Texas hasn’t gone blue in a statewide race in more than 30 years, but that streak could face a serious test this year.A new Fox News poll finds that while Texas likely voters favor Republicans retaining control of the U.S.
Senate and give incumbent Republican Gov.Greg Abbott an edge in his re-election bid, the Senate race remains deadlocked.The survey, released Wednesday, finds Democrat James Talarico and Republican Ken Paxton tied at 49% each among Texas likely voters in the race to replace Sen.
John Cornyn, who lost the GOP primary to President Trump-backed Paxton.Last month, Talarico was up by 2 points among likely voters (51%-49%).The shift to a tie reflects Paxton consolidating support among conservatives, rural voters, suburban women and voters who backed Cornyn in the primary.FOX NEWS POLL: TUREK, HINSON IN CLOSE IOWA SENATE RACEAlthough Paxton is falling short of Trump’s 2024 margins, he has strengthened his support a tad among both men (+1) and women (+1) since September, while Talarico slightly lost support (-1 and -2, respectively).Talarico leads by wide margins among Black voters (+65 points), urban voters (+29), those under age 30 (+28), and women with a college degree (+23).
Paxton’s strongest groups include White evangelical Christians (+52), White men without a college degree (+32), rural voters (+21) and those age 65 and up (+18).The survey finds Hispanic voters swinging back toward the Democrats.After backing former President Joe Biden by 25 points in 2020, they favored Trump by 1 point in 2024, according to the Texas Fox News Voter Analysis.
This key voting bloc now favors Talarico by 30 points (64%-34%) and prefers Democratic control of the U.S.Senate by 29 points.Overall, when it comes to Senate control, Texans choose Republicans by 4 points (51% to 47%), up from +1 point in September.Talarico’s stronger party loyalty is another reason the race is close: 98% of Democrats support him, compared with 90% of Republicans supporting Paxto...