Democrat James Talarico defeated Republican Ken Paxton in Texas’s Senate race Tuesday, flipping a seat Republicans have held for decades in a state President Trump carried by 14 points in 2024.

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From The Daily Wire:

Talarico’s victory marks a remarkable breakthrough for Texas Democrats, who had not won a U.S. Senate election since 1988, when Lloyd Bentsen secured a fourth term. Economic anxiety and controversies surrounding Ken Paxton’s personal conduct weighed on the race, complicating Republicans’ efforts to craft a clear message against Talarico.

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Those concerns were evident among evangelicals. Dr. Robert Jeffress, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, described the choice facing voters as the “lesser of two evils,” warning that Paxton’s record had left some Christians reluctant to support him.

“Well, to be honest, I’m seeing more concern this time around than I have in any other recent election. Conservative Christians are troubled by Ken Paxton’s past, and I think they’re weighing right now whether they’re going to vote for the lesser of two evils or just stay at home,” Jeffress previously told The Daily Wire.

Talarico’s win was part of a broader night in which Democrats took control of both chambers of Congress. He built a coalition of young, independent, black, and Hispanic voters, and outperformed expectations in suburban areas including Fort Worth and Denton and Collin counties. He presented himself as a Christian moderate, but IFA’s own reporting during the campaign documented a very different worldview. The Presbyterian seminarian has said God is “non-binary,” admitted on video that his transgender views “haven’t changed,” and attends an Austin church where undercover footage showed clergy doubting that Jesus ever existed. He is expected to be one of the Senate’s most liberal members, opposing conservatives on abortion, gender, and energy, and he has vowed to challenge the Trump administration and remake the Supreme Court.

Paxton, meanwhile, carried heavy personal baggage into the race. His wife, Angela, a Republican state lawmaker, filed for divorce in July 2025 after 38 years of marriage, citing “recent discoveries” of adultery and seeking separation on “biblical grounds.” Republican leaders in Washington spent tens of millions of dollars attacking Paxton’s alleged corruption and infidelity in the primary to protect Sen. John Cornyn. President Trump endorsed Paxton anyway. Despite heavy spending from GOP allies and Elon Musk and repeated visits from Trump and Vice President JD Vance, Paxton could not hold the seat.

Talarico did not have the only shocking Democratic win of the night. Incumbent Texas Governor Greg Abbott also lost his election to Democratic candidate Gina Hinojosa. In addition to being the state’s first Latina governor, Hinojosa will also serve as Texas’ first Democratic executive in over 30 years. Her victory, in conjunction with Talarico’s, paints a shocking and sobering picture: Texas, the once-reliable red stronghold, has finally, after years of hard work on behalf of the left, turned blue.

Let’s pray for Senator-elect Talarico, that he would encounter the living God of Scripture and that his heart would be turned to the truth about who God is and how He created us, male and female. Let’s pray that believers in Texas and across America would not be deceived by a Christianity that borrows the language of faith while denying the authority of God’s Word. Let’s also pray that conservatives would raise up leaders of genuine integrity, so that Christian voters are never again left weighing “the lesser of two evils.” Above all, let’s pray for revival in Texas and in our nation.

How are you praying for Texas after this election? Share your prayers and scriptures in the comments.

(Excerpt from The Daily Wire. Photo Credit: RONALDO SCHEMIDT / AFP via Getty Images)