作者： root

Takeaways from the Texas and North Carolina primaries

Analysis by Aaron Blake | 4 min ago | PUBLISHED Mar 4, 2026, 2:33 AM ET

Texas Senate candidate James Talarico (D-TX) addresses supporters on election night on March 03, 2026 in Austin, Texas.
John Moore/Getty Images

Voters in three states headed to the polls for the first primary day of the 2026 midterm elections on Tuesday, with the big story being a pair of Texas Senate primaries that both seemed to break quite well for Democrats’ majority hopes.

State Rep. James Talarico’s win over US Rep. Jasmine Crockett in the Democratic primary gave Democrats what appears to be their most electable nominee, while baggage-laden Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton forced a runoff with GOP Sen. John Cornyn.

Primaries were held Tuesday not just in Texas but also in North Carolina and Arkansas.

Below are some takeaways from those races and other primaries on Tuesday.

Crockett misses her opportunity

---

Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, speaks during a primary election watch party Tuesday, March 3, 2026, in Dallas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
Tony Gutierrez/AP

The story of the Texas Democratic Senate primary wound up being largely about a missed opportunity for Crockett.

The congresswoman came into the race with buzz around her name and some real built-in advantages. But her campaign never seemed to do the kinds of traditional things – the blocking and tackling – that you need to do to complement that.

• Key Race

Senate: Texas

---

| CANDIDATE | PERCENT | VOTES |
| — | — | — |
| James Talarico Democratic | 53.2% | 1,078,129 155,807 ahead |
| Jasmine Crockett Democratic | 45.5% | 922,322 |
| Ahmad Hassan Democratic | 1.3% | 26,573 |

Est.

83%
votes in

Updated just now

Projected Winner

She got in the primary at the 11th hour just three months ago. Her campaign advertising was scant. (In fact, Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott accounted for a large share of the money spent on her behalf as he sought to elevate her candidacy in hopes of hurting Democrats.)

Her message at times seemed to be more focused on process and grievances rather than talking about what she would do as a senator. In the closing days of the campaign, her staff made a reporter from The Atlantic leave an event.

None of it suggested she was ready for primetime, and that showed on primary day. Despite most of the polling having shown her leading, it was pretty clear early on that this was Talarico’s night.

One way to look at that is that Democratic primary voters made a more pragmatic choice rather than picking the firebrand. But also — the firebrand’s campaign just didn’t stack up.

A potentially brutal 12-week Texas Senate runoff looms

---

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, left, and Sen. John Cornyn at their respective primary election night watch events on Tuesday.
AP/Getty Images

The GOP primary went about as expected, with Cornyn and Paxton headed for a runoff that will conclude on May 26.

Under normal circumstances, you’d say Cornyn is the clear underdog in the runoff. Usually these primaries break down between the incumbent vote and the anti-incumbent vote. And a majority of primary voters voted against the incumbent.

But Paxton’s baggage — including a past indictment and allegations of infidelity from his wife — suggests voting for him could be a hurdle for some Rep. Wesley Hunt supporters, who could either vote for Cornyn or sit out the runoff after Hunt finished third.

• Key Race

Senate: Texas

---

| CANDIDATE | PERCENT | VOTES |
| — | — | — |
| John Cornyn* Republican | 42.0% | 846,975 22,238 ahead |
| Ken Paxton Republican | 40.9% | 824,737 |
| Wesley Hunt Republican | 13.2% | 265,847 |

Est.

85%
votes in

Updated just now

Incumbent

Advances to runoff

And beyond that, Talarico’s win in the Democratic primary could put a premium on Republicans putting forward the more electable candidate, which would seem to be Cornyn. Expect to see plenty of talk about whether President Donald Trump, who praised all three candidates in the primary, might join the national GOP in picking Cornyn over Paxton in the name of holding the seat.

That might be a tough pill for Trump to swallow, given Paxton is more MAGA than Cornyn. But Trump will also be concerned about keeping the GOP’s congressional majorities.

(CNN’s Dana Bash reported on the air Tuesday night that it was “very likely” Trump would come off the sidelines and endorse in the runoff.)

Talarico would be the underdog against either Republican, and Democrats haven’t won any statewide race in Texas since 1994. But putting this one in play would be huge for their majority math.

What’s clear for now is that a massively expensive and increasingly ugly GOP campaign just got extended for 12 weeks. And that’s suboptimal for Republicans.

Ted Cruz helps take down an incumbent Republican

---

Sen. Ted Cruz holds a press conference at the U.S. Capitol on December 15, 2025 .
Heather Diehl/Getty Images

Speaking of incumbents not getting love from key figures in their national party, Rep. Dan Crenshaw got the cold shoulder from Trump, Abbott and Sen. Ted Cruz. Now he’s a lame duck.

Crenshaw lost to state Rep. Steve Toth. And it doesn’t appear to have been particularly close.

• Key Race

House 2: Texas

---

| CANDIDATE | PERCENT | VOTES |
| — | — | — |
| Steve Toth Republican | 57.3% | 31,964 10,045 ahead |
| Dan Crenshaw* Republican | 39.3% | 21,919 |
| Martin Etwop Republican | 1.8% | 1,024 |
| N. Lee Plumb Republican | 1.5% | 860 |

Est.

78%
votes in

Updated 2:18 a.m. ET, Mar. 4

Projected Winner

Incumbent

Cruz played an especially large role in taking down Crenshaw, including even cutting an ad supporting Toth – a highly unusual move for an incumbent senator.

As for why it happened? Crenshaw undoubtedly rubbed some of the MAGA movement the wrong way by occasionally showing some independence from Trump over the years. But it’s also true that Texas’s new map worked against him by moving in lots of Toth-friendly territory.

Other incumbents get scares

---

Rep. Dan Crenshaw speaks at a the US Capitol on February 14, 2024.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Crenshaw had the worst day for an incumbent, and Cornyn is clearly in some trouble.

But they’re not the only incumbents getting scares on Tuesday.

As of late Tuesday night, longtime Democratic Rep. Al Green was locked in a tight contest with Rep. Christian Menefee, who recently won a special election for his Houston-area seat. (The two are running against each other under the new map.)

And in North Carolina, Democratic Rep. Valerie Foushee was in a tight contest with Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam, a well-funded challenger running to Foushee’s left in a very blue district.

• Key Race

House 18: Texas

---

| CANDIDATE | PERCENT | VOTES |
| — | — | — |
| Christian Menefee* Democratic | 46.0% | 31,280 305 ahead |
| Al Green* Democratic | 45.6% | 30,975 |

Est.

67%
votes in

Updated 2:23 a.m. ET, Mar. 4

Incumbent

• Key Race

House 4: North Carolina

---

| CANDIDATE | PERCENT | VOTES |
| — | — | — |
| Valerie Foushee* Democratic | 49.2% | 61,537 1,202 ahead |
| Nida Allam Democratic | 48.2% | 60,335 |
| Mary Patterson Democratic | 2.6% | 3,253 |

Est.

99%
votes in

Updated 11:48 p.m. ET, Mar. 3

Incumbent

The Tony Gonzales saga goes on

---

Rep. Tony Gonzales speaks to media outside the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, D.C., on July 22, 2024.
Graeme Sloan/Sipa USA/AP/File

But for one incumbent, facing a runoff was actually a good outcome.

GOP Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas faced a rematch with Brandon Herrera, whom he narrowly defeated in his 2024 primary. Gonzales has faced a series of brutal recent disclosures about an alleged affair with a staffer who later died by suicide. The news has led even some Republicans to call for him to resign.

• Key Race

House 23: Texas

---

| CANDIDATE | PERCENT | VOTES |
| — | — | — |
| Brandon Herrera Republican | 43.4% | 23,548 905 ahead |
| Tony Gonzales* Republican | 41.7% | 22,643 |

Est.

87%
votes in

Updated just now

Incumbent

Advances to runoff

He could still lose a runoff. But for now, he’s got reason not to resign and to keep fighting.

That could be good for Republicans in that it means they might not see their already slim majority shrink. But it could be bad in that they have to keep dealing with a really ugly situation.

A not-so-good day for ambitious House members

---

Rep. Chip Roy attends a press conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on January 14, 2026.
Nathan Howard/Reuters

In part thanks to disillusionment with the state of legislating in the House, there are an extraordinary number of House members running for statewide office – more than two dozen of them, in fact.

They are not off to a good start.

While both Crockett and Hunt lost their Senate primaries, Republican Rep. Chip Roy finished a pretty distant second in the Republican primary for Texas attorney general.

He was in line for a runoff with state Sen. Mayes Middleton, but Roy is looking like a distinct underdog.

Attorney General: Texas

---

| CANDIDATE | PERCENT | VOTES |
| — | — | — |
| Mayes Middleton Republican | 39.4% | 758,127 149,285 ahead |
| Chip Roy Republican | 31.6% | 608,842 |

Est.

84%
votes in

Updated 2:36 a.m. ET, Mar. 4

Advances to runoff

GOP Rep. Dan Crenshaw loses primary race in Texas to state Rep. Steve Toth, CBS News projects

Updated on: March 4, 2026 / 1:38 AM EST / CBS News

Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw has lost the GOP primary race in Texas’ 2nd Congressional District to Texas state Rep. Steve Toth, CBS News projects.

Crenshaw, who has served in the House since 2019, is the only sitting House Republican in Texas who did not receive President Trump’s endorsement.

Toth, 65, is a small business owner with a background in construction and business consulting. He’s an avid supporter of the president, and on the campaign trail, argued that Crenshaw wasn’t loyal or conservative enough for the

巴格达美方设施遭无人机袭击 疑为美使馆营地

2026-03-04T06:20:18.000Z / 联合早报

3月2日晚，在美国大使馆所在的巴格达绿区的入口处，一名抗议者举着一面伊朗国旗。 （法新社）

据多家中东媒体报道，位于伊拉克巴格达国际机场附近的美国设施遭无人机袭击。

新华社报道，黎巴嫩“广场”电视台称，巴格达机场附近的“美军基地”发生爆炸。

另据卡塔尔半岛电视台报道，遭袭击的设施为美国大使馆后勤保障营地。

目前，美方尚未公布相关信息。

巴格达美方设施遭无人机袭击 疑为美使馆营地

2026年3月4日 14:20 / 联合早报

3月2日晚，在美国大使馆所在的巴格达绿区的入口处，一名抗议者举着一面伊朗国旗。 （法新社）

据多家中东媒体报道，位于伊拉克巴格达国际机场附近的美国设施遭无人机袭击。

新华社报道，黎巴嫩“广场”电视台称，巴格达机场附近的“美军基地”发生爆炸。

另据卡塔尔半岛电视台报道，遭袭击的设施为美国大使馆后勤保障营地。

目前，美方尚未公布相关信息。

GOP Rep. Tony Gonzales forced into primary runoff after affair allegations shake up race, CBS News projects

Updated on: March 4, 2026 / 2:11 AM EST / CBS News

Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales has been forced into a repeat primary runoff with far-right gun activist Brandon Herrera, CBS News projects, weeks after Gonzales was accused of having an affair with an aide who later died by suicide — drawing calls for him to resign.

Gonzales and Herrera are locked in a tight contest, with neither candidate expected to clear the 50% threshold required to avoid a runoff on May 26.

Gonzales was first elected in 2020, and had branded himself as a moderate. In a primary challenge from Herrera in 2024, Gonzales only prevailed by 400 votes. Gonzales has since pursued a rightward shift and touted his endorsement by President Trump in this race, although Mr. Trump left his name off a list of endorsements on Friday.

But Gonzales had been facing calls to resign from members of both parties after texts were revealed last month between him and former aide Regina Santos-Aviles, who died in September after setting herself on fire, according to the Uvalde police.

According to texts obtained by CBS News, Gonzales asked Santos-Aviles for a “sexy pic” in May 2024. After a back-and-forth, Santos-Aviles said she didn’t like taking photos of herself. He responded in a pair of texts: “I’m just such a visual person” and “Sorry.”

The congressman then asked Santos-Aviles what her “favorite position” is. She asked him to answer first, and he did.

The aide then texted: “This is going too far boss. So how long have you thought I was this hot?”

After another back-and-forth, Santos-Aviles said again: “This is too far, Tony.”

Gonzales, who has previously denied having an affair, is married and has six children. Santos-Aviles was also married and had an 8-year-old son.

Texas’ 23rd Congressional District, which encompasses more than 800 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border, had long been considered a swing district, but was redrawn in 2021 to be more safely Republican, and Gonzales won by more than 20 percentage points in the 2024 election. The district is still considered safe Republican after Texas’ 2025 redistricting.

东京高院维持解散令 统一教清算将启动

发布时间 / 来源：2026年3月4日 14:52 / 联合早报

1月13日，人们走过位于奈良市近铁大和西大寺站前十字路口的一处花坛纪念地。此处是日本前首相安倍晋三在发表竞选演讲时遭枪击身亡的地点。 （法新社）

日本东京高等法院星期三（3月4日）作出决定，维持去年3月东京地方法院对宗教团体“世界和平统一家庭联合会”（原“统一教会”）下达的解散命令。

日本放送协会（NHK）报道，对世界和平统一家庭联合会的清算程序将启动。解散命令生效后，世界和平统一家庭联合会失去宗教法人资格，不再享受宗教活动所得免税等优惠政策。接下来，清算人员将处置该宗教团体的资产，并推进对受害者的赔偿工作。

世界和平统一家庭联合会被指迫使信众进行巨额捐款。相关问题因2022年7月日本前首相安倍晋三遇刺事件而引发社会关注。刺杀安倍的山上彻也供认，他母亲受该教会洗脑，将几乎全部家当供奉给教会，他为报复而刺杀与该教关系密切的安倍。

日本文部科学省2023年10月向东京地方法院提交约5000份证据，申请对世界和平统一家庭联合会下达解散令。日本东京地方法院去年3月以世界和平统一家庭联合会“长期进行有组织高额募捐活动，并造成巨大损失”为由对其下达解散命令。世界和平统一家庭联合会随即提起上诉。

东京高院维持解散令 统一教清算将启动

2026年3月4日 14:52 联合早报

1月13日，人们走过位于奈良市近铁大和西大寺站前十字路口的一处花坛纪念地。此处是日本前首相安倍晋三在发表竞选演讲时遭枪击身亡的地点。 （法新社）

日本东京高等法院星期三（3月4日）作出决定，维持去年3月东京地方法院对宗教团体“世界和平统一家庭联合会”（原“统一教会”）下达的解散命令。

日本放送协会（NHK）报道，对世界和平统一家庭联合会的清算程序将启动。解散命令生效后，世界和平统一家庭联合会失去宗教法人资格，不再享受宗教活动所得免税等优惠政策。接下来，清算人员将处置该宗教团体的资产，并推进对受害者的赔偿工作。

世界和平统一家庭联合会被指迫使信众进行巨额捐款。相关问题因2022年7月日本前首相安倍晋三遇刺事件而引发社会关注。刺杀安倍的山上彻也供认，他母亲受该教会洗脑，将几乎全部家当供奉给教会，他为报复而刺杀与该教关系密切的安倍。

日本文部科学省2023年10月向东京地方法院提交约5000份证据，申请对世界和平统一家庭联合会下达解散令。日本东京地方法院去年3月以世界和平统一家庭联合会“长期进行有组织高额募捐活动，并造成巨大损失”为由对其下达解散命令。世界和平统一家庭联合会随即提起上诉。

The Iran war’s troubling missile math

Published Mar 4, 2026, 12:00 AM ET | By Sean Lyngaas, Kylie Atwood, Isabelle Khurshudyan

Four days into war with Iran, at least one of the United States’ Gulf allies is already running low on crucial interceptor munitions used to defend against Iranian missile and drone attacks, two sources told CNN.

“It’s not panic yet, but the sooner they get here the better,” one regional source told CNN, referring to a request their government made to the US for more interceptors.

That mirrors concern across the region, including in Israel, about the stockpile of weapons needed to defend against Iranian attacks, especially as President Donald Trump has floated an extended timeline for the campaign. Speaking at the White House on Monday, Trump said the war was initially “projected” to last “four to five weeks” but added the US military has the “capability to go far longer than that.”

Qatar has enough interceptors for a long period of time but is still in touch with the US military’s Central Command in case the Qataris need to ask for more interceptors, a Qatari source told CNN, declining to specify what that time period was.

Before the war began, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine and other military leaders warned Trump that a protracted military campaign could impact US weapons stockpiles – particularly those that support Israel and Ukraine, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.

The US has been “burning” through long-range precision-guided missiles over the last several days, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Now that the war is expanding, it’s a numbers game: How many interceptors will the US and its regional allies need to continuously shoot down Iranian missiles and how many, if any, of those weapons will need to be redirected from other stockpiles earmarked for US forces in the Pacific? US rivals like China will be watching closely.

“Each intercept represents hundreds of hours of training, readiness, and technology all coming together to work as designed,” Caine said at a press briefing on Monday on the US-Israel military operation against Iran.

Later that day, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that Iran is “producing, by some estimates, over 100 of these missiles a month. Compare that to the six or seven interceptors that can be built a month.” He added that destroying Iran’s missile capacity is the goal of the US campaign.

In a post on Truth Social Monday night, Trump appeared to respond to concerns over dwindling stockpiles. He wrote that US munitions stockpiles “at the medium and upper medium grade” have “never been higher or better,” adding that the US has a “virtually unlimited supply of these weapons.”

“Wars can be fought ‘forever,’ and very successfully, using just these supplies,” Trump continued. He didn’t specify exactly which munitions he was referring to.

“At the highest end, we have a good supply, but are not where we want to be,” Trump said. He then criticized President Joe Biden for “giving” away “so much of the high end” to Ukraine in support of the country’s defense against Russian attacks. Biden administration officials often cited concern over depleting US stockpiles as a reason for their initial hesitancy in providing Ukraine with certain long-range air defense and strike munitions.

Trump told Politico in an interview Tuesday that “The defense companies are on a rapid tear to build the various things we need. They’re under emergency orders.”

Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of US Central Command, released a video statement on Tuesday evening, saying in part that the US military had struck nearly 2,000 Iranian targets with more than 2,000 munitions.

“We have severely degraded Iran’s air defenses and destroyed hundreds of Iran’s ballistic missiles, launchers and drones,” Cooper added.

He acknowledged that the Iranian military had launched more than 500 ballistic missiles and over 2,000 drones in response to the US and Israeli attacks.

“We are seeing Iran’s ability to hit us and our partners is declining, while our combat power, on the other hand, is building,” Cooper claimed.

On Capitol Hill, Democrats are growing increasingly uneasy about the amount of munitions that have already been used and what it could mean for US defense in the Middle East and beyond.

“The Iranians do have the ability to make a lot of Shahed drones, ballistic missiles, medium range, short range and they’ve got a huge stockpile,” said Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly. “So at some point … this becomes a math problem and how can we resupply air defense munitions. Where are they going to come from?”

Democrats believe the ongoing conflict raises the stakes that sooner rather than later, the administration will need to come to Congress to ask for supplemental funding.

Defensive supplies for Gulf allies

The immediate concern is the stock of defensive weapons held by Gulf allies, not the US.

In the war’s early days, Gulf countries such as Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE and Saudi Arabia have in general tried to shoot down every missile or drone from Iran. Still, some have gotten through. An Iranian drone struck a high-rise residential building in Bahrain, causing a fiery explosion. Other Iranian drone strikes damaged two Amazon Web Services data centers in the UAE.

The munitions crunch might force a change in tactics for Gulf countries, according to Becca Wasser, defense lead for Bloomberg Economics, who said that eventually they may have to become “more selective” in what they target, potentially focusing on shooting down things like large swarms of drones or short-range ballistic missiles.

The potential strain on Gulf countries’ defenses is prompting other US allies to step in.

The UK is flying aircraft from Cyprus and Qatar to intercept drones and missiles, a senior British official told CNN this week. The stock of missiles, launchers and interceptors will be a critical factor determining the length of this war, the official added.

Even a relatively short war can significantly deplete the American missile supplies: The US blew through about a quarter of its supply of high-end Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, missile interceptors during Israel’s 12-day war with Iran last June, thwarting attacks at a rate that vastly outpaces production, CNN previously reported. The American-made THAAD mobile antimissile system launches from a vehicle, with eight interceptors per launcher vehicle.

The Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, estimated that in 2025, the US fired up to 20% of the Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) interceptors it was expected to have on hand, and between 20% to 50% of THAAD missiles.

The report added that THAAD expenditures were “concerning,” as delivery data suggests that the US is firing THAAD missiles at a higher rate without increasing production to match.

‘Ahead of the problem’

Before launching the attack on Iran over the weekend, one of the Trump administration’s biggest reckonings with the limits of US munition stockpiles involved Ukraine. Last July, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth paused a weapons shipment to Ukraine amid a US review of military aid. Hegseth was acting on a memo from Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby, who has previously pushed to preserve more of the US stockpiles for a potential future war with China.

Colby, during a hearing with lawmakers Tuesday, responded to concerns about depleting weapons stockpiles for other potential conflicts. “I think we need to work hard on the defense-industrial complex, but nobody should get the wrong impression – we’re ahead of the problem,” Colby said.

Any potential sustained US war with China faces daunting math. A study released in January by the Heritage Foundation, another think tank, found that the “initial stock” of US munitions would run out within 25 days of a high-intensity conflict with China.

“U.S. forces will almost certainly be forced to enter the main phase of combat around Day 30 in a logistically degraded state, ultimately leading to systemic operational failure as platform losses, fuel bottlenecks, and munitions demand converge,” the report says.

But now that the US has air superiority in its conflict with Iran, “There’s not quite such a need for the higher end, very high-end long-range standoff weapons,” said retired Col. Mark Gunzinger, the director of future concepts and capability assessments at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies think tank and a former bomber pilot.

“We can use JDAMs, Joint Direct Attack Munitions, against targets from much shorter ranges,” Gunzinger said. “We have a much, much larger stockpile – tens of thousands certainly – of JDAMs and small diameter bombs.” The precision-guided munitions have a range of up to 40 miles.

Gunzinger said there was greater concern for air-defense munitions running low because they have been “under-resourced for decades.”

“Do we have enough? I think we do,” Gunzinger said of the conflict with Iran. “But I would be more concerned with some of our inventories of Patriot missiles, THAADs and others.”

Gunzinger added that ongoing offensive operations by the US could continue to limit Iran’s ability to fire its own missiles, and therefore, reduce the tax on air defense munitions.

The US and its allies could also save some of their more high-end air defense munitions by taking down Iranian drones with less expensive alternatives, Gunzinger said.

Frank Kendall, the Air Force secretary under Biden, said that, in general, he wasn’t yet worried about depleting US munitions in the current conflict with Iran.

“We can throttle which weapons we use to try to keep the ones that are more critical to us in the Pacific in suitable quantities,” Kendall told CNN. “The Pentagon will monitor all that and they’ll limit what gets used because of other considerations.”

But Kendall said concerns about US munitions could mount if the war drags on or involves American troops on the ground – an option that Trump wouldn’t rule out on Monday.

Longer-range precision weapons can be effective in a war like the one with Iran, Kendall said.

“These are the more expensive sophisticated weapons we don’t have as large a stockpile of,” he added. “Drawing these down substantially would increase risk in other theaters.”

The current conflict follows American military operations against the Houthis and Iran last year. Taken together, the bombing campaigns are taking a toll on the arsenal of US munitions.

The effort to build up supplies of interceptors for air defenses – known in Pentagon speak as “US magazine depth” – is “a nascent effort only just now getting underway,” said Mackenzie Eaglen, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. “There will be a few quick wins, but for the most part, the effort to arrest the overall decline in munitions and rebuild stocks faster than they’re being expended in global operations will take one to three years.”

CNN’s Natasha Bertrand, Lauren Fox and Zachary Cohen contributed to this report.

https://www.cnn.com/world/video/bahrain-iran-drone-strike-high-rise-building-digvid

James Talarico projected to win Texas Democratic Senate primary, defeating Jasmine Crockett

Updated on: March 4, 2026 / 2:51 AM EST / CBS News

Texas Rep. James Talarico will win the U.S. Senate Democratic primary in Texas, CBS News projects, defeating Rep. Jasmine Crockett and securing enough votes to avoid a runoff in what could be one of the most closely watched races in this year’s midterms.

He will face either incumbent GOP Sen. John Cornyn or conservative Attorney General Ken Paxton, who will face off in a May 26 Republican primary runoff.

The state’s Senate primary is already the most expensive primary in history. For both Republicans and Democrats, the races are highlighting deep divisions within the party.

For Democrats, Crockett, a former public defender, has made national headlines for taking on President Trump and other Republicans, branding herself a fighter and appealing to the party’s base. Talarico, a former middle school teacher and a Presbyterian minister-in-training, has focused his message on “politics of love” and inclusivity.

Democrats have not won a statewide race in Texas since 1994, but the party has been eyeing flipping the Senate seat since Beto O’Rourke came within three points of defeating GOP Sen. Ted Cruz in 2018. Democrats feel Republicans this year are even more vulnerable in Texas given the expensive and nasty GOP primary between longtime Sen. John Cornyn and state Attorney General Ken Paxton.

But Democrats have struggled to unify behind a single candidate. Several high-profile Democrats were rumored to be considering a bid, including O’Rourke, Rep. Joaquin Castro and former Rep. Colin Allred. Allred, who challenged Cruz in 2024, jumped in the race in July, followed by Talarico in September.

The race in Texas is coming just months after Republicans in the state legislature redraw the state’s 38 House districts under President Trump’s encouragement, leading Democrats to flee the state to deny them a quorum to vote on the new map. The Democrats’ efforts garnered national attention and they raised millions, putting an extra spotlight on the Senate race.

The Dallas-area district Crockett represented in the House, the 30th, was one of the ones that was redrawn. On the December filing deadline, Allred dropped out of the Senate race, opting to run in the newly-redrawn House District 33, and Crockett entered the Senate race, setting up a showdown with Talarico. Republicans cheered Crockett’s entry in the race, believing her to be the more beatable candidate in November.

With Talarico and Crockett agreeing on many of the issues, the race had come down to a personality clash. They have both been barnstorming the state, although with very different styles, and both have run combative ads against the other.

Talarico made national headlines in February when he was scheduled to appear on CBS’ “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” but the interview didn’t air on the CBS broadcast network due to new FCC guidance. Colbert slammed the decision and instead ran the interview in full on the show’s YouTube channel, which does not have to follow the same FCC guidance. Following the Colbert controversy, Talarico raised $2.5 million in the 24 hours afterward.

According to VoteHub, 1.5 million votes had been cast in the Democratic primary during the 11-day early voting period, more than double the number that were tallied four years ago.

伊朗将为哈梅内伊举行三天告别式 | 联合早报

发布/2026年3月4日 15:50

伊朗将为已故最高领导人哈梅内伊举行告别仪式，预计持续三天。

伊通社引述伊斯兰发展协调委员会的声明称，从星期三（3月4日）晚上10时（新加坡时间星期四凌晨2时30分）开始，民众可以前往德黑兰的伊玛目霍梅尼大清真寺，向这名殉难的民族领袖的遗体致以最后的敬意。”

哈梅内伊遇难时享年86岁。他之后将被安葬于伊朗东北部圣城马什哈德，这也是他的家乡。

哈梅内伊上周六（2月28日）在美国和以色列发动的袭击中身亡。葬礼流程的安排正在进行中，稍后将公布。