{"id":2607519,"date":"2026-05-27T17:13:01","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T21:13:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/cruz-warns-republicans-shouldnt-take-texas-senate-race-for-granted\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T17:14:36","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T21:14:36","slug":"cruz-warns-republicans-shouldnt-take-texas-senate-race-for-granted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/cruz-warns-republicans-shouldnt-take-texas-senate-race-for-granted\/","title":{"rendered":"Cruz warns Republicans shouldn&#8217;t take Texas Senate race for \u2018granted\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fcruz-warns-republicans-shouldnt-take-texas-senate-race-for-granted%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2607519&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Sen.Ted Cruz urged Republicans not to treat Texas\u2019s Senate race as a sure win for the GOP after Texas AG Ken Paxton\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/progressive-democrats-behind-ocasio-cortez-win-looking-to-primary-joe-manchin-kyrsten-sinema\/\" title=\"Progressive Democrats Behind Ocasio-Cortez ... Looking To Primary Joe Manchin, Kyrsten Sinema\">primary victory<\/a> over Sen. John Cornyn.Cruz warned that Democratic nominee James Talarico is \u201crisky,\u201d pointing to Democrats\u2019 sustained enthusiasm-similar to how the Democratic Party was \u201cenergized\u201d during Cruz\u2019s reelection campaigns-and warning that Republicans can fall into complacency.<\/p>\n<p>Cruz drew a direct comparison to 2018, when Democrats hoped to flip his seat and showed up in large numbers. He argued that in 2018 Republican turnout was weaker partly because President Donald Trump wasn\u2019t on the ballot, helping drive Cruz\u2019s narrower 2.6% win. Cruz suggested that a comparable dynamic could emerge in 2026 and said Talarico resembles Beto O\u2019Rourke in how he could appeal to voters.<\/p>\n<p>He also criticized Talarico\u2019s tone and presentation, saying Talarico\u2019s \u201call-shucks\u201d demeanor makes him seem reassuring to people who aren\u2019t closely following politics. Cruz acknowledged that Paxton is still likely to win in November,but maintained that red-state history alone won\u2019t guarantee victory in the Senate race. The piece notes that Talarico\u2019s campaign reported strong fundraising momentum immediately after paxton\u2019s primary win and that the *Washington Examiner* reached out to the Talarico campaign for comment.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<article class=\"fn-body\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sen. <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/ted-cruz\/\">Ted Cruz<\/a> (R-TX) advised <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/republicans\/\">Republicans<\/a> to not assume the Texas Senate race is a guaranteed win for the GOP, drawing parallels to an \u201cenergized\u201d <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/Democratic-Party\/\">Democratic Party<\/a> during his reelection campaigns. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Following Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton\u2019s <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/4582071\/texas-senate-runoff-result-cornyn-paxton\/\">primary win<\/a> against four-term Sen. <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/john-cornyn\/\">John Cornyn<\/a> (R-TX) on Tuesday, Cruz warned Republicans nationwide that Democratic Senate nominee <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/James-Talarico\/\">James Talarico<\/a> is \u201cdangerous.\u201d<\/p>\n<section class=\"explore-more-section\" id=\"wex-recommended-widget\">\n<div class=\"magazine-container single\">\n<h1 class=\"magazine-title mt-2\">Recommended Stories<\/h1>\n<p>             <i class=\"fa-solid fa-play icon\"><\/i>         <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-grid\">\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/4583204\/spencer-pratt-may-be-answer-joe-concha\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Spencer Pratt may be the answer: Joe Concha<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/4577833\/rising-gas-prices-gop-poll\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Rising gas prices are causing voters to reconsider voting for GOP: Poll<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/4582813\/florida-judge-upholds-gop-congressional-map\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Florida judge strikes down challenge to new GOP congressional map<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe Democrats believe they have a chance to win the general,\u201d Cruz said on his <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_m8Orgorc0o\">podcast<\/a> Wednesday. \u201cI got a message to Republicans in <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/texas\/\">Texas<\/a> and nationwide: Do not take this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/impossible-gop-picked-up-seats-in-house-picked-up-state-legislatures-picked-up-governorship-held-the-senate-but-sniffy-joe-won-not-a-chance\/\" title=\"IMPOSSIBLE: ... Picked Up Seats in House, Picked Up State Legislatures, Picked Up Governorship, Held the ...ate -- But Sniffy Joe Won?... NOT A CHANCE\">general election<\/a> for granted.\u201d <\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cruz said during both of his reelection campaigns, he was Senate Minority Leader <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/Chuck-Schumer\/\">Chuck Schumer\u2019s<\/a> (D-NY) \u201cNo. 1 target in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey\u2019ve thrown everything in the kitchen sink trying to take me out and I\u2019ve been there, and they\u2019re getting ready to do that to <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/Ken-Paxton\/\">Ken Paxton<\/a>,\u201d Cruz said. \u201cThere is potentially a real analogy between 2026 and 2018.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2018, Cruz ran against former Rep. <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/Beto-O%E2%80%99Rourke\/\">Beto O\u2019Rourke<\/a>, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/herschel-walker-offers-to-pay-rent-for-anyone-facing-eviction-by-raphael-warnocks-church\/\" title=\"Herschel Walker Offers To Pay Rent for Anyone Facing Eviction by Raphael Warnock\u2019s Church\">closely watched race<\/a> in which Democrats hoped to flip Cruz\u2019s seat blue. It was also the most expensive Senate race at the time, <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2018\/10\/26\/texas-senate-race-most-expensive-in-history\">according to the <em>Houston Chronicle<\/em><\/a>. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Similar to 2026, Cruz said the left was \u201cenraged\u201d about President <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\">Donald Trump<\/a> and \u201cenergized\u201d to turn Texas blue for the first time since Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-TX) won his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/campaign-2024-an-early-look-at-the-possible-republican-contenders\/\" title=\"Campaign 2024: An Early Look At The Possible Republican Contenders\">reelection campaign<\/a> in 1988. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Democrats showed up in massive numbers in 2018, with Cruz winning by <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/election\/2018\/results\/texas\">only 2.6%<\/a> compared with his <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/elections\/2012\/results\/states\/texas.html\">16.1% edge in 2012<\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Cruz attributes the 2018 numbers to \u201ccomplacency\u201d within the Republican Party, as Trump wasn\u2019t on the ballot, leading to lower GOP turnout. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Democrats view Texas as a key to taking back control of the Senate with a Talarico victory to replace Cornyn. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Talarico\u2019s campaign garnered record donations Tuesday following Paxton\u2019s victory, seeing a <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/4583186\/james-talarico-records-600000-haul-hours-after-ken-paxton-texas-primary-win\/\">$600,000 haul<\/a> in the two hours after the race was called, <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/playbook\">according to <em>Politico<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Despite Cruz believing Paxton will win in November, he still cautioned Republicans, arguing that Texas\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >red-state history isn\u2019<\/a>t enough to guarantee a win in the Senate race. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Continuing to draw similarities between 2026 and 2018, Cruz said Talarico is \u201creminiscent\u201d of O\u2019Rourke. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cJames Talarico is absolutely extreme,\u201d Cruz said. \u201cBut I will tell you what makes Talarico dangerous, and what worries me is he packages it in this very nice all-shucks demeanor and he sounds like a preacher.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/congressional\/4582701\/what-talarico-been-up-to-two-months-only-texas-senate-nominee\/\"><strong>WHAT HAS TALARICO DONE WITH HIS TWO MONTHS AS THE ONLY OFFICIAL TEXAS SENATE NOMINEE? <\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhat worries me is someone who is not paying much attention to politics might turn on the TV and look at him and say, \u2018Oh he seems like a nice young man,\u2019\u201d he added. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The<em> Washington Examiner <\/em>contacted the Talarico campaign for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cruz warns Republicans not to assume Texas Senate win, like 2018<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3984,"featured_media":2607520,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-collage-9bjwdkkll-1779907129034-e1779907881673.jpg?1779898694&amp;w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[80356,4105,34059,3756,44928],"class_list":["post-2607519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-campaign-warning","tag-cruz","tag-election-2024","tag-republicans","tag-texas-senate"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/image-collage-9bjwdkkll-1779907129034-e1779907881673.jpg?1779898694&amp;w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2607519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3984"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2607519"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2607519\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2607523,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2607519\/revisions\/2607523"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2607520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2607519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2607519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2607519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}