Early primaries show Texas and Houston-area incumbents are on shaky ground in midterms

The first round of primaries shows how this year’s midterms will play out on a shifting political terrain for incumbents.

This was especially true in Texas – the first state to redraw congressional districts last year – where incumbent members of Congress were pushed into a runoff, and another member of the House was eliminated entirely.

Former Rep. Colin Allred, who dropped his initial run for U.S. Senate to pursue Texas’ 33rd Congressional District, is headed to a runoff with Rep. Julie Johnson, who holds the U.S. House seat he previously held.

Democratic Rep. Al Green, an outspoken liberal who was twice kicked out of President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address for protesting, and newly elected Rep. Christian Menefee, will compete in a May 26 runoff for a district in the Houston area.

Rep. Dan Crenshaw, a Republican former Navy SEAL with an independent streak, faced attacks from the party’s hard right that he did not see eye-to-eye with Trump, and was the only Republican member of the state House of Representatives not to have the president’s endorsement. He lost to Steve Toth, a Republican state lawmaker who got a late boost from Sen. Ted Cruz.

A look at where things stood after Tuesday’s primary:

Greene and Menefee are in a runoff in Texas

The unusual primary between two Democratic congressmen in Texas was the result of redrawing voting maps ordered by Trump ahead of the November midterm elections. Green, 78, switched to running in the newly redrawn 18th Congressional District after his current district was redrawn in favor of Republicans.

Menefee, 37, was sworn into Congress just a month ago after winning a special election to fill the unexpired term of Rep. Sylvester Turner, who died last year. For some Houston voters, Tuesday’s primary was the third time they had cast a ballot in a congressional race in four months, sparking confusion.

Greene, who was first elected to the US House of Representatives in 2004, is one of Trump’s most vocal critics in his party and filed articles of impeachment during the president’s first term.

The primary is one of the generational contests among Democrats this year, with younger candidates saying it’s time for a new crop of party leaders. Green has faced concerns from within the party, which has become increasingly unwilling to bow to seniority.

Toth Crenshaw fired

Crenshaw, who is seeking his fifth term in Texas’ 2nd Congressional District, was the state’s only Republican House member not endorsed by Trump heading into the nation’s first major 2026 primary.

The former Marine, whose independent streak has sometimes clashed with fellow Republicans, spent the primary trying to fend off attacks from the party’s hard right that he was out of step with Trump’s agenda.

Toth, a state representative and member of the hard-right GOP caucus in the Legislature, received a major endorsement late in the primary from Cruz.

“This campaign was a referendum on representatives who campaign one way and govern another, and the people spoke,” Toth said in a statement after his victory.

Crenshaw, who lost his right eye when he was hit by an IED in Afghanistan in 2012, had clashed with Cruz over the senator’s support for Trump’s baseless claim that he won the 2020 presidential election.

He was one of the few Texas Republican candidates for Congress in 2022 to acknowledge that President Joe Biden’s 2020 win was legitimate, a stance that has sometimes put him at odds with fellow Republicans.

Crenshaw also angered conservatives when a video went viral of him criticizing some Republican politicians as “frauds” and “performers” who simply tell conservative voters what they want to hear.

John Cornyn was forced into a runoff against Ken Paxton

Incumbent John Cornyn failed to get more than 50% of the vote over Attorney General Ken Paxton in the Republican primary for the US Senate seat in Texas after President Trump did not endorse either candidate.

Cornyn, typically considered a Republican with greater ability to negotiate across the aisle, would likely become the first sitting senator in Texas history not to secure a primary vote right away. He is being challenged by Paxton, the state’s attorney general, who has a record of prosecuting Democrats and is generally considered more “MAGA” than Cornyn.

Beau French and Jim Wright head to a runoff for the Railroad Commissioner seat

The race for the Railroad Commission, which regulates the state’s oil and gas industry, has seen issues surrounding China and diversity rules arise.

Jim Wright, the incumbent, has overseen the commission since 2020. His tenure has seen a growing list of abandoned oil and gas wells, as well as a time when oil and gas companies seek to make their business models more profitable in the age of artificial intelligence.

Beau French, who recently served as chairman of the Tarrant County Republican Party, said he is a proven conservative fighter who has stood up to “the Chinese Communist Party and radical Islam, as well as the far-left and Never Trump factions.”

Allred and Johnson head to a runoff in North Texas

Allred, a former member of the House of Representatives from Texas’ 32nd District, has begun a return to Congress after abandoning his second run for U.S. Senate in December, after Rep. Jasmine Crockett jumped into the Texas Senate race.

Johnson, an attorney, served for six years in the Texas House of Representatives before winning Allred’s former seat in 2024.

Whoever wins the upcoming runoff will be the favorite in November to represent a redrawn district in the Dallas area that leans heavily Democratic.

Allred was an NFL linebacker for the Tennessee Titans before becoming a civil rights attorney and serving in Congress.

Associated Press reporters Sean Murphy, Meg Kennard, John Hanna, Gary D. Robertson and Jim Vertuno contributed to this report.