Presidential endorsements and voter turnout significantly influence primary election outcomes, as demonstrated by Ken Paxton's decisive victory over incumbent John Cornyn in the Texas Senate Republican primary runoff (63% to 37%), where Paxton's late endorsement by President Trump and the MAGA movement's passionate voter base overcame Cornyn's substantial campaign spending advantage.
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been a senator since uh since 9/11 since the 9/11 days and so uh he has served and uh he uh now could be seeing the end of his career as a public servant.
>> Okay. And here we have uh congressional district uh nine here and this is one of those districts that was newly redrawn where you have Alex Mueller. This is the Republican side of the ticket. Uh Alex Mueller clearly leading uh with 69% support compared to Brisco Kane's 31% support. And now let's get to the next race.
As for Texas Lieutenant Governor, the Democratic primary runoff right now, Vicky Goodwin uh looking good with another substantial lead there. Her 70% 227,000 votes to Marcos who has 30% of the vote, only 97,000 votes at this point. So big gaps there. Looks like uh the faithful are starting to come out.
They have come out for these elections and they are all seemingly leading in one really, really strong direction.
>> That's right. Uh here you have the Texas Attorney General uh race. This is the Democratic part of the ticket and we're seeing that Nathan Johnson leading with 59% support compared to Joe Jorski's 41% support right now.
>> All right. And then I we go to the Republican primary and this was a big one. We saw a lot of ads for this race and right now uh Maize Middleton who had given himself the name MAGA Maze Middleton with 56% of the V vote to Chip Royy's 44% of the vote. Chip Roy had come across as a pretty uh very straightforward uh person. He was the actual former chief of staff for Ted Cruz and those chiefs of staff have to be pretty tough, but right now he is uh down quite a bit in that race. And now for the Republican primary runoff for Harris County Judge. Okay, here we have Orlando Sanchez leading uh 65% support compared to Warren Howell's 35% support.
And do we have another race that we're going to show? There we go. On the Democratic side, >> this one's the tightest race that we have seen all night. This is a Harris County judge, the Democratic side.
Leticia Plameumber with 50% support. uh compared to Anise Parker's also 50% support, but plumber there with more than just 200 votes edging out slightly. That's a tight race.
>> Shock may not be the right word in that race, but it is would be surprising, especially with the niece Parker's name recognition. Now, Fortbing County judge, Democratic primary runoff, we have Dexter McCoy with a substantial 50point lead over challenger Michelle Carter. We already know they already know which uh candidate they're going to be facing on the Republican side in November. And now Forbin County Clerk on the Democratic side.
>> Okay. And there we have another uh 50 to 50% there. Another tight race. Uh and here it's just I mean just a few just a few votes over here like what 60 votes or so or 70 votes. Maria Jackson with 50% support compared to Sonia Jones is also 50% support. So we're gonna have to see how those people because again the numbers that we're looking at here are just early voting numbers. And so throughout the night, maybe those numbers shift uh so we can get a clear indication as to who's going to win. But that's really interesting that you have two races tonight >> really tied neck and neck 50% support.
>> And at the at this point, the only race that NBC has called is the one between Al Green and Christian Meny with him calling the race for Christian Meny at this point.
>> All right. So now we I believe we have our reporters scattered uh throughout the area. We're going to send things on over to Rwanda Belogan. He's covering that race. He's with Christian Meny's campaign right now. This is for Congressional District 18. Obviously, Rwan, people there must be delighted over the news that NBC News is called the race uh for Christian Metife.
>> Yeah, Stephanie. And that's exactly why that's why you see me covering my gear because it is a party in this watch party here because people started celebrating this around 7:30 when the early voting numbers really started pouring in and they saw the significant lead men had against Congressman Al Green. The supporters really the staffers of this campaign in the back room over there to the right they got very excited started screaming and running around here. That's what we knew. They saw enough and knew and expected this projected win by Congressman Christian Men. Again, we're hearing from his team that the congressman won't speak in about 10 minutes or so. He's scheduled to get here at 8:15 and then we'll address his supporters here. Listen, this is the fourth time Meny has been running in this race. He's been running for the 18th Congressional District for well over a year. Started campaigning back in March of 2025 to fulfill the remainder of Sylvester Turner's term. And then once he won the crowded race, they're immediately jumping in this primary race with incumbents, uh, district 9, Congressman Al Green, whose district was redrawn to favor Republicans. And so he said he actually moved over, not necessarily moved, but switched over to the 18th congressional district where his home is. And tonight the incumbent how Green is not getting the numbers his team would like to see here with 21,000 votes in with it clearly for Congressman Christian Medi who will be the Democratic primary or rather the Democratic candidates for the 18th congressional district. And again we expect Congressman to speak here in less than 10 minutes and we'll bring you that the latest. Reporting live from Midtown.
>> Okay Roan. Yes. Party getting louder.
They'll probably be getting uh having a little more fun throughout the rest of the night. Okay. Thank you, sir.
>> All right. Now, we're going to go to really what is the hottest race of the night. This is a very contested uh race and this is uh the US Senate race on the Republican side and CNN is saying that they're calling Ken Paxton. They're saying that Ken Paxton, they're declaring him the winner over incumbent John Cornin. And you see that spread. I mean, these results are still trickling in. So, these are early voting numbers and voting numbers uh from today. But you see there 63% support for Ken Paxton over John Cornin's 37% support.
>> And this is such a surprise because we see this wide gap, but in the primary in March, Cornin actually won by about two percentage points. So uh not seeing that uh payoff here in the the runoff election for sure. It's possible. It's possible that the president's own endorsement of of a Ken Paxton last week may have been what put him way way over ahead over uh John Cornin. And so now we're going to go to Bryce Newberry who is covering uh that campaign over in Plano. And uh >> when we spoke to you about an hour ago, Bryce, you mentioned uh the energy, the the mood shifting in that room when they first got the early voting numbers that clearly favored Paxton. Um, I see you covering your ear. I bet uh there's a lot of commotion there behind you.
>> Yeah, Stephanie and Keith. The room has been progressively getting louder throughout the night and just minutes ago uh when the TV screen here showed those results projecting Kent Paxton to defeat John Cornin in this race. The room erupted in cheers. Everyone here screaming, cheering, hugging, clapping with each other after this longtime uh incumbent John Cornin got defeated by Ken Paxton according to these projections. You can see people behind me here are starting to gather on the stage. And I can tell you that the timing of this night has really been speeding up as we've been here as these results have continued to come in. And you know, this is really helping paint a clearer picture tonight of where Republican voters in Texas stand during the Trump era. It took a long time for President Donald Trump to make an endorsement in this race. He just did so one week ago. That came last Tuesday.
And now, as we're seeing some of these results come in, you know, many counties across Texas, almost all of them appear to have gone to Ken Paxton. At least the results that we're seeing so far.
There's only a few counties that chose John Cornin to come back. So, here in this room, the energy so high right now after Ken Paxton, the attorney general of Texas for the last decade or so, is projected to be going now to the November midterms facing off against Democrat James Talerico. You know, Ten Paxton's time in office has had a lot of controversy that's come along with it, from indictments to impeachments to investigations. Uh, so critics have really pointed to years of political baggage. They've said that, you know, possibly that'll be a target in the midterms and it could energize Democrats uh to get out and vote as well. So, here at this watch party, you can see people have gathered there on the stage. The flags are waving and the music has gotten so loud. There's everyone now, you know, here starting to gather in the room as we are expecting to hear some remarks uh from supporters. We're also expecting to hear from the attorney general and uh Senate candidate any time now. So, we are going to continue monitoring all of this.
A lot of energy, a lot of excitement, and a clear picture now for what is expected, what Texas Republicans are looking for. Ken Paxton really fought this campaign on going to DC and fighting for Texas values, calling John Cornin uh part of the establishment. So, what we're seeing right now, the results are pretty loud and pretty clear. Keith, Stephanie, we'll check back in with you.
>> Okay. All right, Bryce, thank you. And with CNN calling the race for Paxton, uh we can imagine that the party where the other candidate is at right now, where Joel Eisabomb is at, is not going to be quite as loud. We're going to go ahead and get to Joel Eisabomb in Austin. He is there covering the race, the campaign for John Cornin. And and Joel, tell us if they've been seeing these numbers.
>> Keith, I'll tell you what, they've seen the number. There's no doubt about that.
But you could hear a pin drop in here.
There's about 50 people next to me and 48 of them are journalists. There's no TVs on in here. We're all just patiently awaiting the arrival of Senator John Cornin. one of its comm's persons came up to the podium about 20 minutes ago and said that at 8:15 we could expect to see Senator John Cornin. He uh was sort of a a stunning upset thus far. And it makes you wonder at 8:15 are we going to see a concession speech? I think it's a little early in the night to see that, but it's a possibility. I mean, there's 25 26 percentage points that now separate these two candidates. And what a swing that is from that March 3rd primary where Senator Cornin was up by a point and a half, two points over Paxton. And the difference maker we saw was last week when the president heartily endorsed uh Paxton. And here's the comm's person.
I want to listen to what he has to say real quickly.
>> They're testing the mics right now. We can't hear that. We're going to have to switch microphones. We're going to send it back to you for just a moment so that we can change our equipment out so that when he does take the podium, we're ready to go. Let's send it back to you in the studio.
>> Yeah, we're definitely going to want to hear what he has to say. Joel, thank you, sir.
>> What a fascinating night. I have to tell you, I'm a little surprised. I didn't think that at this point in the night, so early in the night, that we would know.
>> It's not even 8:15, >> right? And we already know. But all right, listen. We have a power panel for you tonight. And we can't wait to talk to these ladies because they know their stuff. So, we have Natalie Arseno. She's a conservative talk show host, our reigning champion. She joined us before on primary night and another champion for us here, Dr. Melanie Price. She's a political science professor at Prairie View&M University. Again, ladies, thank you for joining us again.
>> Thank you.
>> Yes. Yeah. So glad you're here. And first off, I mean, we got to talk about that corn and Paxton race huge gap CNN has called it. Give us your thoughts on that.
>> I have so many and so few all at the same at the same time. Um, it's surprising. I don't think people realize how difficult it is to unseat a sitting member of Congress.
>> 90% of the time they win.
>> They win.
>> Money didn't win this time. No, >> because Cornin outspent Ken Paxton. I mean, 100 I just have to say this. $130 million was spent in this race. The most expensive Senate race that we've had.
Yes.
>> In this country. Cornin had most of it.
>> Yes.
>> Yeah. I think he spent 17 17 times more than his opponent. I think what's interesting is not just money but also a moral compass like you know Kim Paxton he is widely known to have had so many investigations to be impeached by his own party to be uh you know under all of this scrutiny that you would think would make him difficult for him to maintain the position he has and yet he is going to be the Republican nominee nominee for Senate from the state of Texas.
>> Right now we're getting word that John Cornin is speaking. Let's go ahead and listen real quick.
>> Executive campaign wins. Tonight, we come we've come up short in this primary runoff.
You know, a few years ago, I had a friend of mine say, "You know what makes God laugh?"
He said, "When we make plans."
I've spent most of my time in the Senate building the Republican party in Texas and in the in the US Senate and I've always supported the Republican ticket and I intend to do so again in this general election.
I've said throughout this race that I trust the voters of Texas and they've made their decision and I must respect it.
Tonight, I'm joined up here by three women who mean everything to me and without whom I never would have enjoyed the incredible ride and public service career that I've had for many, many years. Of course, my wife Sandy of 46 years and and uh and counting.
and then uh our daughters Danley and Haley of whom I'm enormously proud and they mean everything to me.
Politics is hard on families especially.
But I believe and I know my family believes that public service is an honorable calling.
Serving others is a high purpose.
And while much about politics is ugly, we choose to serve through the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Of course, we could not have run this race without an outstanding campaign team that has served me so well through so many campaigns. Truly the finest I've ever worked with. to Rob Mayan and Andy and the entire campaign team who worked tirelessly and gave everything they had >> and who believed in me. I want to express my gratitude.
Of course, I want to thank my US senator.
>> You've been listening to Senator John Cornin. He has conceded the fact that he has lost this race in this primary runoff. He words were, "We have come up short."
Okay. Keeping in mind that he has served since 2002.
>> Yeah.
>> Yeah. This would have been he was seeking his uh fifth term uh this time.
And I I don't know at least when you look at uh just the state races that we're that we're looking at in Texas tonight that there is a more establishment Republican versus MAGA Republican uh race that we're seeing at least uh this time around. So I have to ask you Natalie, what does this particular race, the Cornin and the Paxton race say about the GOP here in Texas? I think what it says about the the Republican Party of Texas is that it there has been a shift, right? Right, wrong, or indifferent. You know, there's been a shift from what was the old guard of conservative politics. Um, you know, the the folks who kind of ran on the platform and pillar of the Republican party, which was family, you know, Christian moral Judeo-Christian foundation, those types of things. And the pendulum has somehow shifted now.
Um, and you know, the moral high ground that I think that the Republican party of Texas used to have, I think that has also swung. Uh, and we now the Republican party has proven out through the Senate race that it is truly a MAGA party now, um, with overwhelming numbers for MAGA. And I think that is going to be a telltale sign for the Democrats and the Republican party is going to have to be very very careful or else we will see Texas become blue.
>> Yeah. You know, uh, President Trump weighed in heavily last week with that endorsement of of Paxton. Obviously, that played a big role. And every president wants to ideologically shape the party while while he's in charge.
And he he had a lot of control the four years he was out. Did this just come down to Ken Paxton being more like Donald Trump than John Cornin was?
>> I think it comes down to two things. One is low turnout.
>> And we talked about earlier how in low turnout the most ideological people show up. And there are no people more passionate than MAGA voters. Right? They show up, they vote, they turn out when their leader says.
>> Okay. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry to cut you off right here because we're listening in to Christian Metafi who has just uh been uh declared the winner in the Texas's Congressional District 18 race.
Let's listen to what he has to say in his speech tonight.
>> Appreciate y'all.
>> So, y'all know I I never ever ever write anything down. Um but there's just so many people that I need to thank for everything that's happened thus far. Um I want to start by doing something that we've been doing throughout the campaign. We started off with me saying, "I'm Christian Meny. I'm running for Congress. I'm Christian Meny. I'm your new congressman. I'm Christian Meny. I'm staying in Congress.
I want to start by thanking my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
I didn't talk religion much on the campaign trail, but those who know me know how deeply and how closely held my beliefs are. I'm up every single morning, 4:00 a.m. in the Bible praying, toiling, and for us to get here, I know that we would not be here without Christ. Um, I want to thank the single-handed most important person to this campaign, to my life, Caitlyn, my wife, a full-time lawyer, a part-time half campaign manager, uh mother, uh see something she don't like on social media, ready to box.
Um she been there rocking out the whole time. I love you, honey. Um to my parents, Chris and Gail, they're up here somewhere.
Okay, you're listening to Christian Meny who has been declared the winner in the district 18th runoff, defeating long-term Congressman Al Green.
>> Well, and you know, you're going to hear a lot about that uh tomorrow because of what happened in Fort Ben County, and we'll get to that uh throughout the night. But now, we want to get to the Harris County uh judge race there with between the two Democrats, Leticia Plamer and Anise Parker. And you could see, I mean, those numbers really just have not moved. These are early voting numbers and also numbers uh from today.
and it's just it's split down the middle 5050. Our reporter Michelle Turner uh joins us now live. She is covering the Leticia Plameumber race. So, what is the mood like there right now?
>> Hey, it's all good vibes tonight.
There's friends and family and of course Dr. Leticia Plameumber. She arrived here maybe about 30 minutes ago. It was all smiles. We've been watching the TV screens. As you mentioned, it's a 50/50 split vote right now. So, a lot of emotions. Tell us how are you feeling tonight?
I just don't have the words. Um, we we never thought we'd make it to this point. And then now to be able to win early voting. As someone that's been in multiple elections before, we know when you win early voting, the trajectory typically stays the same. We knew we'd be close, but people came out and the community has spoken and is speaking.
And listen, I told folks we'd won in the runoff. Like when we won the runoff, I felt like we done what we were supposed to do. And so anything moving forward other than that is just is just I just um something that I'm so grateful for.
>> Tell us why you should be the next judge for Harris County.
>> I I believe what you're seeing in the campaign. I mean, I people matter. like they genuinely matter and it's not just talk and it's not just um what people just kind of may say. I mean how they live, how they thrive, how they push through their difficult times, what challenges they're actually experiencing and someone actually listening to what they're saying. It all matters to me. And I'm not saying it doesn't matter to other people, but for me, maybe it's the compassionate part of being a doctor, but I feel what people feel. And I just feel that our elected body has to do a better job. And I'm just hoping and praying that God has this plan for us because I know that we're going to make Harris County so much better than it already is.
>> And some of your platforms were health care, affordability, public safety, and emergency response. Kind of talk about how you're going to work towards the for the citizens here in Harris County.
>> Absolutely. You know, I was I went through six natural disasters. People kept on talking about a generator and we never had a generator any of our multi-purpose centers and I was able to find the resources to put the first one in Cashmere. We should have done that a long time ago. Disasters aren't new for the city of Houston. And so the fact that we didn't have generation for our lower income communities and really just communities in general just didn't make logical sense to me. And so now we have the blueprint. So putting the the groundwork down, right? talking about real infrastructure projects that look at social determinance, not just where zip codes may have a bit more of a voice, but actually looking at social determinance and seeing how difficult it is for people to rebound. That matters.
And um and that's what I want to work on. And I want to talk about the Harris County jail system. I mean, it's a problem. Too many black and brown people are incarcerated right now unfairly. We spend way too much money, 50 million plus, shipping them to Mississippi and Louisiana. We should spend that money differently, giving second chances.
Gotcha. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for your time. Now, we are going to wait. As I mentioned, we've been seeing those early voting numbers come in and she has a slight lead over Anise Parker.
So, now all we have to do is wait until some of those other votes come in throughout the night, but we will be here. Again, we have family, friends, supporters here at the Cactus Cove Bar and Grill here in the Timber Grove area.
I'll send it back to you guys in the studio.
>> Okay, Michelle. Thank you. And we we just want to clarify that we we know Dr. Leticia Plamer, she's so very excited and so very confident right there. But that race has not yet been called. The numbers right now still showing 50/50, but she does have some confidence uh because she's had a decent lead in the last couple of hours.
>> Just a few hundred votes really separate uh those two ladies. But now we're going to send things on over to Corley Peele.
She's joining us now live. She's covering Anise Parker's uh campaign who's just a few hundred votes uh behind Lucricia Plamer, at least when you're looking at those early voting numbers uh and those numbers from today so far. So, Cory, tell us what the mood is like over there and if um and if Anise Parker has said anything.
>> Stephanie and Keith, the mood is good out here and as you um said, we are monitoring those votes as they're rolling in, but Anise Parker is actually behind me here and she's going to speak with us about the election so far. Thank you so much for joining us.
We're all waiting. It's probably going to be a long night. It's been a long uh day. I've been on the campaign trail for 11 months.
Very excited to see so many of my supporters here tonight. And the most important part is if you look at them, you see Harris County. You see the diversity of this region. And that's been a big piece of the campaign. But >> no one can predict the outcome at this point.
>> Are you surprised that the races close?
>> We knew the uh uh 18th congressional district race would have coattails and u have uh tried to anticipate that. Uh I spent my most of my day in the 18th uh talking to voters at at major polling places there.
Uh but it's um it's always been a factor.
>> Do you think >> Yeah, I' I've stated all along that uh while I didn't think my my opponent could beat me, low turnout absolutely could. And this has been an ultra low turnout election with a focus on in the 18th. I'm um we didn't change anything about the campaign. We didn't change anything about messaging, but we're aware of where the votes were coming from.
>> I know you don't know, but do you think you'll know tonight or No, >> it's hard to fill.
>> I I have no idea.
>> Uh it's it's a very very close early vote. And uh you know, we put a we did a lot of campaigning over the weekend. We had uh three big block walks. We did phone banking all weekend. We did messaging and phone banking today and a lot of folks out at the polls. So, it's going to all hinge on election day.
Essentially, we're dead dead even coming into election day. So, it's a brand today was a brand new election.
>> And I know we saw you out at the polls earlier today and you talked about voter turnout. Can you speak about that? It seems like >> Well, there's there is clearly a lot of voter fatigue in in the region. Uh uh I spent since I spend most of my day over in the 18th, a lot of voter fatigue there and a lot of frustration. But uh uh with the huge surge of turnout on primary election day, I think a lot of folks just okay, they they did their bit and they'll let it sort out on its own for the for the runoff.
Unfortunately, that means that uh you know tighter than any of the polls would have said, but you know, I also have been done this a few times. Polls don't vote, people vote. And so, we've been focused on talking to people.
>> How do you feel about >> tired? Not bad.
>> But, uh you know, there is always a relief in a camp. I have won nine races.
I've lost two in the past. and the the when you get to this point in the campaign, it's just you're just glad it's over and you're ready for whatever comes next. I hope to be pivoting to campaigning on to November, but uh otherwise um I'm going to sleep in.
>> Of the elections that you've been a part of in the past, have you ever had such a deadlock outcome?
All right, you'll be listening to Anise Parker, former Houston mayor. Uh she is a candidate for the Democratic runoff in the Harris County Judges race. And right now, that race sitting at 50/50 and so it could indeed be a long night before we figure out who's going to win that one.
>> Actually, she said that exactly. She said, quote, "We're all waiting. It's going to be a long night." Uh just a 50-50 race right there. She's just a few hundred votes uh behind um her her uh Democratic uh opponent. But, you know, we want to talk about a lot of some of the other races here tonight. The the 18th Congressional Congressional District is a particularly fascinating one because Anise Parker just mentioned voter fatigue, right? And that's a real thing because people in the 18th congressional district have voted four times um since. Okay. So, we had last year um at the end of the year there was the January runoff, the March primary, and now this runoff. Who do you think I mean is is that is that is that fatigue essentially what made those voters go for Christian Meny over Al Green who just has more name recognition?
>> You were one of those voters, >> right? I live in that neighborhood. I've been voting I voted for the people before them all. I was without a a representative for almost a year. And the thing I'll say is the 18th that we were voting for the last time, those first two votes is a different 18th than we're voting for now. And what that means is the old 18th, I think, felt like they had some ownership of that district and they showed up, I'm guessing, to to really decide who gets to be the representative and they wanted it to be the person they already had.
Whereas Al Green was essentially running in a new district. He was running against new people. For him, it was a a different kind of race. So even though the people in the 18th, old 18th, knew who he was, he was not their representative. And so he was asking them to unseat someone that they had already waited a year to elect to put him in office because of the Texas redistricting uh changes over time.
>> Did Al Green make a mistake by not running for the the district 9? I know it was it was new, but at least he had he'd been associated with the district 9 for more than 20 years.
>> Yeah. I mean, I I honestly think he did.
I I think um that was the district that knew him and even though it had kind of been redrawn and and and um you know well and just new new elector electorates uh were in that district. I think he had enough name recognition. I think um he had a footprint already there. He had a record that was already there that applied to the issues of the people of that district already. Um, and switching gears, um, and and changing districts sometimes gives people a queasy feeling because it's like, well, you had a district. Why are you leaving those people high and dry and trying to come over here? Right? So, then there's kind of that identity crisis of like, who are you really here to serve? Are you here to serve yourself or are you here to serve the people of the district that you were in? So, I think that might have been some of the issue he was suffering with. So, >> yeah. And, uh, you know, we can't um, you just ignore the the the age difference. Yeah, we we know we love our we love our seniors. They're amazing.
They have so much to offer. But Al Green is 78 and Christian Meny is 38. We're talking about a 40-year gap. What kind of difference did that make?
>> I think, you know, we were talking about in the Republican party a changing of the guard. And I think in some way this is also a changing of the guard. And I think given um the untimely demise of Sylvester Turner and Sheila Jackson Lee, I think the 18th really paid attention to issues related to health and whether or not they thought a younger person might be in office for a longer time.
and and so having already experienced the loss of two Congress people in such a short period of time, then they were interested in also finding somebody who had energy, who could move forward, who could take the district forward in a way that they might not have been interested and experienced.
>> Okay, thank you for saying that. Now, I just want to take a moment. We're going to go back out live to Ken Paxton, uh, who has just been declared, uh, the winner of the Republican primary runoff.
Let's listen to what he has to say.
>> He's up in primary I I feel speechless in a way. You know, they're going to let me do that.
>> Wow. To the people in this room, to the people watching at home, and to the people of the great state of Texas tonight, we just made history.
I want to thank my family, my kids, my grandchildren, the Paxton Patriots, and every single person here today.
>> Without your love, your support, and your prayers, we would not be here tonight celebrating this incredible victory. I'd also like to thank all of the grassroots, local, state, and national leaders who supported this campaign, including Congressman Brandon Gil, who just spoke.
LANCE GOODEN, Congressman Nells, Congressman Wesley Hunt, and Congressman Ronnie Jackson.
>> I'd also like to thank Scott Presler and Turning Point Action and Turning Point Action for their endorsements.
And then there's one person who I think you might know, >> President Donald J. TRUMP.
>> When everyone in Washington told him to abandon me and abandon the people of Texas, he didn't listen.
>> Instead, he gave his complete and total endorsement.
President Trump is the leader of our party and his endorsement in this most power is the most powerful force in politics >> and I'm honored to have his support and I look forward to working with him in the Senate to deliver for Texas >> tonight. We just sent a Texasized message to Washington.
I said it in March and I'll say it again now. Today, change was on the ballot and change won.
>> Let me be clear. This is not just my win. This is your win.
>> We just proved that this Senate seat doesn't belong to Washington.
>> It belongs to you, the hardworking men and women of this state.
>> Yeah. We went up against $150 million in all the attacks in the world. And you know what happened?
>> The voters declared loud and clear a simple truth that we know in our hearts and in our souls. Texas is not for sale.
>> Now, I want to take a minute to say something about Senator Cornin. I want to thank Senator Cornin for his service to this state. John has dedicated much of his life to serving Texas. He's worked diligently for years to help Texas and for that spirit of service to the Lone Star State and our nation, I'm very grateful. Thank you, JOHN.
SO, no matter who you supported in this rate race, whether it was me, Senator Cornin, or you voted for someone different in March, I want to thank every single Texans, and I want to let them know that I want to earn your support. Tonight is not the end of a campaign. Tonight is the beginning of the fight to preserve every value we hold dear.
>> The future of Texas and the future of America is on the line >> and I intend to do everything I can to expand our movement.
>> I've won three statewide elections because I know how critical it is for our part.
>> Okay, you've been listening to Ken Paxton and he has won the US Senate GOP runoff in uh handy fashion uh calling his supporters the Paxton Patriots. So now we know it's going to be Paxton versus Tyler Rico. Um, you can't see them right now, but ladies, we have a lot to talk about when we come back. For sure.
>> So much as to talk about. Yes. And we're just going to take a few minutes, but stay right where you are. Get some iced tea, whatever you want to drink, water, whatever. We're around. We'll be here through 10:00 tonight. So, just stay right where you are.
I'm back here for our two-hour special on this primary night. We want to give you the very latest results for decision 2026.
>> Okay, if we could pop up some of those fill screens right now so that we can go over some of these races have already been decided amazingly at this time of the night. All right, so this is right here for Congressional District 18.
Christian Meny uh the clear winner there. Um, that's been called 69% compared to Al Green's 31% support.
>> Here we go to the US Senate Republican primary runoff and Ken Paxton has been declared the winner, handily defeating long-term Senator John Cornin. Paxton has 63% of the vote to Cornin's 37.
>> Okay. And here we have uh oh, we already brought this one up already with Christian Meny clearly winning over Al Green. If we could pop up the next full screen. All right, there we go. This is uh this is the congressional district congressional district 9. This is Alex uh Mueller with 69% support and we're being told that she has just been declared the winner of that race uh over Brisco Kaine with 31% support tonight.
>> Yeah. And that district 9 was essentially a brand new district that had moved far to the east and far to the north from where it was before. And that was this is Mueller's third chance at an election. So we're going to see how she does in November.
>> Right. And I believe that that was a Democratic leaning uh Congre uh district and now it's it's Republican leaning.
Okay. So now we're going to go to the Fort Ben County judge, the Democratic primary runoff. And here you have Dexter McCoy with 75% support compared to Michelle Carter with 25% support.
>> All right. Anyway, over on the Republican side for Harris Cash, we're going to go to this is the Harris County judge of the Democratic primary runoff.
Uh still tight race there. 5050 between Dr. Leticia Plameumber, former Houston City Council member and former Houston Mayor Anise Parker right now, both with 50% of the vote with Lotisha Plameumber with about 200 more votes. And this was not as big of a shock as the Senate race, but that right now is a surprise at least according to the poll numbers that we saw just last week.
>> That's going to be one of the races that we are watching very closely tonight because we have to aren't that vote.
Yeah, most of them aren't. And here we have the Harris County Judge race. you have Orlando Sanchez Handley uh with 75% support over Warren Howell and we want to learn a little bit more about this race. So, we're going to send things on over to our good friend uh Devin Clark because he's covering the Warren Howell race uh there. And although the candidate there uh Devon Warren Howell not uh doing as well, at least with the early voting numbers, tell us what the mood is like over there and if they're doing anything to energize the supporters.
Yes, Stephanie and Keith, you would never know that those numbers are not in How right now. You could just hear people in the background. The energy in here electrifying. Around 6:45 this evening, folks started pouring in supporters, of course, of the man of the hour, Warren Howell, who is right over there talking to some of his supporters.
And that's really what he's been doing this entire campaign. He positioned himself as a political outsider and business conservative, promising what he calls a more accountable approach to Harris County government. The Houston area businessman has focused much of his message on public safety, food mitigation, infrastructure improvements, and cutting county spending. How also criticized what he describes as a government that wastes and says he wants to bring a private sector management style to county leadership earlier. We got a chance to speak to him about cutting some of that unnecessary spending.
I'll run it like a business and social hour is over and we'll get it to where it's working and then you can have what you want. We'll have the five or 600 million in the bank so we can have police. We can have jails. We can have roads that work. We can have homelessness dealt with finally. We can have everything we want. And at the end of the day, we'll be able to lower taxes.
And of course, that is his goal. We'll have to see if it ends up becoming the case if he is elected to Harris County judge if he wins this Republican uh nomination here. But of course, the party's still going on, so we're going to stay tuned to those results and bring you more as we get from them. For now, reporting live, Deon Clark, KPRC.
>> All right, Deon with the Howell campaign. We want to shift over to the other candidate in this GOP runoff for Harris County Judge, and that would be Orlando Sanchez. And our Lisa Hernandez is there at that watch party and numbers looking really good right now for Orlando Sanchez. Lisa, >> yes. And they know it. They're very h very happy to see those numbers right now. Uh Keith and Stephania, we're here live at the Limbar at the ION in Midtown where you can see packed house here tonight of supporters watching these returns. Orlando Sanchez has run this campaign, touting his level of experience, uh especially when it comes to reducing debt and keeping the books balanced. He served 12 years as Harris County Treasurer. Says during his time in that role, the county had money at the end of every fiscal year. He's been critical of where the Harris County budget is and really where it's projected to be in fiscal year 2027.
Best case scenario at this point is about a $130 million deficit. And Sanchez says we have to make government effective and efficient and reign in that outofc control spending in Harris County.
>> Despite their taxes going up about 16%, the county continues to overspend. It's like a family that's out of control on credit cards. And we want to rein that in to make sure that county government doesn't compete with the cost of living that our citizens are having to put up with. Everything is high now. taxes, insurance, groceries, gasoline, and so we have to make sure that Harris County doesn't compete with it.
>> And he says he is the man to get that job done. We'll continue to follow these returns, but so far tonight, the Sanchez campaign very happy with those numbers they're seeing thus far. We're live in Midtown. I'm Lisa Hernandez, KPRC2 News.
>> Okay, Lisa, thank you.
>> Okay, so you know, there there's just so much happening tonight. First of all, I just wanted to check the temperature here with all of the races that we've seen that we've seen so far. Uh we know that the really the sexiest race, if you will, is the Senate race. Obviously, that's the one that people are going to be talking about for days because it's just not often that you have the power of the incumbency and money uh both being defeated. So when you talk about that particular race, obviously a lot of people have said, "Okay, well well the the the polling has shown that if uh if it was if it was um Cornin who beat Paxton that Cornin still had a better shot of beating Terico, but the opposite is true uh when it comes to this race.
What do you make of what's happening with the with the Senate race?"
>> I think Terico might be one of the happiest uh people tonight, right? He I'm sure he feels the wind at his back because now he knows he's going to be able to to raise more money with Paxton as his opponent because I think he's a more polarizing candidate. I think also he's going to be able to make himself out to be the reasonable person in the race. He's going to be able to make himself out as a minister, as the more moral person in the race. He has all of these uh affirmative qualities that he's going to be able to place against Ken Paxton. And this is when we'll really see whether or not the Texas electorate actually believes in the things it says it does about good old Texas values or whether or not they're interested in supporting a person who the president has decided should be our next senator.
>> Yeah. Speaking of the president, you know, whether you're a fan or not, I think most of us will agree that he's not hasn't been your typical politician.
No, I think that's safe to say. Uh but he he does have his pulse on on on the party at least right now. Was this in any sort of way a miscalculation on his part considering that Paxton wasn't polling well against Rico?
>> I don't know if it was a miscalculation on his part. Um I do think that Paxton again, right, wrong or indifferent for all the things and the qualities he brings to the race. Um he he has won statewide office in Texas multiple times, right? So, he knows how to run a race to get Texas voters to check his name on a box, right? And then you couple that with Trump carrying Texas both times that he, you know, ran for president. Um, you know, I think that that makes a powerful combination of of an opponent for Tel Rico. Uh, and so I don't know if Trump miscalculated or not, but I do think it'll be an interesting race to watch. Uh, and it'll be interesting to see how much money gets poured into it. Um, but but Ken Paxton definitely has the name recognition. He has he he has the infrastructure and inroads already in Texas as well. And Tel Rico is going to have to build that, >> right?
>> Yeah. I know it's way way too early to ask this question, but you know, it always comes up that the last time the Democrats won a statewide race in the state of Texas was was Governor Anne Richards.
>> Yes.
>> Okay. So, ladies, I'm about to ask ask you both. Is this the time that the Democrats finally win a statewide election?
>> Look, I I was born and raised in Texas and I have been saying this is the election that's going to turn Texas blue for longer than I care to to say. And so I no longer make that prediction, but you know, I think it deserves a try.
Everyone knows that if the Democratic party can win Texas, then they'll own the White House.
>> And that is a reason there is no map to the White House for Republicans without Texas. there are lots of maps for Democrats without Texas. And so I think if they're able to do it and they take it seriously, then that means that they're going to be powerful for a long time and maybe be able to undo some of the things that we've seen happen the last year to 18 months under the Trump administration that they say they find so abhorent. So we'll see whether or not the National Party actually puts it money where its mouth is. But beyond that, I think the spending we saw in Paxton Cornin, I think we're going to see about that much spending in Terico Paxton as well because it's such a a dramatic I'll say um race for on both sides.
>> And Miss Conservative, what say what say you?
>> I mean, I think you know I I've always said Texas will stay red, right? like but but I do think that this >> does give a very strong foot in the door.
>> Yes.
>> For the Democrats. Um you know, again, there was the Republicans always had the high ground or at least the perceived high ground of morality and all the things, right? Um and with this particular candidate, you don't have that anymore. So now, you know, you're going to have to you're going to have to figure out a new strategy because you can't run on the moral high ground. Um, and you can't make those attacks against your other candidate about not being the, you know, the perceived >> morality king.
>> That's correct. On the high horse. So, so I think it does give them a a strong foothold. If ever it were going to turn and there were ever an opportunity, this would be the one. And again, you know, I mentioned it earlier that, you know, primaries are about the parties, specifically the parties. No one no one who's not who's who's not party affiliated is bothered with a with a primary. So you still have the other 60% of Texas who votes to try to get them to the poll one way or the other. And the question is which way are they going to go?
>> Well, you know, when we talk about this, it's also, you know, it's it's not just about who's running, it's about who's voting. It's really about you. You that's sitting home and and and watching this because there are so many issues uh that are affecting you now. You talk about, you know, high gas prices and you look at there was a recent study that came out that said that uh people in Harris County need n need to make $90,000 a year to live comfortably.
>> Well, the median salary in Harris County is okay. I have it right here and it is $71,000 well below what you would need to live comfortably here in Harris County. So, we have serious issues here and uh I have to say it doesn't seem like it's just Democrat versus Republican. I mean, when you go to the grocery store, you don't pay Democratic or Republican prices uh for groceries. People have real issues, real concerns. I mean, you see the that that that data right there.
That's uh the median income. But if we can show people the gas prices, if we can pull up that that full screen because that's something that obviously a lot of people are thinking about.
Okay, we don't have that right now, but I'll tell you what we're going to do.
We're going to take a break and we'll see you on the other side of this break to discuss more of the things that impact you. Well, >> we have a lot more to talk about.
>> Yes.
All right, we want to give you the very latest numbers and the runoff election on this evening for decision 2026. We start off with the uh a big one. The US Senate race, the Republican primary. Ken Paxton, the attorney general, has been declared the winner with 63% of the vote to uh John Cornin, the sitting US senator since 2002 coming in with 37% of the vote. Huge gap there.
>> Okay, and let's go to the next one. US Representative District 9. This is the Republican primary runoff there where Alex Mueller has been declared the winner of that race with 69% support compared to Brisco Kane's 31% support.
Our reporter Mario Diaz is going to cover that for us in just a few minutes, but we're going to continue on with the with some new election results here. And here we have the Fort Ben County judge, the Democratic primary runoff. Dexter McCoy with 75% support compared to Relle Carter's 25% support.
>> It looks like he has a handy control in that race. This is this is the tightest race that we've seen tonight. A bit of a surprise for the Democratic primary runoff. Harris County Judge. They are vying to replace. Of course, we have uh the current judge >> Lena Halgo. Yes, of course. All the lot lot of names tonight we're dealing with.
But but right now, Leticia Plamer, former city council member, 50% to Anise Parker, former Houston mayor with 50% as well. They're very, very close. Only less than 200 votes separating them.
>> Okay. And then we have the Harris County Judge race. This is at least on the Republican side. The person who wins this is going to be the Republican nominee for Harris County Judge. Orlando Sanchez looks likely to get that uh at 65% support right now compared to Warren How's 35% support.
>> All right. And we want to go ahead and get to the Mueller campaign. Right now we have our Mario Diaz. He is there.
Alex Mueller has been been declared the winner of that race. And we go to Mario right now. And Mario, what's the mood like there?
Oh, the mood was very much a celebration from the moment we got in here this evening, even before the polls had actually closed and then it was just a matter of minutes there because they felt that confident. I've been talking to the campaign in the last 24 hours.
They said they saw a lot of surge on the ground in terms of their supporters in the last few weeks and they felt like this was going to be a very good night for them. And then when they saw those early voting numbers out of Harris County and then Liberty County, they just knew that the margins were just so wide that this was an easy victory and it ended up being just that. Right now we're looking at 70 to 30 in terms 70% to 30% in favor of Mueller. Um, I will tell you this room behind me, it was a lot more packed about 25 minutes ago and it was right over here in the corner here where you had Alex Mueller just stand there and really address her supporters. You could tell that she was grateful of the fact that everybody came out, not only here for tonight, but also for her at the polls. Now, what was intriguing was me standing here and listening to some of these people as they came in uh and and they started talking to me. There was one woman right over there with the hat. I don't know if you can zoom in on her too much, Roger.
She's blocked by the woman with the um stars on her sleeve, but she said, "This is important for people here in Baytown because we feel as if we finally have a seat at the table." You have to remember this is a congressional district that while it's existed in the past, it is a completely new district in terms of its dimensions. the boundaries were redrawn here in the last uh few years with regards to how the Republicans were approaching the redistricting here in Texas. So, this was one that they examined and said, "Hey, we want to change the boundaries." They did that.
So, that's why you have people here in Baytown feeling as if they've got a seat at the table now. That's how she described it to me with Alexander Mueller running on the GOP ticket in this race. On the other side, you have Laticia Gutierrez. She's the Democratic nominee and she will be facing off against Mueller now in November's general election. One important aspect here, we've been seeing this throughout the course of the evening with some of these candidates. Mueller was endorsed by President Donald Trump. I asked her, "How much do you feel that was in terms of giving you an advantage? How much did it boost your final results?" She said, "No doubt it played a significant role, but she said we felt very, very confident about tonight." That's the very latest here in Baytown. Mario Diaz, KPRC2 News.
>> All right, Mario, thank you. Right now, we want to get to Al Green giving a concession speech right now. Let's listen.
>> If you'll come over, please. Uh Rachel.
Rachel, if you'll come over, please. Uh let's have Lyanna come over as well, please. Uh where's K? Carl is here.
There's Doc. Okay. and Robert Teen.
All right, let's give all of these great public servants a big expression of appreciation. I'm very grateful to you.
And there are so many others that I would like to thank, but if I did, uh, we would be here for quite a while. But I do want to thank the clergy. The clergy was very much instrumental in helping me throughout my career. They have been there to counsel with me and they've also been there to stand and fight with me. So, let's give the clergy a big expression of appreciation, please.
And um I have friends in labor who have stood with me and those persons I greatly appreciate. Uh Claude Cummings of course is here as the president of CWA, but SEIU and there are other unions as well. Uh, I think that uh the men and women of Labor are to be appreciated.
So, let's give Labor a big hand, please, for what they've done to stand with me through the years.
And I'd like to indicate to you that this effort has been one that was sincere. It's something that I have done as a labor of love. I have enjoyed all of my time as a member of the Congress of the United States of America and I want to assure you that when I go back to Congress next week, I still plan to take up the cause of women in this country.
>> I still will fight to make sure a woman has a right to choose. This is something that we cannot allow men to deprive women of. No man has a right to tell a woman what to do with her body.
>> When I go back to Congress, I'm still going to be concerned about my Latino brothers and sisters, >> many of whom are suspect because of the way they look. Uh we live in a country now where if you happen to speak a language that is um related to that of persons who are from Mexico or from Latin American countries, uh then you can become suspect. And I do this because I remember when I was suspect for just being the color I am. So, I'm going to stand up and fight to make sure that we no longer have our Latino brothers and sisters suspect for being just who they are. Let's fight to protect them in this great country.
I want to acknowledge and let you know that I still will support the LGBTQIA plus community.
people ought to be able to be.
>> You'll be listening to Congressman Al Green give a concession speech. It has been announced that his uh candidate, his opponent rather, Christian Meny has been declared the winner uh in that race. And so we think about uh Meny, we think about Al Green. It certainly seems that Miny had the electoral energy, but he also had the monetary energy as well.
And it just wasn't wasn't Al Green's day with this new district.
>> It wasn't. And I think the thing we should also think about is that we have lost a lot of power with Al Green not being in office, right? Congress is built on seniority and he's been there a long time. You know, his ability to chair committees or to uh be able to get bills passed. All of the things that you learn on the job, Al Green had those things. And so it was really a choice between whether or not we're going to bet on the future, we're going to bet on on the past. And a lot of that we have to blame to the redistricting plan, not to either one of these candidates.
Really, the changes in the district is the thing that changed this most of all because both of them probably should still be in Congress, but the redistricting doesn't allow for that.
>> But but there's still a chance for Christian Menfy to to take the district uh you know in in no in November for sure. Um, but you know, is this just a a sign from some of the younger because we we've been interviewing people from from that district and they just say it's done. We want we want new we want young.
We want people who who understand us a little bit more and and some of and some of the issues that that we're dealing with on the Democratic side. Now, I just have to say before we continue, that man didn't look terribly upset. I've seen I mean, you saw like John Cornet. I'm just saying you saw John Cornet. I mean, he looked a little really disappointed. Al Green just looked and maybe that's some maybe he maybe he knew because when when we with a lot of the advertising he didn't have a lot of advertising.
>> We didn't see him Yeah. We didn't see too many ads from him at all.
>> Yeah.
>> I think he knew it was going to be a a hard slog. I think once people had made up their mind about Christian Meny people tend to stick with the person they had made up they their mind for.
And you know Al Green is a weather politician and he knows that you know in any given election can be your last election. And I think he's also a consmate community member and he isn't going to necessarily say anything now that he lo now that he's lost to make it harder for Christian Meny and the Democrats to to uh win in the general. I don't think that'll be a problem. I think Menfy will go um right through in this process. But I also even as we think about getting in new blood, it's also important, I think, to acknowledge and recognize the work that that that the old guard is the old guard because they managed to stay around because they were potentially doing things that people wanted. And at some point all all guards must change. And I live in the 18th congressional district and there are a lot more young people there.
There's a lot of young families there.
There's a lot of ways in which Christian Miny looks like the 18th now. And so they saw themselves, I think, in voting for him. And those who weren't his age saw their grandson or their nephew in his age. And so he resonated with people a lot who wanted to give him a chance.
>> Natalie, as you were looking at a lot of the as you were looking tonight at a lot of these races and what we've seen so far, what issues do you think are dominating this race? All these races, I should say.
>> Yeah. I mean, I think politics, regardless of like who you vote for and what party you are, um, politics comes down to your day-to-day life and and how it impacts you. And when you talk about, you know, the cost of energy, not just oil prices, but even like your electricity bill that's going up, um, you know, small business owners and people who were using the Affordable Care Act as a marketplace for health care saw their prices premiums go up substantially. They expired.
>> They expired and you your prices went up. I was one of those people.
>> Um, so you felt that. So there's a lot of, you know, when you look at the cost of goods and inflation that's happening.
Um, there's also like a lot of polarizing things happening where we're not finding money for things that are supposed to secure us, for example, TSA, but finding money for, for example, people who actually assaulted police officers on January 6th. So, like there's a lot of there's a lot of polarizing things that people are looking at and they're scratching their heads and they're like, "Wait a minute.
So, I had to wait in a 4-hour line for TSA, but we found $1.8 billion for these people. Like, why did I have to wait a 4 hour line to get on an airline? Why are my egg prices not going down? Why is gas $411 even with my special membership card?" So, there's a lot of that happening and um it's all very much attributed to the current policy. So this isn't like just oh corporations are doing things. These are policydriven results and outcomes that are happening and people have yet to see that make America great again piece happen. It's it's it's very much a slog right now. Um and your dollar isn't going as far as it used to go.
>> Yeah. Certainly not when it comes to gas prices. I think we have some numbers to show where gas prices are now compared to where they were uh last year not only across Houston but the state. So, uh, May of 2026, this month right now, your gas prices in Harris County, $4 a gallon. Just a year ago, $280. So, we're talking more well more than a dollar.
Yeah. A$120 change right there. And so, you know, it almost sounds cliche, but people do vote with their pocketbooks, the things that matter to them at their kitchen table. I think what's really interesting is look at the ads that people were running in this election and they're talking about Sharia law and whether or not we should build a fence and all these things, but talk to your friends and neighbors and they're talking about the fact that they were told that they could live out in the woodlands or they could live out in Pearland because the gas prices weren't that high in Texas. And now imagining I commute from Third Ward to Prairie View.
Imagine that's an hour drive. The tank looks very different. The decision about where I'm going to go looks very different when you have to pay that much for gas and people in Houston are driving. Yeah.
>> And so that is going to be a thing. I think if it's not fixed by the general election, it's going to hurt I think all Trump endorsed people. It just it >> people in Texas need cheap gas. It's the thing that that is critical. They love their cars. They're not going to commute. They need to figure that out.
We are driving. Speaking of Trump endorsed people, we want to send things out to our reporter uh Bryce Newberry.
Uh he is reporting from the uh Ken Paxton campaign where things have died down a little bit. Uh but I assure you about half an hour ago the mood there was, as the kids say, lit. Bryce, take it away.
>> Yeah, Stephanie, it was it has died down a lot. You know, you both have covered a lot of these nights where sometimes it goes on for a long while and we're waiting and waiting for those results, but you can see it's clearing out in here. People have left. The attorney general uh spoke for about 10 minutes or so. He said that change was on the ballot and change won. Um he then also very quickly thanked President Donald Trump for that late endorsement in this race. He called it the most powerful uh force in politics. Those were the words from Attorney General Paxton on stage just in the last 30 minutes or so. And it that was really a test going into tonight. The president stayed pretty quiet throughout this primary season up until really the 11th hour posting that endorsement on Truth Social just one week ago. And so the attorney general was sure to thank him for that. He also of course thanked his supporters. But really quickly, he then shifted the focus to November and the focus on uniting as Republicans to beat James Talerico. That's who he's expected to face in the midterm. And he called Taller Rico, in fact, a threat to Texas values. He also said that if Republicans lose Texas, they've lost the country.
So, he only again spoke for about 10 minutes or so and really quickly turned his focus to November and to continuing to fundra. He says that he will probably be the number one target for Democrats in that race when we get to November.
So, there's still a lot at stake here for the Texas Senate seat. And you can see the lights are actually starting to turn on and well, oh, they went back up.
But this is really wrapping up here.
People uh were thrilled to see him win when those results first flashed on the TV screen just over my shoulder here. I mean, the whole room erupted. People were hugging, cheering, and the music just continuously got louder. So now the focus on November, but I will mention James Tarico is out with a new video tonight. He calls Ken Paxton the most corrupt politician in America. He also posted on social media. He actually thanked Senator Cornin for his time in office and he told his Cornin supporters in that post. He said there's a space for them in the Tal Rico campaign.
Stephania and Keith.
>> Okay. All right. Bryce Newberry there at Ken Paxton's campaign up in Plano, Texas. Thank you, sir. We already got a little tasty taste of what we're going to get in November if already. I mean, you know, he had that video ready to go.
>> Yeah. And I don't know if Ken Paxton used the word lit, but I'm sure he's pretty excited about tonight for sure.
>> In a roundabout way. All right, we'll be right back in a few minutes.
All right, everybody. Welcome back. Decision 2026 primary runoff election night where some of these results have already uh come in. I mean, we've had results throughout the night, excuse me, but we're actually seeing some winners in some cases. And so, here you have the Texas Attorney General Republican primary runoff with Maize Middleton clearly coming out 56% support over Chip Roy with 44%. And yeah, these some of these uh campaign ads were downright nasty during this cycle, but the AP has declared that Maize Middleton is the winner of that race. Yeah, a lot of these races tonight not really that close, at least at this point. On the Democratic side on the primary runoff for Texas Attorney General, you have Nathan Johnson handily ahead of Joe Jorski right now. Nathan Johnson has 59% of the vote compared to Jorski with 41%.
>> Okay. And here we have this is the the race that really has dominated much of the headlines throughout the night. The uh Republican primary runoff for the US Senate race and that is Ken Paxton handily beating John Cornin uh 64% to John Cornin's 36%.
>> All right. And then we have for US Representative District 7 the Republican primary runoff. Alexander Hail right now with 64% of the vote to Tina Cohen's 36%. there about a little more than 3,000 votes separates those two.
>> Okay. And here we have a US representative congressional district uh nine Alex Mueller beating who was the Trumpbacked candidate uh beating Brisco Kaine 69% to 31% support.
>> And one more uh result for you. This is Fort Ben County Judge on the Democratic side for that primary runoff. and Dexter McCoy still ahead by quite a big gap, 75% of the vote to compared to Relle Carter's 25%.
>> Okay, so tonight we have seen two two uh people who have been in Congress for a long time uh who have been beaten. One of them being Al Green and uh we're going to go out I believe live.
>> We believe Al Green is speaking right now. Let's listen in. Um, I'm a very healthy person. Uh, notwithstanding some of the things that people have tried to cause people to believe. I'm very healthy. Uh, I exercise regularly and I eat fairly well. So, I would I have longevity unless something out of the ordinary happens and I just plan to move to the next next chapter of my life.
>> Congressman, thank you so much for your time.
>> Congressman, have you talked with uh Congressman Meny this evening? No, I have not talked to him this evening. Um, I'm sure that he and I will have an opportunity to visit with each other.
Uh, we tend to sometimes be on the same planes and obviously we'll be in Congress together so we'll have an opportunity to visit with each other and uh I'm grateful to all of you members of the press. Thank you very much for being here and let's all move forward together. Okay? Let's make America the beautiful a more beautiful America.
>> Thank you.
>> Thank you, Congressman.
>> Oh, are we? So, that was just Congressman Green wrapping up uh his interview with the press, just talking about how he's in a celebratory mood tonight. Um saying that he will not challenge the results that uh came in, even though there were some issues in Fort Ben County, and we did ask him about that. He said it was frustrating, but he really just looked back at his career, talked about some of the things that he's been able to accomplish such as uh funding for small businesses and disaster recovery. And he says his work is not done yet. He says the best is yet to come and when he goes back to DC, he says he'll be fulfilling those issues that he is so passionate about. We're live in Southwest Houston. Jaywan Jung, KPRC2 News.
>> Okay, Jaywan, thank you.
>> Okay, and we're going to continue here with some uh results for tonight. the Harris County Judge. This is the Republican uh runoff here. Orlando Sanchez 65% support compared to Warren Howell's 35% support.
>> All right, on the Democratic side, this is the tightest race of the night. A bit of a surprise. Leticia Plameumber and Anise Parker both with 50% of that vote right now. Uh they of course with the Republican primary candidates, they are vying to replace Judge Lena Hodalgo who had announced already that she would not be running again in November. Right now we want to go ahead and get out to our Michelle Turner. She is at Anise Parker's watch party tonight. And Michelle, the numbers really haven't moved that much. What's the mood there tonight?
>> Hey Keith, we're at Dr. Leticia Plumbers's watch party at Cactus Cove in the Timber Grove area and I can tell you that it's been good vibes all night.
Like you mentioned, a very tight race.
There's not a winner has not been called, but so far Dr. Plameumber has a slight lead over Anise Parker with about 200 votes. All night we've been watching her and some of her supporters. They've been flipping the channels, been kind of going through the websites. clickto houston.com has been one of their websites they've been looking at trying to see when are some of those precincts going to start reporting some of those results and as of 9:20 we have zero precincts reporting some of those results. So you can see Dr. Leticia Plameumber right here. She has been greeting and thanking her family, her friends, and her supporters all throughout the night. again. Although we don't have the official results, she told me that she's feeling very happy, very excited that she has a slight lead.
It's something that she didn't think that she was going to have going into this race knowing that Anise Parker had such a big name. She was the former mayor and also a former city council member. So, she told me that she wanted to run on this platform. She was focused on health care, affordability, and just making sure that the residents of Harris County can have better protection when it comes to emergency preparedness. something that she was proud of was an apartment ordinance that she passed uh during her time on city council and that's something that KPRC2 has covered before the different types of issues at different apartment complexes. She was able to work with other city council members to get that ordinance passed. She also said that she was very proud to get a generator at one of the multi-purpose centers uh in the Houston area. That's something that we all know when it rains it pours in Houston. And so she was able to get that done. But here again tonight, her supporters and her family, we are all just waiting on those official results to come in. Again, she is running against Anise Parker. It's a neck andneck race. So we're going to continue to be out here throughout the night.
We'll see you guys at 10:00, but for now, reporting live from Cactus Cove, I'm Michelle Turner, KPRC2 News.
>> All right, Michelle Turner there with the Leticia Plumber camp. Thank you, Michelle.
All right. So, as we're watching um everything that's happening tonight, we want to welcome our panel back out here.
If you're just joining us here tonight, I just want to reintroduce you to our panelists uh who are here on the set with us. Natalie Arseno, who's a conservative talk show host, and Dr. Melanie Price, who's a political science professor at uh Prairie View um&M University. Okay. So, when you're watching what's happening tonight, all all of the results that we've seen so far, what what do you think what was the thing for voters this time around during this election?
>> I think it depends on the se segment of voters.
>> I am struck most of all by the fact that John Cornin was kind of the last of a certain kind of Republican holding office in the state of Texas. you know, he was the Republican that we were member of the Bush family and other people like that. And what the state has said uh in various ways over the last couple of elections is that that Republican party is no more. We are a party that's further to the right. We are a party that is uh fully in align with the president. I've been very interested in that. The most surprising thing has been how close the Democratic judge uh primary is. I think a lot of people assumed that Anise Parker, her name recognition, her success as mayor would automatically tip her over. I'm pretty sure lots of people were surprised she ended up in a runoff at all, but the fact that it's this tight this late at night, I think everyone involved in that campaign is nervous right now.
>> Yeah. Yeah. We just want to stay on Cornin a little bit. When you think about Corno, he was certainly a Republican who was willing, more than willing to work with the other side of the aisle. I remember interviewing him a few years ago along with Sheila Jackson Lee. they combined on a bill regarding Junth >> and your thoughts as a conservative seeing someone like John Cornin >> being taken out of office.
>> I mean, you know, I'm I'm kind of sad about it because, you know, that that that's a real indication that the the guard has changed. Um whether it'll make us a better, stronger Texas, a better, stronger United States, um you know, that history has yet to be written. But there was something um about the diplomacy of uh a senator John Cornin.
There was um something about the you know just the statueesness of him um the kind of the political lineage of you know working with in the Bush with the Bushes as well and then you know um being through other kind of you know with Obama with Biden. So, he's kind of gone through um a variety of different types of presidents and had to work with everybody. And that makes us a less polarized country when you have candidates that can do that. And my concern is that we're moving. So, you know, we talked about the ideologues that come out when we have low voter turnout. And the problem is that, you know, the rest of the country gets lost in all of that. And so, it's con it's concerning um and it's saddening to see it. But but I hope um that we'll see we'll see a message kind of shift that even though you know you kind of said what you said to energize your base that you'll recognize that you also have to govern the rest of Texas. Um and and that you know Paxton will kind of re-evaluate his stance on some things.
>> Okay.
>> Thank you. So now we want to send things on over to Corley Peele. She has been covering Anise Parker's campaign who is running for Harris County judge. Uh give us the latest there, Corley.
>> Yeah, Stephanie. That race right now, it is very close in the Democratic runoff between Leticia Plameumber and former Houston Mayor Anise Parker who are both running for Harris County Judge. We did have a chance to speak with Anise Parker moments ago. She's still feeling good about this race. um she didn't seem too surprised about the fact that Leticia Plamer is leading by just a hair right now. This race is neck and neck. So Leticia Plameumber, she's ahead by less than 1%. So we are of course monitoring those votes as they're rolling in. But if you look behind me, you can see that we're at Birdy's Den in Montro. And the crowd out here for Anise Parker, they're still feeling good. They're still mingling with each other, um, monitoring the TVs, checking on they're on standby for any type of vote, rolling in, uh, monitoring those numbers. Um, again, we spoke with Anise Parker moments ago, and the thing is this is not her first political race, and so she said this is not the first time she's been in a race where the numbers have been this close before. So, u, she seemed pretty cool, calm, and collected about it. Um, again, she is hoping that she is the winner tonight. Um, and then moves on to advance in the election in November. Uh, but we had a chance to speak with her about how she's feeling right now about this. Take a listen.
>> We're all waiting. It's probably going to be a long night. It's been a long uh day. I've been on the campaign trail for 11 months.
Very excited to see so many of my supporters here tonight. And the most important part is if you look at them, you see Harris County, you see the diversity of this region and that's been a big piece of the campaign. But >> and just to give you some background about Anise Parker, she spent years serving the city as a council member, a city of Houston controller and eventually became the mayor of Houston from 2010 to 2016. and she also made history as the first openly LGBTQ mayor of a major US city. She said some of the things if she were to become the Harris County judge that would she would prioritize would be flood control, public safety, and uh creating jobs for people in the county as well. So you can see there's still a active group out group out here, a large crowd on standby for those results as they're coming in.
Anise Parker also talked to us about the low voter turnout and that having an impact on um some of the results that are coming out tonight. So, we of course are keeping an eye on this very close race that is neck andneck right now for the Harris County judge and this Democrat runoff, but we of course we will keep you posted as those votes come in. Reporting live from Montro, Corley Beal, KPRC2 News.
>> All right, Cory, thank you. We're going to go from Harris County Judges Race to the Fort Bing County Judges Race. We want to get a look right now at the Democratic primary runoff numbers and still Dexter McCoy with a very very healthy lead, 75% of the vote compared to Relle Carter's 25%. We know that both of them are vying to face Daniel Wong in the election in November because he won his primary this past March and he has been installed as the interim county judge for now. And so they are going to be seeing who's going to face him. At this point, it looks like it's going to be Dexter McCoy.
>> Yeah. A few hours ago, he actually spoke at the about the glitch that they had at Fort Ben County just for two and a half hours that some voters some voters there weren't able to vote uh because they because there was they were having some check-in uh issues there at the polls.
Yeah. But that's been that's been resolved. But, you know, let's go on out to Gage Golding. He is reporting from the Dexter McCoy campaign. So, obviously a big spread out there. I mean 75 to 25% that p that campaign still has to be feeling pretty good even though the race hasn't been called yet. Gage, >> you know, it's funny you say that because at this point they've already packed up and pretty much left. I believe Dexter McCoy is not even here anymore. And we were sitting down just starting to look over some of the early voting numbers that came in for this race and other races. And we start hearing somebody on the microphone talking and we're like, "Oh my gosh, are they calling it right now?" Had to had to hurry in and get in position. I mean, that's how quickly as soon as they saw those early voting numbers, that that position has not moved at all. That 75% vote swing has not moved. Actually, it's only increased by fractions of a full percentage mark uh in favor of Dexter McCoy. So, as soon as they had those early voting numbers come out, very much so, uh he was quick to get up on the podium there and and make that announcement that he was going to declare victory. And I want to read a quote here. said, "Well, today the people of Fort Ben County made their voices heard and they decided they wanted something different." Um, that remember Dexter McCoy, he's a current sitting uh council member or commissioner on Fort Ben County Commissioner's Court. So, he has to not only uh campaign against the sitting county judge, but he has to work alongside him for the next what five plus months now. Um, but this was a a very uh rowdy crowd in terms of they were very energized. They were very excited about what what's next, what what this road ahead looks like. Now, what what's very interesting is, you know, usually we see candidates wanting to relish in the moment and in, you know, kind of I guess there's a lot of work for them too to get to this point and to to be able to declare a victory.
But uh Dexter McCoy very quickly going on the offense uh slamming current sitting judge uh Daniel Wong who by the way just was uh sworn into this position again appointed after uh former Judge KP George was uh swept out of that position due to the the criminal investigation and all of that. So you have a a brand new interim county judge that was appointed to to that position and uh this is something that Dexter McCoy did not take any time to start attacking and and really just hitting the campaign strong. Um, you know, I asked him also about that whole hiccup with the voting system today. Um, and this kind of added on to the transparency that that he's campaigning on that he built part of his campaign on is that people want to trust the government more. I also asked him about another key race. Remember, Texas 18, the new district here includes part of Fort Ben County. Believe it or not, Dexter McCoy whenever he got out of college was going to work for Al Green.
Um, and I asked him, you know, hey, how do you feel about this? I mean, you have a long ter long time sitting congressman unseated by a freshman congressman. I mean, and this is somebody that you know personally. He says the message to folks today is that the fight has begun. U you know, and that they're looking for a new life, new inspiration uh in their political figures. So, uh, obviously a lot happening across the board, but here tonight we can tell you that, uh, the race is already underway, especially for the McCoy campaign as, uh, they're already on the offensive against Daniel Wong. We're live here in Sugarland, Gage Golden, KPRC2 News.
>> Gage, thank you so much for that.
There's so much to unpack there with what happened in Fort Ben County earlier today.
>> Yeah, he mentioned that hiccup with the voting system. We know that for about 2 hours. We started getting the phone calls at about 3:00 this afternoon into the newsroom, people saying they weren't able to vote and it was a software update uh for for checking people in is what the problem was. So, there were some people at a couple of locations who couldn't vote. What kind of impact do you think that might have? We already heard that Al Green is not blaming that for his loss, but what kind of impact does that have and on the morale of voters? Because for years now, we've been having these issues with polling places all over the country. Yeah, I think it the the spread is too wide for Al Green to say it's really affecting his race. But I think people will want to ask questions tomorrow like which were there particular precincts that were affected by this. What happened to people before people started calling in who might have been turned away? We don't know what time the problem started. How many people were turned away yesterday? How might they have voted? Was it random? These are the kinds of questions that we have to ask because people are already being told to be afraid of the government, to not trust the government. And little moments like this make everyone wonder, is there something happening that we should know about? Could just be an accident and probably was just an accident. It's just when you don't have enough information, you can't say what the real impact it was or not. The interim judge actually when he spoke Daniel yes he actually said and I quote there was a clerical user error.
>> Okay. So that that's that's pretty vague and we understand that things like that happened but it's like okay so why if there was some sort of an update that y'all ran why why today? Yes. Why why today? And and the thing is that obviously not a lot of people went out to vote today. That that could be that could be uh the reason why. But here's the thing. Fort Ben County is one of the fastest growing counties that we have in Texas. So, we can't if this happened today for this election. You don't want this happening in November because you could have people saying, "Well, you know what? I only have like 35 minutes to do this, man. I got to go home."
>> You also have to ask yourself, why was the role so different between now and the beginning of the month when they had their last election that you had to update it? Was there new data? Was there new something you were doing in the system? I mean, I think there are lots of questions that need to be need to be asked, right? In the last 25 days, how has your role trained changed so drastically that you needed this kind of major update right before an election? I think there are lots of questions to be asked.
>> Yeah. Is is it time to start doing this differently? I mean, with all the technology that we have today, is is it safe enough to try to do this uh on online with voting?
>> I mean, I think online voting uh should definitely be evaluated and looked at. I mean, we do so much stuff. If we can bank online, I don't know why. And we think our money is secure and that's our life, right? Liveihood, right? So, I think that's an option. What I would be interested in with the Fort Bank County issue is what is your procedure for safeguarding the the the roster that says whether someone is eligible or not when you upload it? Because I know when when during a lots lots of reports that came in, they said, you know, yeah, we have a process. We do checks and balances. What are those? Like don't just say we have checks and bal like I I feel like as um the electorate of Forben County, they should be they should know exactly what your process is when you upload a file.
How many hands does it have to go through? How many checks and balances does it actually go through or is it one lone person who y'all just gave a file to and let them upload it and now we have this?
>> Okay, that's a that's a really good point. And these are questions that we're going to be asking tomorrow. As a matter of fact, we were having that discussion in our newsroom. like I you know we want them to walk us through that process just to kind of understand exactly what went wrong today and what they're going to do so that it doesn't happen.
>> You have to assure people that in the general everything is going to be better. I mean that's the thing >> but it shouldn't happen anytime.
>> It shouldn't happen anytime but the best I guess the optimal time is when in a moment where you're just doing a runoff election and turnout is really low. But if this had happened during the general election you'd have many more people trying to get access to the polls. the lines would be longer and I don't see how in that case I'm not sure how in this case they didn't extend the voting.
>> It would be hanging chads all revisited.
Yes, unfortunately.
>> Very much so. He actually said the uh Daniel Wong actually said that since it's not the general election, that's why he didn't uh >> but people should have access to the ballot every time.
>> Yeah, >> true. All right, good point.
>> We're going to just put a pin in this conversation and we'll see you right back here in two minutes.
All right, we want to welcome back to our two-hour special decision 2026. Our primary runoff results. We want to give you the very latest. This is the attorney general's race on the Republican primary side. the runoff there. And Amaze Middleton has been declared the winner with right now 56% of the vote compared to Chip Royy's 44% more than almost 200,000 more votes.
>> Okay. And here we have the uh Texas Attorney General's race. Nathan Johnson 59% support compared to Joe Jorski's 41% support. That race still has not been called.
>> All right. US Senator, a really really big race. A lot of money was spent on this one. and Ken Paxton uh has emerged as the winner for the Republican primary runoff with 64% of the vote to John Cornin's 36% which will likely uh signal John Cornin's departure from public life as we know it.
>> Okay, next one here we have this is specifically for congressional district 7. You have Alexander Hail. Uh this is a Republican primary runoff with he has 64% support compared to Tina Cohen's 36% support. All right, US Representative District 9 Republican primary runoff. Alex Mueller has been declared the winner with 69% of the vote compared to Brisco Kaine who was a a congressman in district 128. So he was drawn out of his district. Uh and he does not uh come across the finish line here in that one.
>> Okay. The Fort Ben County judges race.
Dexter McCoy. We heard from Gage Golding just a few minutes ago. Dexter who he was uh talking about the Dexter McCoy campaign. Uh so Dexter McCoy 75% support compared to Michelle Carter's 25% support.
>> All right. And for district 18 also already called Christian Meny 68% to Al Green's 32%. We've heard from both of them tonight. A concession speech from Congressman Green and a very exuberant victory speech from Christian Meny.
>> Okay.
>> All right. Our panel joins us now again.
Uh we have Natalie Arseno and Dr. Melanie Price. Wow. So we have a most of these races not very close. A couple of them uh pretty pretty tight. Uh who what was the biggest factor in in this these results tonight?
>> I think two things um should take credit for this. The first is uh the candidates that that the president endorsed one.
whether or not that'll fair in the general election for tonight. He should be quite happy in that the people that he chose won and he can say putting his finger on that Senate election maybe helped Ken Paxton not just win but win in a decisive in a decisive way. And the other thing I would say is a desire for change. That is people are not voting with the people you would expect.
They're not voting with the names that you know for sure. Even in the jud in the county judge race, Anise Parker, whose name should have helped her move further. That that is not what we're seeing tonight. We're seeing people in this moment where they're trying to figure out what's happening in our economy, what's happening in our world.
They're saying, "What I'm going to do is I'm going to risk it on somebody new."
>> Right now, your thoughts on that?
>> Yeah, I mean, I agree. I mean, I think um President Trump should be u very pleased with the turnout in his party.
Um he he definitely can energize his base. That's proven. Um and he he really has um put his finger on the scale for Texas Senate. Um and it'll likely be, you know, a very close race for the general as well um between Tel Rico and and Paxton. I also think though what played a role and I was looking at it when I the attorney general numbers were rolling through there were a million roughly a million voters on the Republican side and about 400,000 on the Democratic side. So even across the entire state like very low voter turnout and um I think that was one of the major factors that played a significant role in in in what we saw happen um today um across many of the races. So, you know, I think taking it into November, you know, we've got to get people to come out and vote for first and foremost. Um, and then, you know, I think there is definitely an undercurrent of people are tired of the old guard. Um, and and they really do want to see change, more energy, and I feel like they want it to be a little more contentious. um like they want people who can like you know fight not hopefully not fist fights but you know like you know have a have have a a vibrant discussion um and and an exchange of ideas. So >> if you take the the party affiliation out of today when you look at all the the separate races in particular particularly talking about the Christian Meny Al Green race and then you have the uh Paxton and Cornin races. So, you just take the D's and the Rs uh out of it.
You had uh two incumbents or or two people who had been in Congress for a long time getting booted out. What's the disconnect here? Uh what are politicians not understanding about voters?
Um I think they are not understanding that that the tide is turning that it's quite possible name recognition alone is no longer enough for a candidate. Um we saw it with Anise Parker, we saw it with Cornin. Um they they also aren't understanding the need for a simplified message. So the one thing that Trump does really really well is he gives you a punchline like a very simple punchline. We saw it a lot in Meny's ads as well. Like a very simple crisp punchline. Um I I don't think you know I I think people are not necessarily interested in all the deep data points and all the things that they think they're interested in. I think they want the punchline. Just get me the bottom line and and build on that. Uh, and I think that's what a lot of politicians aren't understanding. Um, and the few that did, you saw them win decisively.
>> Dr. Price, what do you think? What's the disconnect here?
>> I think the disconnect is a lot of these uh incumbents were more focused on distinguishing themselves from their candidate than putting forward forward a message. And I think if Tal Rico is smart, what he won't do is attack Paxton. What he will do is demonstrate through his words and actions how he's different from Paxton. that is to show um a better way rather than to talk about how many times your opponent showed up to vote or how many times whether or not your opponent is a mean guy. Like instead of talking about those things, I think Terrico is going to have to make an affirmative case for why we should choose him over Kim Paxton.
>> Okay. Between now and November, she be really interesting. We look we look forward to it. Thank you both Dr. Melanie Price and also Natalie Arseno.
You guys are always great. Fabulous.
>> We got to have you back in November. We know. Yes.
>> Definitely. Yes.
>> Thank you so much for joining the panel.
We've appreciated you guys keeping us company and keeping them company. Uh we've enjoyed your time. Thank you so much for being with us. And you at home, thank you so much for watching and we invite you to join us again for KPRC2 News at 10. That's going to be on regular linear television. But thank you so much for joining our live stream tonight >> right after the game. Yes.
Heat. Heat.
Heat. Heat.
Heat.
Heat.
Heat. Heat.
Heat.
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Heat.
Heat. Heat.
Hm.
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