Key takeaways from Texas primaries, as Talarico beats Crockett in Democratic race

The march to the US midterm elections, which will determine which party controls both chambers of Congress for the second half of Donald Trump's presidency, is officially under way.

Voters in a handful of states headed to the polls on Tuesday to pick the Democratic and Republican candidates for the November general election.

It was Texas, and contested primary races for a US Senate seat, that attracted the lion's share of the attention. The races in the southern state could shed light on the directions that America's two major parties are taking in the coming election season.

For the Democrats, state representative James Talarico defeated Dallas-based US Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett and will advance to the general election. The Republican race was not decided on Tuesday, as Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and US Senator John Cornyn, the incumbent, each finished with less than 50% of the overall vote. The two men will advance to a run-off election on 26 May.

Here are five takeaways from the voting in Texas - in what is just the start of months of primary campaigning across America.

Democrats opt for the big-tent candidate

The Democratic race for US Senate nominee was a study in contrasts. Crockett, who appears regularly on liberal television outlets, had built a national reputation as a pugnacious partisan who was unafraid to confront Republicans and the Trump administration.

"I went with Crockett solely because I believe she really has what it takes to fight for what we what I think we need as a community," said Vananh Tran, who voted on Tuesday at a precinct in central Dallas.

The winner Talarico, who has a Master of Divinity degree from a Christian seminary, offered a more genteel approach. While he shares many of Crockett's liberal positions, he emphasised finding common ground with disaffected Republicans and trying to reclaim religious values from the evangelical right.

"I really like his ability to reach across the aisle and make people on the other side hear him and recognise what he's saying," said Andrew Sterling, a Talarico supporter.

Crockett performed well in Texas's major metropolitan areas - including her home city of Dallas as well as Houston - and the eastern portion of the state, with its large black population.

But Talarico carried suburbs with affluent white liberals and areas with large numbers of Hispanic voters – including San Antonio and the Rio Grande Valley along the US-Mexico border.

"The people of our state gave this country a little bit of hope," Talarico said in his election night speech before the result came in. "And a little bit of hope is a dangerous thing."

Later, when his primary victory was called, Talarico said in a statement that "we're about to take back Texas".

Many of the Democratic voters to whom the BBC spoke said they liked both candidates and would support whoever won. Democrats will need that kind of unity if they hope to win in November.

Cornyn lives to fight another day

Cornyn, who has served in the US Senate since 2002, has typically cruised to re-election.

That was decidedly not the case this year.

Polls consistently showed him trailing Paxton despite outspending his opponent on television advertising by more than $70m (£52m), and setting a record for the most expensive Senate primary race. The Texas airwaves were full of Cornyn-backed ads attacking Paxton's past controversies.

There was plenty of material to work with. For example, in 2023, Paxton was impeached by the Texas legislature for fraud and obstruction of justices – but was acquitted in a state Senate trial. And recently his wife filed for divorce amid allegations that Paxton had multiple affairs.

None of it seemed to slow the attorney general, who characterised Cornyn as being old and out-of-touch with Texans, as being insufficiently supportive of Trump, of backing gun-control measures unpopular with many Texas conservatives, and of not doing enough to cut government spending.

The race appeared poised to be another case of an establishment politician felled by a right-wing insurgent.

That may yet be the case, but on Tuesday, Cornyn showed some surprising resilience. He finished neck-and-neck with Paxton, but well below the tally of 50% of votes that would have been necessary to avoid the run-off contest in May.

"Judgement day is coming for Ken Paxton," Cornyn said at press conference held after Tuesday night's election results were posted.

That may be overly optimistic for the senator, as Texas Republican run-off voters tend to be more conservative and more anti-establishment. But it sets up another three months of this gruelling, expensive campaign.

"We are not going to go quietly," Paxton said in his election night speech, adding a message directed to Cornyn: "And we are not going to let you buy this seat."

Day one voting difficulties

If Tuesday was the first stress test for US voting systems this year, the results were not entirely encouraging.

Republican-backed changes to the primary process in Dallas County – with its 2.7 million residents - required voters to cast their ballots in a precinct determined by their home address. In recent elections, voters had been able to use any vote centre in the county.

After a request from local Democratic Party officials, a local judge on Tuesday evening ordered all county polling locations to stay open two extra hours. He cited voter "mass confusion" over proper polling locations that was "so severe" the county election website crashed due to heavy traffic.

On Tuesday evening, the Texas Supreme Court issued a ruling putting the lower court order on hold and ordering that ballots cast after the scheduled closing time be counted separately.

Shortly after the court announcement, Crockett took to the stage at her election party and said that voters in her city of Dallas were being disenfranchised.

"Unfortunately this is what Republicans like to do," she said. "They specifically targeted Dallas County, and I think we know why."

Outside a polling location on Tuesday afternoon, Lela Bodley told the BBC she and her mother had travelled to two polling places only to be turned away at both. She was able to cast her ballot at a third, but her mother was still trying to figure out her proper location.

"Whatever this new change they did to jurisdictions and voting here and voting there, it's a mess" she said.

Early voting tally gives hope to frustrated Democrats

It has been 32 years since a Democratic candidate won a statewide election in Texas. Although Beto O'Rourke's 2018 Senate campaign came within 215,000 votes of ousting Senator Ted Cruz, with more than eight million ballots cast, the party has endured a long string of defeats.

But there are signs that Democratic voters are particularly engaged in this year's campaign. For the first time since 2020, more Democrats cast early vote ballots in a March primary than Republicans – including 400,000 who voted in a Democratic primary for the first time.

Democratic strategists and politicians have long talked about a day when the state becomes a political battleground, only to have their hopes dashed. But this time, they believe that an unpopular president, uncertain economic conditions and a highly motivated base of support could tip the balance.

"The grocery bill is higher in Texas," said Brandon Chase McGee, a city councillor in Denton who served as a senior official in the Texas Democratic Party. "Gas isn't as cheap. We're still facing challenges to building more affordable housing for regular working people. Child care costs are high. The challenges that people are experiencing in other parts of the country, we're also getting them in Texas."

It's still a long road ahead for Democrats. Trump won the state in 2024 by 14 percentage points. But hope, like oil, springs eternal in Texas.

Iran not a pressing issue - yet

Millions of Texans had already cast their ballots in early voting when the US launched the first of its attacks with Israel against Iran on Saturday morning. Although the bombing campaign is ongoing, the operation did not appear to substantively affect the political dynamics in the state.

Candidates seldom brought up the military strikes in their last-minute campaign appearances, and voters to whom the BBC spoke on election day listed domestic issues – particularly the economy – as their main concerns.

"Talking to people on the ground, I'm not just hearing about Iran," said Chase McGee, the Denton city councillor. "Having said that, I don't know that we have seen the rise in gas prices yet that we are likely to see as a result of the missions going on with Iran."

Iran may not be an issue yet, but with voters focused on cost of living and affordability concerns, a tangible political impact of the Iran war may be looming on the horizon.