Both Republicans and Democrats still have key races headed to primary runoffs this month, but so far most of the ads, spending and campaign activity has come from GOP candidates in the weeks leading up to the May 26 election.
A hard-fought Republican U.S. Senate primary between John Cornyn and Ken Paxton is blanketing the airwaves with attack ads. Meanwhile, an expensive Attorney General race and TX35 congressional primary have brought some unusual surrogates to San Antonio — from U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) to RFK Jr. — to help candidates prove their conservative credentials.
Democrats have more to decide in local races: A Bexar County District Attorney runoff will determine the odds-on favorite to succeed retiring DA Joe Gonzales, and a Texas House race on the West Side will produce the likely replacement for retiring state Rep. Ray Lopez (D-San Antonio).
But in a year where some believe the whole state could be in play, Bexar County voters will also play a big role in choosing the party’s nominee to replace Paxton, and to take on Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick in November.
Many November matchups were set after the March primary, where Republicans and Democrats chose their nominees for the general election. But any primary in which no candidate received at least 50% of the vote must be decided by a runoff.
It’s a major election year in which both parties are fighting for control of the U.S. House and Senate, nearly all of Texas’ statewide leaders are on the ballot, and retirements and redistricting have left many open seats to fill.
Every Texas voter is eligible to participate in the primary runoff election, but remember, if you voted in the March 3 primary, you’ll have to select the same party’s ticket for the runoff.
Check your voter registration status and download a copy of your personal sample ballot here. Read more about the candidates in our Republican and Democratic Primary Runoff Voter Guide.
Early voting runs May 18-22, with polls open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day.
Here are the top races the reporters and editors of the San Antonio Report will be watching most closely on May 26.
Bexar County District Attorney: Democratic runoff
The race to replace retiring District Attorney Joe Gonzales tops our Races to Watch list because the position has so much influence over public safety — and because the winner of the Democratic primary is more than likely to carry a blue county in November.
The district attorney is the county’s chief prosecutor, overseeing roughly 600 employees and holding significant discretion over how crimes are charged and prosecuted.
But in an unusual election cycle, this is one of several races where a candidate lacking the traditional experience for the role has so far drawn the most energy and enthusiasm from their party’s base.
In DA runoff, Democratic voters weigh change vs. experience
Luz Elena Chapa is a former Fourth Court of Appeals Justice who’s built deep connections with Democratic voters over her multiple countywide campaigns, but never been a prosecutor — something that alarms some attorneys currently working in the DA’s office.
She’s tapped into frustration with Gonzales administration to make her case for a fresh perspective — and even picked up support from law enforcement groups helping her campaign, helping her finish first in an 8-way primary.
Her runoff opponent, Jane Davis, by contrast, has spent nearly her entire career as a prosecutor, and currently oversees the county’s Juvenile Division.
Davis was among several candidates who said they never dreamed of running for DA, but threw their name in the hat when the frontrunner seemed to lack the necessary experience. Now in the runoff, many of those candidates have rallied around Davis’ campaign.
The winner will go up against the Republican Ashley Foster in a county that’s been trending bluer and bluer.
Texas’ 35th Congressional District: Both parties
President Donald Trump’s efforts to squeeze more Republican congressional districts out of Texas brought us the new TX35 — a San Antonio-centric district that stretches east to include three counties Trump carried.
National Democrats say it’s one of their biggest battlegrounds of the 2026 midterms, while Republicans are more concerned about a proxy war within their own party.
Both parties face runoffs in new 35th Congressional District
The conservative Texas Legislature seemed to draw the district for state Rep. John Lujan (R-San Antonio), who flipped a blue Texas House district that’s entirely within TX35’s boundaries, and who has the backing of Gov. Greg Abbott.
But President Donald Trump and House GOP leaders swooped in to endorse a different candidate, retired Air Force veteran Carlos De La Cruz, whose sister U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz (R-Edinburg) currently represents some of the district’s more rural parts.
National party leaders are now spending big to elect another Trump ally in De La Cruz — while Lujan’s local backers are rallying to promote a candidate they say knows their issues and has valuable legislative experience.
Democrats have already reserved ads in TX35 for the fall — assuming they get their favored candidate out of their own May 26 primary runoff.
National party leaders like the moderate politics and blue collar background of longtime Bexar County Sheriff’s Deputy Johnny Garcia, they’ve spent big building up a first-time candidate.
But Garcia’s support from a pro-Israel group and the moderate Blue Dogs has given some Democrats pause, and he still faces a progressive primary opponent who’s been attacking him for those connections.
Family therapist Maureen Galindo broke into local politics as a housing organizer and grabs attention with her unabashedly progressive views.
Her fundraising has been almost nonexistent, but she’s getting help from the Tejano Democrats, and a national PAC just bought some ads on her behalf. Some political operatives believe that group, Lead Left PAC, is actually Republicans meddling in Democratic primaries.
Whoever this district elects in November will have a big job representing San Antonio in a delegation that shrunk in redistricting, and then lost seasoned members to retirements and scandal.
U.S. Senate: Republican runoff
Statewide, the runoff between U.S. Sen John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Attorney General Ken Paxton is the marquee race on the May 26 ballot because either outcome will knock a longtime GOP powerbroker out of office in Texas.
Plus, a Paxton victory could make Texas a riper target in the eyes of national Democrats, drawing more money and campaign resources to the state as a whole in 2026.
An ugly, drawn-out runoff was once deemed the “nightmare scenario” for Republicans, and President Donald Trump’s plan to solve it with an endorsement has yet to happen.
Instead, Paxton is under siege from Cornyn’s much better-funded campaign, which is attacking him over everything from committing adultery to allegedly stealing a $1,000 Montblanc pen from another lawyer.
Paxton’s wealthiest allies have sat on the sidelines of this race, but he has a PAC helping him attack Cornyn as insufficiently loyal to the president, and he’s getting help on the campaign trail from friends like TX23 hopeful Brandon Herrera and state Rep. Marc LaHood (R-San Antonio).
Paxton currently leads in most public polling, but that was true leading up to the primary as well, and Cornyn wound up finishing first.
Right now Democrat James Talarico is polling ahead of either GOP nominee — in part because the runoff has Republicans too preoccupied to attack him.
Texas Attorney General: Both parties
With Attorney General Ken Paxton running for U.S. Senate instead of reelection, Texans will elect someone new to one of the most powerful statewide positions this year.
The state’s top lawyer has plenty of day-to-day responsibilities, like consumer protection and enforcing anti-trust laws. But in a red state, recent AGs have also used the role to aggressively advance conservative ideology through the courts.
As in the Bexar County District Attorney race, so far the frontrunner for that role has never been a prosecutor, and is leaning instead on popularity with his party’s base.
State Sen. Mayes Middleton (R-Galveston) is an oil and gas heir whose culture wars at the capitol — most notably bathroom bills and keeping men out of women’s sports — have made him popular with the right.
“[As the AG] you’re not just the chief enforcer, you set the conservative agenda for this entire state,” he said in a Jan. 7 interview at Bigz Burger Joint. “For seven years, I’ve been writing these laws, drafting them, and defending them against attacks by Democrat lawyers in the Texas House.”
Middleton is now in a runoff with another popular conservative, U.S. Rep. Chip Roy (R-Dripping Springs), who actually worked in the AG’s office.
“I was the First Assistant Attorney General [under Paxton]. I’ve been there. I’ve set up the office,” Roy said at the Angry Elephant last week.
But in the face of millions of dollars in attack ads and recent disagreements with President Donald Trump, Roy is now being forced to defend his conservative credentials.
At a campaign event in March, Roy spent much of his time reassuring supporters at Blanco BBQ about his relationship with the President, reenacting their phone calls and insisting they’ve moved past old fights.
This month Roy’s colleagues in the House Freedom Caucus started coming to his defense, both with ads and campaign support.
“Every victory that we have had through the Freedom Caucus, through the House of Representatives, and through Congress as a whole, it has been Chip’s mind, offering and orchestrating it every step of the way,” U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) said at an Angry Elephant rally last week.
Democrats have their own runoff in this race, between state Sen. Nathan Johnson (D-Dallas) and former Galveston Mayor Joe Jaworski.
Johnson flipped a Republican-held state Senate seat in 2018, took a commanding lead in the March primary, and has been campaigning message that AG offices are sometimes the first places where Republican power starts to crumble in red states.
“If there is one place right now that could make a difference in how Texas politics advances, it’s the Attorney General’s Office,” he told the Report in December. “We have simultaneously a destructive force in the Attorney General’s Office, and the absence of the positive force that it’s supposed to be.”
But he’s been under attack from Jaworski, the grandson of the Watergate special prosecutor, who wants Democrats to use the office more like Paxton has, going after their political enemies.
“We have a pay-to-play culture in Texas,” Jaworski told the North East Bexar County Democrats. “… We will go after the Dan Patricks and the Greg Abbotts, when they take billionaires’ money and try to ruin people’s lives.”
Texas House District 125: Democratic runoff
Longtime state Rep. Ray Lopez (D-San Antonio) is retiring from this reliably blue seat, and the Democratic primary to replace him is now down to two candidates.
SAISD history teacher and union leader Adrian Reyna says he’s running because he grew tired of watching state lawmakers meddle with educators and school funding.
“The attacks on public education that we’ve seen in the last year are insane. They have absolutely handicapped us in our ability to do our job,” said Reyna, whose dad once held the seat he’s now running for.
He finished first in the primary with the help of the Texas Organizing Project, and is now in a runoff with former Bexar County Constable Michelle Barrientes Vela, who boxed out Lopez’s chief of staff.
Westside Texas House primary heads to runoff between union leader, scandal-plagued ex-constable
While she was a constable, Barrientes Vela was accused of tampering with security payment logs at Rodriguez Park. She was later acquitted, and has now folded that experience into her campaign pitch.
“My return to politics is not about politics,” she said at a Tejano Democrats forum in January. “It’s about someone with law enforcement experience, someone who’s been a victim of the abuse of power, and someone that knows the passion to fight against an unjust system.”
The winner of the Democratic primary runoff will face Republican Ricardo Martinez in November.
Bexar County Clerk and District Clerk: Democratic runoffs
Bexar County Clerk Lucy Adame-Clark and District Clerk Gloria Martinez were both held below 50% by challengers in the March primary, and now face runoffs to hang onto their party’s nominations for November.
In both races, challengers say the incumbent hasn’t done enough to modernize the office and bring records online.
Bexar County Clerk, District Clerk primaries head to runoffs
Adame-Clark’s race with Cynthia Castro grew ugly and personal over a disagreement about a case in Castro’s husband’s courtroom.
Meanwhile Martinez faces a rematch with Christine “Chris” Castillo, who she defeated in a runoff in 2022. Both had lengthy careers at the office, and then were pushed out of their roles by former District Clerk Mary Angie Garcia, who they kept from advancing from her own party’s primary that year.
Neither race drew a Republican candidate, so the Democratic primary winners will likely be unopposed in November.
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals: Republican runoff
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals experienced major turnover in last cycle’s primary last election, when Attorney General Ken Paxton campaigned to replace three long-serving Republican 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 one of those races is headed to a runoff where fallout from the Paxton ruling still looms large.
Republicans are choosing between Alison Fox, a research attorney on the court who previously worked in the Bexar County DA’s office, and Thomas Smith, who worked under Paxton in both the AG’s office and his Texas Senate office.
Fox was working on the court when her boss, Judge Jesse McClure, authored the 2021 opinion that offended Paxton — a “scary time” because they received death threats from fellow Republicans, she said.
But she loves the work overall, and when Richardson’s position opened up, she said she decided to run because “this is the supreme criminal court of Texas, and I think that it deserves experienced practitioners.”
Smith has never practiced criminal law in Texas, but said on social media that he was running because he was tired of the court electing “political chameleons.”
He blamed the court for stripping power from Paxton’s office, and linked Fox to the decision authored by her boss.
Republicans have controlled every statewide bench seat for many years, but the winner will face Democrat Okey Anyiam in November.
Worth a watch
Texas Senate District 19: Republican runoff
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%.
Texas Lieutenant Governor: Democratic runoff
Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is seeking a fourth term, and Democrats have been divided over who they want to go up against the formidable incumbent.
The most well-known candidate in the race is state Rep. Vikki Goodwin (D-Austin), who took 48% in the first round. But in an effort to find candidates they believe could appeal to working class voters, labor groups have been backing Marcos Isaias Vélez, a leader in the United Steelworkers, who took 31%.
Speaking to the North East Bexar County Democrats, Goodwin said her four terms in the legislature have given her the relationships and legislative savvy needed for the job.
“Lieutenant Governor is the most powerful position in Texas, and it is not a position for on the job training,” she said.
Vélez has some deep-pocketed Democratic supporters, but struggled to sell voters on how his experience translates.
“The role of Lieutenant Governor is largely a role of negotiation,” he told the North East Bexar County Democrats. “Every single day, [the steelworkers union goes] up against the power, and we win by using the power of the people. It’s going to be a hostile environment. But ultimately, the lieutenant governor prioritizes legislation more so than writes it.”
County Court at Law No. 10: Democratic runoff
The March primary election saw six incumbent Democratic judges fall to primary challengers.
Judge Cesar Garcia wasn’t among them, but he was pushed to a runoff with Shannon Roberta Salmón, an attorney and mediator who previously worked as a prosecutor in Bexar County.
No Republicans filed for this race.
Railroad Commission of Texas: Republican runoff
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).
