a prestigious Republican political family that has used Texas as its political base, took the unusual step of supporting Talarico. It was almost like a signal foreshadowing Paxton's defeat.
Quadricos Driskell, a political science professor at George Washington University, told the BBC that Paxton was one of the main reasons for the Republican Party's defeat, calling him "an objectively poor candidate."
He said that Talarico's victory in Texas and the defeat of incumbent Republican Governor Greg Abbott in the gubernatorial election held on the 3rd (local time) were "historic events." This is the first time since the 1990s that the Democratic Party won the Texas gubernatorial election.
Professor Driskell said of the Democratic Party's landslide victory in Texas, "It was not a simple tsunami, nor a simple judgment," and "It was a complete crushing defeat."
“It’s a clear signal that the United States wants to move in a different direction,” he added.
Talarico defeated a high-profile opponent, U.S. Representative Jasmine Crockett of Dallas, in the Democratic primary.
Since then, negative election advertisements have poured in, including attacks questioning past statements expressing support for transgender people, but the company has maintained consistently high approval ratings in public opinion polls.
He actively used his religious background throughout the election campaign. As the grandson of a Baptist pastor and having studied at a seminary, he quoted Bible verses throughout his campaign speeches.
Paxton is a figure embroiled in several political scandals. In 2023, he was impeached by his Republican Party on charges of corruption. He was later found not guilty by the Texas State Senate.
He was also involved in a federal civil suit filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on charges of securities fraud, but the suit was later dismissed.
President Trump visited Texas several times to raise support for Republican candidates, including Paxton. The fact that they directly visited areas where Republican support was strong gave us a glimpse of how serious the Republican leadership's concerns were regarding voter turnout.
Voters have expressed dissatisfaction with the high cost of living, including gasoline prices. Many believe that President Trump's tariff policy and the war with Iran are to blame.
Resistance to Trump's immigration policies has also grown among Hispanic voters and residents of the southern U.S. border region.
The sharp decline in illegal border crossings since Trump took office was received positively by Texas voters. However, opinion polls showed that support for President Trump has weakened significantly among Hispanic voters, who make up one-third of the Texas population.
Opinion polls conducted since the end of last summer showed that a majority of Hispanic voters in Texas gave a negative evaluation of President Trump's administration of state affairs. Many of them were voters who supported Trump during the 2024 presidential election and helped him return to the White House.
The poll also found that Hispanic voters preferred the Democratic Party over the Republican Party by a significant margin.
Hispanic residents of Texas interviewed by the BBC ahead of the election cited the Trump administration's hard-line crackdown on immigration as the reason they changed political parties.
They expressed their disapproval of the coercive crackdown methods, including detaining even U.S. citizens and indiscriminately arresting non-violent criminals.
