Each Republicans and Democrats nonetheless have key races headed to main runoffs on Tuesday, however up to now many of the adverts, spending and marketing campaign exercise has come from GOP candidates battling over the path of a altering Republican Celebration.
A tough-fought Republican U.S. Senate main between John Cornyn and Ken Paxton is blanketing the airwaves with assault adverts. In the meantime, an costly Lawyer Basic race and TX35 congressional main have introduced some uncommon surrogates to San Antonio — from U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) to RFK Jr. — to assist candidates show their conservative credentials.
Democrats have extra to resolve in native races: A Bexar County District Lawyer runoff will decide the odds-on favourite to succeed retiring DA Joe Gonzales, and a Texas Home race on the West Facet will produce the seemingly substitute for retiring state Rep. Ray Lopez (D-San Antonio).
However in a 12 months the place some consider the entire state could possibly be in play, Bexar County voters can even play an enormous position in selecting the get together’s nominee to exchange Paxton, and to tackle Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick in November.
Many November matchups had been set after the March main, the place Republicans and Democrats selected their nominees for the final election. However any main through which no candidate obtained a minimum of 50% of the vote should be determined by a runoff.
It’s a significant election 12 months through which each events are preventing for management of the U.S. Home and Senate, almost all of Texas’ statewide leaders are on the poll, and retirements and redistricting have left many open seats to fill.
Each Texas voter is eligible to take part within the main runoff election, however keep in mind, should you voted within the March 3 main, you’ll have to pick out the identical get together’s ticket for the runoff.
Verify your voter registration standing and obtain a replica of your private pattern poll right here. Learn extra concerning the candidates in our Republican and Democratic Main Runoff Voter Information.
Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on election day, Tuesday, Could 26.
Listed below are the highest races the reporters and editors of the San Antonio Report might be watching most carefully.
Bexar County District Lawyer: Democratic runoff
The race to exchange retiring District Lawyer Joe Gonzales tops our Races to Watch record as a result of the place has a lot affect over public security — and since the winner of the Democratic main is greater than prone to carry a blue county in November.
The district lawyer is the county’s chief prosecutor, overseeing roughly 600 workers and holding vital discretion over how crimes are charged and prosecuted.
However in an uncommon election cycle, that is one in every of a number of races the place a candidate missing the standard expertise for the position has up to now drawn essentially the most power and enthusiasm from their get together’s base.
In DA runoff, Democratic voters weigh change vs. expertise
Luz Elena Chapa is a former Fourth Courtroom of Appeals Justice who’s constructed deep connections with Democratic voters over her a number of countywide campaigns, however by no means been a prosecutor — one thing that alarms some attorneys at the moment working within the DA’s workplace.
She’s tapped into frustration with Gonzales administration to make her case for a contemporary perspective — and even picked up help from legislation enforcement teams serving to her marketing campaign, serving to her end first in an 8-way main.
Her runoff opponent, Jane Davis, in contrast, has spent almost her complete profession as a prosecutor, and at the moment oversees the county’s Juvenile Division.
Davis was amongst a number of candidates who stated they by no means dreamed of working for DA, however threw their title within the hat when the frontrunner appeared to lack the required expertise. Now within the runoff, lots of these candidates have rallied round Davis’ marketing campaign.
The winner will go up towards the Republican Ashley Foster in a county that’s been trending bluer and bluer.
Texas’ thirty fifth Congressional District: Each events
President Donald Trump’s efforts to squeeze extra Republican congressional districts out of Texas introduced us the brand new TX35 — a San Antonio-centric district that stretches east to incorporate three counties Trump carried.
Nationwide Democrats say it’s one in every of their largest battlegrounds of the 2026 midterms, whereas Republicans are extra involved a couple of proxy warfare inside their very own get together.
Each events face runoffs in new thirty fifth Congressional District
The conservative Texas Legislature appeared to attract the district for state Rep. John Lujan (R-San Antonio), who flipped a blue Texas Home district that’s completely inside TX35’s boundaries, and who has the backing of Gov. Greg Abbott.
However President Donald Trump and Home GOP leaders swooped in to endorse a distinct candidate, retired Air Power veteran Carlos De La Cruz, whose sister U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz (R-Edinburg) at the moment represents among the district’s extra rural elements.
Nationwide get together leaders are actually spending massive to elect one other Trump ally in De La Cruz — whereas Lujan’s native backers are rallying to advertise a candidate they are saying is aware of their points and has worthwhile legislative expertise.
Democrats have already reserved adverts in TX35 for the autumn — assuming they get their favored candidate out of their very own Could 26 main runoff.
Nationwide get together leaders just like the average politics and blue collar background of longtime Bexar County Sheriff’s Deputy Johnny Garcia, they’ve spent massive increase a first-time candidate.
However Garcia’s help from a pro-Israel group and the average Blue Canine has given some Democrats pause, and he nonetheless faces a progressive main opponent who’s been attacking him for these connections.
Household therapist Maureen Galindo broke into native politics as a housing organizer and shocked native political watchers when she completed first within the Democratic main — lower than a 12 months after a Metropolis Council bid that went nowhere.
Now within the remaining stretch of the race, she’s caught nationwide consideration with controversial views surrounding U.S. involvement in Israel. Her fundraising has been nearly nonexistent, however she’s getting assist from the Tejano Democrats, and a nationwide PAC that some political operatives consider is definitely Republicans meddling in Democratic primaries — and has now spent near $1 million on TV and mail adverts elevating her unabashedly progressive views.
Whoever this district elects in November can have an enormous job representing San Antonio in a delegation that shrunk in redistricting, after which misplaced seasoned members to retirements and scandal.
U.S. Senate: Republican runoff
Statewide, the runoff between U.S. Sen John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Lawyer Basic Ken Paxton is the marquee race on the Could 26 poll as a result of both consequence will knock a longtime GOP powerbroker out of workplace in Texas.
Plus, a Paxton victory might make Texas a riper goal within the eyes of nationwide Democrats, drawing extra money and marketing campaign assets to the state as an entire in 2026.
An unsightly, drawn-out runoff was as soon as deemed the “nightmare state of affairs” for Republicans, and President Donald Trump’s plan to resolve it with an endorsement has but to occur.
As a substitute, Paxton is below siege from Cornyn’s a lot better-funded marketing campaign, which is attacking him over the whole lot from committing adultery to allegedly stealing a $1,000 Montblanc pen from one other lawyer.
Paxton’s wealthiest allies have sat on the sidelines of this race, however he has a PAC serving to him assault Cornyn as insufficiently loyal to the president, and he’s getting assistance on the marketing campaign path from mates like TX23 hopeful Brandon Herrera and state Rep. Marc LaHood (R-San Antonio).
Paxton at the moment leads in most public polling, however that was true main as much as the first as effectively, and Cornyn wound up ending first.
Proper now Democrat James Talarico is polling forward of both GOP nominee — partly as a result of the runoff has Republicans too preoccupied to assault him.
Texas Lawyer Basic: Each events
With Lawyer Basic Ken Paxton working for U.S. Senate as a substitute of reelection, Texans will elect somebody new to some of the highly effective statewide positions this 12 months.
The state’s high lawyer has loads of day-to-day tasks, like client safety and implementing anti-trust legal guidelines. However in a crimson state, current AGs have additionally used the position to aggressively advance conservative ideology by the courts.
As within the Bexar County District Lawyer race, up to now the frontrunner for that position has by no means been a prosecutor, and is leaning as a substitute on recognition along with his get together’s base.
State Sen. Mayes Middleton (R-Galveston) is an oil and fuel inheritor whose tradition wars on the capitol — most notably toilet payments and protecting males out of girls’s sports activities — have made him standard with the correct.
“[As the AG] you’re not simply the chief enforcer, you set the conservative agenda for this complete state,” he stated in a Jan. 7 interview at Bigz Burger Joint. “For seven years, I’ve been writing these legal guidelines, drafting them, and defending them towards assaults by Democrat attorneys within the Texas Home.”
Middleton is now in a runoff with one other standard conservative, U.S. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Dripping Springs), who really labored within the AG’s workplace.
“I used to be the First Assistant Lawyer Basic [under Paxton]. I’ve been there. I’ve arrange the workplace,” Roy stated on the Indignant Elephant final week.
However within the face of tens of millions of {dollars} in assault adverts and up to date disagreements with President Donald Trump, Roy is now being compelled to defend his conservative credentials.
At a marketing campaign occasion in March, Roy spent a lot of his time reassuring supporters at Blanco BBQ about his relationship with the President, reenacting their cellphone calls and insisting they’ve moved previous previous fights.
This month Roy received a significant infusion of marketing campaign money that has tightened the race, and his colleagues within the Home Freedom Caucus began coming to his protection, each with adverts and marketing campaign help.
“Each victory that now we have had by the Freedom Caucus, by the Home of Representatives, and thru Congress as an entire, it has been Chip’s thoughts, providing and orchestrating it each step of the way in which,” U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) stated at an Indignant Elephant rally final week.
Can U.S. Rep. Chip Roy make a comeback in his uphill Lawyer Basic race?
Democrats have their very own runoff on this race, between state Sen. Nathan Johnson (D-Dallas) and former Galveston Mayor Joe Jaworski.
Johnson flipped a Republican-held state Senate seat in 2018, took a commanding lead within the March main, and has been campaigning message that AG workplaces are typically the primary locations the place Republican energy begins to crumble in crimson states.
“If there may be one place proper now that would make a distinction in how Texas politics advances, it’s the Lawyer Basic’s Workplace,” he informed the Report in December. “We’ve concurrently a damaging drive within the Lawyer Basic’s Workplace, and the absence of the constructive drive that it’s speculated to be.”
However he’s been below assault from Jaworski, the grandson of the Watergate particular prosecutor, who needs Democrats to make use of the workplace extra like Paxton has, going after their political enemies.
“We’ve a pay-to-play tradition in Texas,” Jaworski informed the North East Bexar County Democrats. “… We are going to go after the Dan Patricks and the Greg Abbotts, once they take billionaires’ cash and attempt to smash folks’s lives.”
Texas Home District 125: Democratic runoff
Longtime state Rep. Ray Lopez (D-San Antonio) is retiring from this reliably blue seat, and the Democratic main to exchange him is now down to 2 candidates.
SAISD historical past trainer and union chief Adrian Reyna says he’s working as a result of he grew uninterested in watching state lawmakers meddle with educators and college funding.
“The assaults on public training that we’ve seen within the final 12 months are insane. They’ve completely handicapped us in our means to do our job,” stated Reyna, whose dad as soon as held the seat he’s now working for.
He completed first within the main with the assistance of the Texas Organizing Venture, and is now in a runoff with former Bexar County Constable Michelle Barrientes Vela, who boxed out Lopez’s chief of employees.
Westside Texas Home main heads to runoff between union chief, scandal-plagued ex-constable
Whereas she was a constable, Barrientes Vela was accused of tampering with safety cost logs at Rodriguez Park. She was later acquitted, and has now folded that have into her marketing campaign pitch.
“My return to politics just isn’t about politics,” she stated at a Tejano Democrats discussion board in January. “It’s about somebody with legislation enforcement expertise, somebody who’s been a sufferer of the abuse of energy, and somebody that is aware of the fervour to combat towards an unjust system.”
The winner of the Democratic main runoff will face Republican Ricardo Martinez in November.
Bexar County Clerk and District Clerk: Democratic runoffs
Bexar County Clerk Lucy Adame-Clark and District Clerk Gloria Martinez had been each held beneath 50% by challengers within the March main, and now face runoffs to hold onto their get together’s nominations for November.
In each races, challengers say the incumbent hasn’t performed sufficient to modernize the workplace and produce information on-line.
Bexar County Clerk, District Clerk primaries head to runoffs
Adame-Clark’s race with Cynthia Castro grew ugly and private over a disagreement a couple of case in Castro’s husband’s courtroom.
In the meantime Martinez faces a rematch with Christine “Chris” Castillo, who she defeated in a runoff in 2022. Each had prolonged careers on the workplace, after which had been pushed out of their roles by former District Clerk Mary Angie Garcia, who they saved from advancing from her personal get together’s main that 12 months.
Neither race drew a Republican candidate, so the Democratic main winners will seemingly be unopposed in November.
Texas Courtroom of Felony Appeals: Republican runoff
The Texas Courtroom of Felony Appeals skilled main turnover in final cycle’s main final election, when Lawyer Basic Ken Paxton campaigned to exchange three long-serving Republican judges who stated he didn’t have broad authority to prosecute election fraud.
This 12 months, two of the remaining GOP judges on ruling retired as a substitute of looking for reelection, and a type of races is headed to a runoff the place fallout from the Paxton ruling nonetheless looms massive.
Republicans are selecting between Alison Fox, a analysis lawyer on the courtroom who beforehand labored within the Bexar County DA’s workplace, and Thomas Smith, who labored below Paxton in each the AG’s workplace and his Texas Senate workplace.
Fox was engaged on the courtroom when her boss, Decide Jesse McClure, authored the 2021 opinion that offended Paxton — a “scary time” as a result of they obtained loss of life threats from fellow Republicans, she stated.
However she loves the work general, and when Richardson’s place opened up, she stated she determined to run as a result of “that is the supreme prison courtroom of Texas, and I feel that it deserves skilled practitioners.”
Smith has by no means practiced prison legislation in Texas, however stated on social media that he was working as a result of he was uninterested in the courtroom electing “political chameleons.”
He blamed the courtroom for stripping energy from Paxton’s workplace, and linked Fox to the choice authored by her boss.
Republicans have managed each statewide bench seat for a few years, however the winner will face Democrat Okey Anyiam in November.
Price a watch
Texas Senate District 19: Republican runoff
Republicans are coming after Democratic state Sen. Roland Gutierrez (D-San Antonio) this 12 months, however haven’t but locked down the candidate to do it.
Gutierrez is an everyday critic of GOP state leaders, and Gov. Greg Abbott threw his help behind Republican Marcus Cardenas to problem him.
Cardenas took 44% in a three-way main, and now faces a GOP main runoff with Robert Marks Jr., who took 32%.
Texas Lieutenant Governor: Democratic runoff
Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is looking for a fourth time period, and Democrats have been divided over who they need to go up towards the formidable incumbent.
Essentially the most well-known candidate within the race is state Rep. Vikki Goodwin (D-Austin), who took 48% within the first spherical. However in an effort to search out candidates they consider might attraction to working class voters, labor teams have been backing Marcos Isaias Vélez, a frontrunner within the United Steelworkers, who took 31%.
Chatting with the North East Bexar County Democrats, Goodwin stated her 4 phrases within the legislature have given her the relationships and legislative savvy wanted for the job.
“Lieutenant Governor is essentially the most highly effective place in Texas, and it’s not a place for on the job coaching,” she stated.
Vélez has some deep-pocketed Democratic supporters, however struggled to promote voters on how his expertise interprets.
“The position of Lieutenant Governor is basically a task of negotiation,” he informed the North East Bexar County Democrats. “Each single day, [the steelworkers union goes] up towards the ability, and we win through the use of the ability of the folks. It’s going to be a hostile atmosphere. However in the end, the lieutenant governor prioritizes laws extra so than writes it.”
County Courtroom at Legislation No. 10: Democratic runoff
The March main election noticed six incumbent Democratic judges fall to main challengers.
Decide Cesar Garcia wasn’t amongst them, however he was pushed to a runoff with Shannon Roberta Salmón, an lawyer and mediator who beforehand labored as a prosecutor in Bexar County.
No Republicans filed for this race.
Railroad Fee of Texas: Republican runoff
The Railroad Fee of Texas oversees the state’s oil and fuel business, and its three members serve staggered six-year phrases.
Simply one in every of them, Republican Jim Wright, is up for reelection this 12 months, and confronted a five-way GOP main. Wright took 32.1% of the vote within the first spherical, and now faces a runoff with controversial former Tarrant County GOP Chair Bo French, who took 31.7%.
Gov. Greg Abbott, who stayed out of the U.S. Senate and AG runoffs, has now been touring the state with Wright making an attempt to assist him shut down French.
The winner will face Democratic state Rep. Jon Rosenthal (D-Houston).
