C-SPAN’s bipartisan reach—90M viewers evenly split among conservatives, liberals, and moderates—highlighted Texas primaries upending expectations: Maze Middleton stunned Chip Roy in the AG race by 9 points despite Roy’s dismissive runoff claims, while John Cornyn defied predictions by leading Ken Paxton in the Senate race. Democratic races saw tight runoffs in CD-33 and a late Harris endorsement failing to shift momentum for Jasmine Crockett against James Tallarico. Amidst ballot disputes and Trump-backed candidates like Eric Flores, C-SPAN’s election coverage underscored how primaries reshape politics, while an Austin mass shooting—four dead, 13 injured—exposed the fragility of public safety amid shifting priorities. Upcoming hearings on U.S.-Iran tensions and historical deep dives reveal how unfiltered media shapes both crises and legacy. [Automatically generated summary]
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Yeah, bottom of the hour now, and polls are now closed for the primary election outside of some interesting counties that have been experiencing some issues.
Strong Senator's Lead Sends Message00:14:34
But we do want to turn to the Texas Attorney General's race with our blessing of Chuku and Days Barragon to break down what has been an eventful night in that race.
Any surprises tonight, Blessing?
I feel like what we've been talking about all night was definitely for the Republicans.
I mean, I thought we talked about Congressman Chip Roy was going to be a shoe-in.
And so far, I've been checking in on their social media and their camp.
No statement yet for Chip Roy's campaign.
They say that they're going to release a statement tomorrow.
And surprisingly, nothing for Maize Middleton.
I've checked his social media, reached out to his camp.
Nothing yet for him of, you know, well, I think we knew that the Congressman Chip Roy and Maze Middleton were probably going to be one and two based on the polling that we'd seen.
We just didn't expect them to be switched.
And Maze Middleton was going to be at the top.
I think this is a strong showing for Senator Middleton because there's a lot of big names in this race.
I mean, State Senator Joan Huffman, she's been around the legislature forever.
Aaron Wright's got a big endorsement from Kent Baxton, the guy who's leaving that office.
And we all thought Chip Roy was going to be close to that 50%.
You know, on our show, we were talking about whether Chip Roy was going to get out of this thing flat out tonight.
But we see Mays Middleton is leading him by nine points tonight.
That's a strong show.
And that's even after some very strong campaigning and very strong ads against him.
And we actually, when I spoke with Congressman Chip Roy about the possibility of a runoff a month or two ago, and he did not think that there would be.
And he's like, Texans should not be wasting their money.
We should not be wasting tax dollars on this.
They should just take, you know, go out all right for that candidate.
And looks like Texas voters.
And he said this on my show when he came on.
He said there's a possibility that we could get out of the runoff.
But you know, I have to go work in Congress and be in D.C. I'm still a Congressman.
Sort of gave that caveat.
That was sort of the first indication for me that maybe he didn't quite have it in the bag.
And the other thing that you said, Blessing, earlier, which is that his party, his election night party is in D.C. As my executive producer likes to say, you know, you usually want to have a nice big party if you feel confident.
That should have been maybe an indication for us that he wasn't as confident as we maybe would have thought.
Yeah, he actually had to be in D.C. because he is working currently and still casting votes.
But his campus saying that they're actually here in central Texas are doing their little private watch party with his camp currently.
But I'm sure they're in bed right now.
I know.
But what you're interested in talking about that, you know, we have our runoff set, but the Democratic Greens are still up in the air, even though we, as we're looking at the numbers right here, State Senator Nink Johnson, still very close, but I don't think it's moved the needle from the last hour when we were talking about these numbers.
He's still at the cusp of that 50.
And then again, looking at the two and three, Joe Jaworski and Anthony Box, they're duking it out to possibly see who's going to be in that runoff.
I don't think that one has moved either from 27 to 24.
But again, we have to remind viewers, Anthony Box, Nathan Johnson, both from the Dallas area.
So those issues that we've seen in Dallas County may play a role.
There's going to be all kinds of lawyers saying which ballots are going to count.
They're going to go all out because they want to, for Nathan Johnson, he wants to get out of this thing clean tonight.
And for Anthony Box and for Joe Jaworski, they'll want to count every single ballot that goes for them and not the ones that go for the other guys.
That's why there's still so many questions on this Democratic side.
Because like you said, Nathan Johnson could pass that threshold.
He's very close to it, but maybe not.
And if he doesn't, we still are not sure because it's so close who he would be in a runoff with.
Yeah, and interesting that you said that we actually have, we spoke with him at his watch party earlier that wrapped up a few hours ago of what how he's confident of what the results will be.
Let's take a listen.
I look forward to tomorrow morning waking up with 50% or 49.8 or something that makes it sure that I cannot wait.
I don't care if it's Ms. Middleton or Chip Wright.
I already got it figured out.
We're beating them.
We're beating them.
Very confident there.
Yeah, he believes he's going to be the man come November, maybe even come tonight, maybe tomorrow morning.
Maybe tomorrow.
So we'll see how this all shapes out, y'all.
Yep.
Yeah, well, thank you.
Interesting races all night long, especially some of the bigger races as well.
Colin Allred, U.S. Senate.
Lauren Rangel in Dallas will be covering that campaign for us.
Lauren.
Hey, guys.
Well, the campaign party is all over here as they are expecting to head into runoffs with neither Allred or Julia Johnson getting more than 50% of the vote.
We did get to see here at the African American Museum in Dallas, Allred speaking to supporters, saying that he still feels encouraged, eager to go out there for the runoffs in May, especially since he is leading a majority of the votes.
Take a listen.
I know Dallas and Dallas knows me.
I'm looking forward to this runoff.
I've never been more energized.
I've never been more committed to making sure that we talk to every single voter, we turn out every person we can.
Not for me, not for the Democratic Party, but for our community, our state, and our country.
Well, of course, you might know Allred as a former congressman.
He actually held the seat for District 32 in 2018 all the way through 2024 when he decided to step off of it and run for U.S. Senate, which ended up not working out for him.
He actually tried to run for Senate again this year, but up until pretty much the last second, he decided to drop out once Jasmine Crockett put her name in the ballot for U.S. Senator John Cornyn's seat.
And so he switched over to District 33, his new district that he represents, thanks to some redistricting we saw in Texas earlier this summer.
This new district would allow new voters, some new land, new turf, to back Allred or Julia Johnson.
So that is something they've certainly been keeping their eyes on as we head into the runoffs: can they get the support of these additional voters to send them over that 50% of the vote?
And that is something, of course, we're going to have to see once May rolls around, who can finally break the tie, so to say.
Guys, all right, to be determined, Lauren, thank you so much.
We want to continue to talk about some of these results.
And even, you know, we're starting to hear from some of the candidates.
The Agriculture Commissioner, you know, we are getting some new information on that as well, right?
Again, hot off the presses.
I just got a text message from the commissioner himself.
Now, we've talked about how Governor Abbott has called that race for Nate Sheets.
I sent him a message earlier tonight, and he has responded to me as of two minutes ago saying the race is still close to call.
So he's not conceding that race.
He's not conceding.
And I understand he's like this long-term incumbent wanting to stick around.
He's not ready to give it up so soon.
Right.
I do want to talk a little bit more about this Senate race for the Republicans.
You know, it's what we've been talking about all night.
And Ted, our political analyst, he really stressed it.
But I want to stress it again, too.
Just a big, huge night for John Cornyn.
A lot of Republicans who maybe do not like him think he's too much of the old guard of the Republican Party, said he was dead in the water potentially, especially when Congressman Wesley Hunt jumped into this race and there was looking like that could split the vote between Paxton and Cornyn to really weaken Cornyn.
But Cornyn, really a strong demonstration tonight.
He's still leading Ken Paxton, which is very, very surprising.
I think when it's all said and done, probably Ken Paxton will overtake him.
But even then, I mean, having led for so long tonight really sends a message of strength from the incumbent senator.
And we've seen, again, those messages from his camp saying they're going to really, really take it to Ken Paxton.
We're going to see a bruising runoff for the next two years.
He's going to be focused on the two now.
They were like kind of sparring with everybody to make sure.
Yeah, it is what you're saying because Cornyn, we talk about that $70 million that he spent, right?
He spent some of it on Paxton, but he had to also spend it on Hunt to make sure he got to this place.
I mean, all those naysayers about Cornyn tonight, you've got to really give it up to his campaign because this is where he told us he wanted to be.
He wanted to be in a runoff.
Now his campaign is saying, you know, sort of calling their shot and saying, we're really going to take it to Paxton.
He's really, I think, a big winner tonight because he had a plan.
He executed it.
He's going to go into that runoff.
We'll see what happens into the runoff.
Paxton may still win this thing overall.
But a really big question mark is, is President Trump going to make an endorsement?
And that's what I was going to say.
You spoke about him having a really big night tonight.
And he did that without Trump's endorsement.
Right, right.
So I think he's confident that he can get that endorsement.
But, you know, I think Ken Paxton is also confident about that endorsement.
Of course, on the Democratic side, we don't know what's going to happen.
Congresswoman Crockett left her campaign event.
She said she didn't think that there was going to be a decision tonight, but you look at those numbers, 53 now to 45%.
The numbers are trending in Tallarico's direction with 75% almost of the vote.
So you see that trend going towards Tallarico, and so we, I guess, won't, I think Tallarico's team is waiting for an official call from AP before saying anything, but it certainly is trending in that direction.
It doesn't look like the congresswoman got the strength from her supporters in the places where she needed to get it, places like Harris County, where she, I think, was ahead but not by enough.
Dallas County is its own separate issue, Tarran County as well.
But you talk about big winners and people who executed their strategy.
James Tallarico is one of those people.
In central Texas, he was just a hammer.
I mean, some of these things were like 75 to 25 in the early vote.
And that's what you got to do.
You got to win big in the places that you think you're going to win big.
And I can't help but think about the whole Stephen Colbert, you know, all of these things.
He came on strong late.
He came on strong late.
The congresswoman got the endorsement from Vice President Harris, but did that come too late?
Probably.
All right, James.
Thanks as always.
Yeah, and our live coverage of the primary election continues all night long right here on Spectrum News 1.
Up next, we will take a closer look at some congressional races with our Lily Celeste and Adolfo Muniz.
Stay with us.
Coming up Wednesday morning, Kirk Beto, editor of Hotline, will talk about tonight's midterm election primary results in Texas, North Carolina, and Arkansas.
And then the Minnesota Star Tribune's Allison Kite on the House Oversight Committee hearing featuring Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and the state's Attorney General Keith Ellison.
Also, Michael Rubin of the American Enterprise Institute on the latest on U.S. and Israeli combat operations against Iran, as well as the future of the Iranian regime.
C-SPAN's Washington Journal.
Join the conversation live at 7 Eastern Wednesday morning on C-SPAN, C-SPAN Now, our free mobile app, or online at c-SPAN.org.
In a divided media world, one place brings Americans together.
According to a new MAGIT research report, nearly 90 million Americans turn to C-SPAN, and they're almost perfectly balanced.
28% conservative, 27% liberal or progressive, 41% moderate.
Republicans watching Democrats, Democrats watching Republicans, moderates watching all sides.
Because C-SPAN viewers want the facts straight from the source.
No commentary, no agenda, just democracy.
Unfiltered every day on the C-SPAN networks.
America marks 250 years, and C-SPAN is there to commemorate every moment.
From the signing of the Declaration of Independence to the voices shaping our nation's future, we bring you unprecedented all-platform coverage, exploring the stories, sites, and the spirit that make up America.
Join us for remarkable coast-to-coast coverage, celebrating our nation's journey like no other network can, and proudly supported by our television partners.
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This week at 11 p.m. We welcome you back to your special coverage of election night right here on Spectrum Newsline.
You know, this is how we've gone through several races, including the Senate, Governor, Attorney General, and we are still on watch for a few others.
Our Adolfo Muniz join us in Harlington to cover District 34.
Adolfo.
Well, guys, as you can see, the party is over here in Harlingen.
There's nothing but crickets.
There's a nearie silence.
Eric Flores Runs for Congress00:08:39
The party's gone, and Eric Flores is the presumptive nominee for the Republican Party and is now going to have to square off against Democrat Vicente Gonzalez.
A lot has been said throughout the day about what has brought us to this point, about Myra Flores and the fact that at one point in her career, she was able to, you know, energize and galvanize the support of Hispanics.
There was this theory too back then, right, that Republicans, that Myra Flores was kind of like the proof that Republicans were able to gain the Hispanic vote.
But things have changed and quite dramatically now, as we have mentioned, Eric Flores is the one that has support of Donald Trump and a lot of Republicans.
But now we want to focus on what is next.
Okay, in this fight against Vicente Gonzalez, one thing that we have to consider about the Rio Grande Valley is that Democrats here in the border, they are generally conservatives or middle of the road.
So a lot of these Democrats can be swayed.
That is the part that Eric Flores is going to have to either win back or to keep facing the different policies that Donald Trump, President Donald Trump has had an impact here in the Rio Grande Valley, as I have mentioned before.
The time will tell exactly what is going to happen, but what I foresee is that we're going to see a very, very close fight between the both.
And a lot of comments are going to be exchanged between one and the other.
Guys, back to you.
All right, Adolfo.
We'll see if that happens.
We want to go now to our Lily Celeste standing by in Austin.
She's been there for us all night covering Congressional District 18.
What's the latest, Lily?
Yeah, Dr. Clark, we are here in Houston in Congressional District 18 at Christian Menifee's watch party.
The signs have come down.
The balloons have been popped.
The doors have been closed.
The night ending here with a lot of anticipation because we don't know just yet, but also a lot of hope.
The only results we have do show Christian Menifee in the lead, and we anticipate more results early in the morning.
We know that on Tuesday night, a lot of polling locations here in the area were open very late, voters staying in line, making sure that they can vote.
But again, a lot of hope and anticipation in the air here tonight, guys?
Place is closed down, Lily.
Thank you very much.
It seems like there's a lot of people packing it up and calling it a night.
It's been a long night for all of us.
James, what's been one of the most surprising moments, you think?
Well, I think one of the most surprising things is, again, Cornyn and the show of strength that he's had because that, you know, again, there was such criticism of the campaign that he was running.
Social media, I think, now is a reminder, again, to people watching on TV and maybe checking their Twitter all the time.
But social media is not real life.
There was a lot of criticism that his campaigns weren't big enough.
They didn't have the sizes that some of these other campaigns do.
Now we see, of course, that they had a strategy that they've executed and it's gone well.
He's led most of the night.
That can still change, but he's going to end up the night right where he wanted to be, which is in a runoff with Ken Paxton.
And he's had a long-standing relationship here in Texas.
He has some loyal followers, and we continue to see that as he seeks this fourth, fifth term.
So, I mean, that's really interesting.
Where do we go from here, I guess, is a question that I have.
As everyone gets ready for the runoff in May, what are your thoughts as we move forward?
Well, I think we have some clear runoffs, as we're talking about, in the U.S. Senate and the U.S. Senate race on the Republican side.
But we also still have to determine what some of the other runoffs are.
For example, Congressional District 33, that really heated race between former Congressman Colin Allred and Congresswoman Julie Johnson.
That has not been determined.
It looks like it's going to go into a runoff.
And so voters will have to wait and see there.
There's a couple of other runoffs in terms of the AG race on the Republican side.
We don't know still what's going to happen with the Democratic Senate race, although from what I'm looking at, it does look like it's trending in Tallarico's direction.
We're getting some elected officials, congressional colleagues of Jasmine Crockett now saying congratulations to James Tallarico.
So it really is trending in that direction.
Nothing official, but they wouldn't stick their neck out if they didn't feel confident about where this was going.
Now, the big question is, what happens in these runoffs?
You know, like we were talking about in the U.S. Senate race for Republicans.
Does President Trump get involved?
Do people get in his ear?
You can bet that both of those campaigns will be in his ear as soon as they can.
Maybe they're already in there.
But there is a pitch to be made, I think, from Cornyn's camp, which has been making that pitch for many, many months, if Tallarico is the candidate.
And then also in other races like CD33, I wonder if Tallarico gets involved and says one way or the other.
Or Jasmine Crockett, who we saw appear with Colin Allred tonight, they're clearly friends.
They clearly made a decision together about who would run for the U.S. Senate and who would run for Congress.
So curious to see if there's any endorsements like that coming down the pike.
And speaking of endorsements, these dueling endorsements, that was very interesting tonight as well between candidates that Abbott endorsed and those that Trump endorsed.
It looked like they split the baby.
Two for each side, so we can't come up with a definitive statement here, Nicole.
More to come, I'm sure.
More to come.
All right, James.
Thanks so much.
Our primary election coverage continues right after this.
After this, though, we'll bring you other headlines we've been following all evening long.
Stick around for that.
We'll be right back.
C-SPAN's Washington Journal, our live forum, inviting you to discuss the latest issues in government, politics, and public policy from Washington, D.C. to across the country.
Coming up Wednesday morning.
Kirk Beto, editor of Hotline, will talk about tonight's midterm election primary results in Texas, North Carolina, and Arkansas.
And then the Minnesota Star Tribune's Allison Kite on the House Oversight Committee hearing featuring Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and the state's Attorney General Keith Ellison.
Also, Michael Rubin of the American Enterprise Institute on the latest on U.S. and Israeli combat operations against Iran, as well as the future of the Iranian regime.
C-SPAN's Washington Journal.
Join the conversation live at 7 Eastern Wednesday morning on C-SPAN, C-SPAN Now, our free mobile app, or online at c-span.org.
American History TV, Saturdays on C-SPAN 2, exploring the people and events that tell the American story.
As the nation celebrates the 250th anniversary of its founding, join American History TV for our series America 250 and discover the ideas and defining moments of the American story.
This week at 11 p.m. Eastern, we'll tour the American Revolution Museum in Philadelphia to explore the history and global impact of the Declaration of Independence.
And at 2 p.m., on our weekly look at the Civil War, author Tim McGrath analyzes President Lincoln's unexpected choice of General George Meade to lead the Union Army before the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg.
Then at 7.30 p.m., historian Andrew Davenport highlights Thomas Jefferson as part of More Perfect's In Pursuit project, which analyzes the leadership qualities of America's presidents and first ladies.
And at 9.30 p.m., former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy remembers Ronald Reagan on his birthday during a commemorative event at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Sini Valley, California.
Exploring the American story, watch American History TV Saturdays on C-SPAN 2 and find a full schedule in your program guide or watch online anytime at c-span.org slash history.
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UT Austin Grieves00:02:46
28% conservative, 27% liberal or progressive, 41% modern.
Dr. Diaz here, back with you.
We will continue our election night coverage here on Spectrum News One shortly and give you the latest on tonight's primaries.
Right now, let's take a look at the other top news and headlines of the day.
New information on the victims of the mass shooting in downtown Austin.
The death count is up to four, and that includes the shooter.
More than a dozen people were also injured in that shooting.
Our Barbara Fox tells us what we're hearing from the victim's professor and friends.
If you drive by West 6th Street, the bar with the big red heart, Buford's, can't be missed.
The once lively college bar remains closed.
But students from the University of Texas at Austin and community members keep their hearts open.
Dropping flowers for the three victims who were killed in the mass shooting in downtown Austin.
Many thinking of the 13 injured, some UT students.
We are all mourning together and grieving as a group, but we're seeing tremendous compassion and love coming out of the people of Austin.
University of Texas at Austin Sr., 21-year-old Savita Sean, is being remembered by one of her professors as being a superstar student.
Her professor, Russ Finney, posting on X, Sean was set to graduate this May, and then she was on to start her career at a big professional service firm.
She was a double major with honors, involved in student organizations, a light in the classroom.
He added, there are no words to express the wave of sadness rolling over the University of Texas at Austin.
This has been difficult for our community, devastating to the impacted families, and challenging to our APD family.
Devastation felt six hours away from Austin.
A Texas student also lost 19-year-old Ryder Harrington.
His sister posting on social media, a message to her brother in part: Ryder, there are no words to describe the love I have for you.
I also can't even try to begin to type out my feelings.
Nothing would be enough to express how special you are to me.
I believe one patient will be taken off life support.
30-year-old Jorge Peterson was taken off life support Monday.
He was described as an inspiration in mixed martial arts.
A Facebook friend posting this tribute: Jorge Peterson was a lively, funny, and charismatic fighter with a bright future.
Adding he was a three-time Ignite Fights vet and someone who always came to put on a show.
Jorge Peterson's Legacy00:02:52
In Austin, Barbara Fox, Spectrum News.
Thank you, Barbara.
Austin police and EMS responded quickly on Sunday to stop the shooter.
First responders are trained for these worst-case scenarios.
They undergo active shooter training at the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center, or ALERT, at Texas State University.
Alert's assistant and executive director says that training prepared police and EMS to prevent further tragedy.
So here's a public safety system in Austin that you can tell by their performance on game day.
They've taken this seriously.
And that's going to do it for this hour of Spectrum News One.
Stay with us.
Our Decision 2026 coverage continues right after this break.
We'll be right back.
C-SPAN's Washington Journal, our live forum, inviting you to discuss the latest issues in government, politics, and public policy from Washington, D.C. to across the country.
Coming up Wednesday morning, Kirk Bado, editor of Hotline, will talk about tonight's midterm election primary results in Texas, North Carolina, and Arkansas.
And then the Minnesota Star-Tribune's Allison Kite on the House Oversight Committee hearing featuring Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and the state's Attorney General Keith Ellison.
Also, Michael Rubin of the American Enterprise Institute on the latest on U.S. and Israeli combat operations against Iran, as well as the future of the Iranian regime.
C-SPAN's Washington Journal, join the conversation live at 7 Eastern Wednesday morning on C-SPAN, C-SPAN Now, our free mobile app, or online at c-SPAN.org.
American History TV, Saturdays on C-SPAN 2, exploring the people and events that tell the American story.
As the nation celebrates the 250th anniversary of its founding, join American History TV for our series America 250 and discover the ideas and defining moments of the American story.
This week at 11 p.m. Eastern, we'll tour the American Revolution Museum in Philadelphia to explore the history and global impact of the Declaration of Independence.
And at 2 p.m., on our weekly look at the Civil War, author Tim McGrath analyzes President Lincoln's unexpected choice of General George Meade to lead the Union Army before the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg.
Then at 7:30 p.m., historian Andrew Davenport highlights Thomas Jefferson as part of More Perfect's In Pursuit project, which analyzes the leadership qualities of America's presidents and first ladies.