Texas Republicans have dominated statewide offices for more than three decades, with little turnover in their top leadership.

This year, that led to a number of hard-fought primaries among those trying to move up — many of which won’t be decided until a May 26 runoff.

Several ambitious candidates tried to knock out incumbent John Cornyn for one of the state’s two U.S. Senate seats, causing a domino effect when even more current officeholders lined up for the positions they vacated.

Several big races were decided outright in the March 3 primary, including the open state comptroller position, where former state Sen. Don Huffines (D-Dallas) shocked political watchers by claiming nearly two-thirds of the vote.

But other races where no candidate secured at least 50% in the first round must now go on to a runoff between the top two vote-takers.

That includes the U.S. Senate contest, the Attorney General race, the new San Antonio-area 35th Congressional District, and a San Antonio-area state Senate seat where the GOP plans to target Democratic state Sen. Roland Gutierrez (D-San Antonio).

Looking for our Democratic primary runoff Voter Guide? Find it here.

Here are the six races Republicans in Bexar County will be voting on in the May 26 runoff.

Remember, anyone can vote in the runoff election, but voters who participated in the March 3 primary are only eligible to participate in the same party’s runoff. The deadline to register to vote is April 27.

U.S. Senate

A race that’s already drawn tens of millions of dollars in spending is headed to a runoff between U.S. Sen John Cornyn (R-Texas), who has been outrunning a changing GOP for decades, and Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has shown a commanding grip over the GOP base.

The drawn-out fight has been deemed a “nightmare scenario” for Republicans, due to the money it could pull from other races. But President Donald Trump said he plans to make an endorsement — and expects the candidate he doesn’t choose to drop out.

Cornyn took 41.9% in the first round, Paxton took 40.7%. Democrats chose state Rep. James Talarico (D-Round Rock) for a November race they plan to target.

Republican candidates for Texas’ U.S. Senate seat

Texas Attorney General

Incumbent Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) is running for U.S. Senate instead of reelection, creating a rare opening in a statewide position.

Republicans are down to a runoff between Mayes Middleton, an oil and gas heir who put big money into the race, and U.S. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Dripping Springs), who worked in the U.S. Senate before winning a congressional seat in 2018.

Middleton took 39% in the first round, to Roy’s 32%.

Democrats have their own primary runoff, between state Sen. Nathan Johnson (D-Dallas) and former Galveston Mayor Joe Jaworski.

Republican candidates for Texas Attorney General

Railroad Commission of Texas

The Railroad Commission of Texas oversees the state’s oil and gas industry, and its three members serve staggered six-year terms.

Just one of them, Republican Jim Wright, is up for reelection this year, and faced a five-way GOP primary. Wright took 32.1% of the vote in the first round, and now faces a runoff with controversial former Tarrant County GOP Chair Bo French, who took 31.7%.

The winner will face Democratic state Rep. Jon Rosenthal (D-Houston).

Republican candidates for Railroad Commissioner

Texas Court of Criminal Appeals

All of the seats on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals are currently held by Republicans, but they experienced big turnover in last cycle’s primary last election, when Attorney General Ken Paxton campaigned to replace three long-serving judges who said he didn’t have broad authority to prosecute election fraud.

This year, two of the remaining GOP judges on ruling retired instead of seeking reelection, and Republicans have a runoff to replace one of them, Bert Richardson (Place 3).

They’re choosing between Alison Fox, who previously worked in the Bexar County DA’s office and took 31.3% in the first round, and Thomas Smith, who worked under Paxton in both the AG’s office and his Texas Senate office, and took 30.7%.

The winner will face Democrat Okey Anyiam in November.

Republicans for Texas Court of Criminal Appeals — Place 3

Texas’ 35th Congressional District

Redistricting turned TX35 from a solidly blue Austin-to-San Antonio district to a potential GOP pickup opportunity on San Antonio’s Southeast side — a seat Republicans consider critical to their effort to hold the U.S. House majority.

They’re down to a runoff between state Rep. John Lujan (R-San Antonio), who was endorsed by Gov. Greg Abbott, and political newcomer Carlos De La Cruz, who is backed by Trump.

Lujan took 33% in the first round, De La Cruz took 27%.

Though the redrawn district would have supported Trump by 10 percentage points in 2024, Democrats plan to target it. They have their own runoff between Maureen Galindo, a local housing activist, and Johnny Garcia, a favorite of national party leaders.

Republicans candidates for Texas’ 35th Congressional District

Texas Senate District 19

Republicans are coming after Democratic state Sen. Roland Gutierrez (D-San Antonio) this year, but haven’t yet locked down the candidate to do it.

Gutierrez is a regular critic of GOP state leaders, and Gov. Greg Abbott threw his support behind Republican Marcus Cardenas to challenge him.

Cardenas took 44% in a three-way primary, and now faces a GOP primary runoff with Robert Marks Jr., who took 32%.

Republican candidates for Texas Senate District 19

Update: This story has been updated to remove the runoff in Texas’ 23rd Congressional district, following U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales’ (R-San Antonio) March 5 decision to withdraw from the race.

San Antonio Report senior government and politics reporter Andrea Drusch built our runoff voter guides. Questions? Email andrea@sareport.org.