JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
The 2026 midterm elections are officially underway. Millions of voters went to the polls yesterday in Texas, North Carolina and Arkansas to make their choices in primary races. Tuesday's results could help determine control of Congress and tell us how people feel about leadership in the Democratic and Republican parties. NPR's Stephen Fowler has been tracking some key races and joins us now. Hi there.
STEPHEN FOWLER, BYLINE: Hey there.
SUMMERS: Stephen, let's start off if we can with two big Senate races, one in Texas, the other in North Carolina. They got a ton of buzz. Tell us how things played out.
FOWLER: Well, in North Carolina, there ultimately was never much of a contest. You've got the state's popular former Democratic Governor Roy Cooper facing off against President Trump's handpicked former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley. That race is important because North Carolina is this purplish state. You have outgoing Republican Senator Thom Tillis, who's retiring. And it is a state that is necessary for each party if they want to have control of the Senate.
In Texas, the Democratic primary saw State Representative James Talarico pretty handily win over Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett. The Republican contest, you've got Senator John Cornyn, who spent a ton of money to fend off the scandal-plagued Attorney General Ken Paxton. The two of them will head to a runoff on May 26. And all eyes are now turning to if Trump endorses and who. Well, that suspense ended pretty quickly because there is a Truth Social post out today where he says he will soon be making an endorsement and asking the other candidate to drop out.
SUMMERS: Speaking of President Trump, he asked Republican-led states to redraw their maps to give his party an advantage. Texas and North Carolina both did that. How did those changes play out in yesterday's primaries?
FOWLER: In North Carolina, Republicans drew Democratic Representative Don Davis' district that was already Republican-leaning to have more Republicans now. He's got a rematch against Laurie Buckhout. In Texas, redistricting has resulted in the first incumbent defeat of this cycle, but for a Republican. That's Representative Dan Crenshaw.
SUMMERS: Tell us what happened there.
FOWLER: Crenshaw is a conservative Republican, but at times he was at odds with the president. One example, he certified the 2020 election. He lost to one of the most conservative state lawmakers in Texas, Steve Toth, after the legislature redrew the district lines in a way that favored Toth. Crenshaw was the only sitting Texas House Republican who ran without Trump's endorsement. Also, incumbent Democrat Al Green is in second place, headed to a runoff after his seat was redrawn.
But elsewhere, though, in the five districts where Republicans made new lines to try and gain more seats, you had more Democrats show up to vote in some of these primaries than Republicans, especially in Latino-heavy districts in south Texas. That is a red blaring alarm bell for Republicans who may have counted on those voters to stick by them after they did pretty well in 2024.
SUMMERS: Now, there have, of course, been other elections since 2024. And we've talked in the past about your reporting, which finds that Democrats have been consistently doing better than expected. Did that play out last night?
FOWLER: If you think about midterm elections, they're not great for the party in power. That's Republicans. Voters do want change. But Democrats haven't been happy with their party either. That being said, more people voted in Democratic primaries statewide than Republicans in both Texas and North Carolina. That says something about voter enthusiasm and excitement that is worth watching in coming months.
You also had more Democrats show up to vote in a primary for a western North Carolina congressional seat that I'm watching that could be a bellwether for how unpopular Republican governance is in Washington. It's not just congressional races either. You had Democrats in North Carolina oust state lawmakers who sometimes sided with Republicans. These are just a few of these early trends worth watching more as voters head to the polls in the coming months.
SUMMERS: NPR's Stephen Fowler, thanks so much.
FOWLER: Thank you.
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