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We're inching closer and closer to the 2026 midterm elections, and one of the most closely watched races is the race for Texas's open Senate seat, which is currently held by four-term incumbent Republican John Cornyn.
Inside the Republican Party, a hotly contested primary is already underway, with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton leading Cornyn by nearly 20 percentage points according to recent polling. On the Democratic side, however, it's still unclear who will challenge the eventual Republican nominee.
On the Democratic side, most of the potential candidates have yet to announce their campaigns. So far, only one has officially thrown his hat into the ring, and that's former U.S. Congressman Colin Allred, who lost his Senate race to Ted Cruz by 9 points.
He announced early this morning that he's launching a second Senate campaign on X.
Right now, there are rumors that three-time failed candidate Robert "Beto" Francis O'Rourke could take another swing at winning the seat. He first ran for the U.S. Senate against incumbent Ted Cruz back in 2018, had a disappointing Democratic presidential primary run in 2020, and then lost a gubernatorial race to Greg Abbott in 2022.
Fort Bend County GOP Chairman Bobby Eberle spoke about the possibility of O'Rourke running again, saying, "That's the state of the Democrats these days. It would almost be better to go with someone with less name recognition and try to develop a candidate for future elections."
Eberle also expressed doubts about O'Rourke's ability to defeat GOP frontrunner Ken Paxton in a general election, who, despite facing legal troubles and a failed impeachment attempt, remains extremely popular. He said, "He won handily statewide. It's not only in the primary, but it's in the general election too, where Paxton is quite formidable."
There have been some rumors that Democratic State Rep. James Talarico and Democratic U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro could toss their hats into the ring, but Eberle says both of them have radical records that would hurt them in a statewide general election, and they're also lacking in strong name recognition.
He went on to say that this is all an example of how the Democrats have failed to build a strong bench of candidates, while at the same time allowing their radical base to take over the party, making future victories in red states difficult.