Talarico Flips Texas Senate Seat, Ending Democrats' 38-Year Drought

Texas Democrats finally cracked the code. James Talarico won a Senate seat in the reliably red state, ending a 38-year drought for his party there and dealing Donald Trump a stunning defeat, according to The Guardian.

The price tag was historic. Advertising spending in the race topped $500m, making it one of the most expensive Senate contests the US has ever seen. GOP-aligned groups dumped hundreds of millions into the effort to put Ken Paxton in the seat.

A chunk of that cash carried a familiar signature: Elon Musk, the multibillionaire whose money flowed toward the Republican side. Talarico didn't tiptoe around it — he accused Musk of trying to buy a Senate seat outright.

Musk's broader midterm spending, close to half a billion dollars, wound up flopping, The Guardian reported. The Texas result lands as a fresh blow to Trump, whose pull in the state couldn't stop the blue wave in a single Senate race.

Talarico's bid was anything but conventional, and it worked. For Texas Democrats, the win breaks a losing streak that stretched back nearly four decades. For national Republicans, it's a costly, high-profile miss.