Democrat James Talarico led Republican Ken Paxton in early returns in the Texas U.S. Senate race on Tuesday night, according to The Texas Tribune. Ballots from Election Day were still being tallied. Talarico's early lead came from strong results in the North Texas suburbs and large margins in urban areas that had reported.
More than 7.7 million Texans voted early, the Tribune reported, which it said was 40.5% of registered voters. That is the highest midterm early-turnout rate on record in modern Texas. The newsroom also reported that the race was the most expensive U.S. Senate race in American history. Democrats need to flip four seats and keep their current ones to win Senate control.
Paxton called Talarico "the most radical Democrat to ever run in Texas history," citing past comments by Talarico. Talarico said some of those remarks were meant to be "provocative" but "missed the mark." Democrats have not won a statewide race in Texas since 1994.