The 2026 midterm elections are shaping up to be an unprecedented battle between Republicans and Democrats — due, in part, to a nationwide congressional redistricting fight that started in Texas.
Now, voters in the Lone Star State have a clearer picture of what the heated months ahead will look like. Monday evening marked the deadline for candidates to file to run in the March 2026 party primaries, where Texas voters choose who will be their party's candidate in November.
Beyond deciding who will represent Texas in the U.S. House, voters next year will also cast ballots for pivotal statewide offices from the governorship on down, plus every state House seat, 16 state Senate seats, and many, many more races.
Now that the candidate filing window has closed, The Texas Newsroom is zooming in on which primaries are shaping up to be 2026's most hotly contested.
The Texas race for U.S. Senate
So far, the most talked about race in Texas seems to be for the U.S. Senate, a seat that Republican Sen. John Cornyn has held since 2002.
The incumbent will face two challengers in the March Republican primary: Attorney General Ken Paxton, who announced his bid for the seat in April, and U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt of Houston.
Cornyn and Paxton are seen as the frontrunners and have been going after each other with attack campaign ads for most of this year.
On the Democratic side, the U.S. Senate contest saw a significant shakeup just hours before Monday's filing deadline. That morning, Colin Allred of Dallas withdrew from the race, a move the former congressman told CNN was the "best for the state and the party."
Allred's reasoning? With congresswoman Jasmine Crockett of Dallas entering the fray, it was likely the primary would head to a runoff if he stayed in the race. Texas' Democratic primary for U.S. Senate will now pair Crockett against James Talarico, a Texas House member from Austin who announced his candidacy in September.
Joshua Blank with the Texas Politics Project at UT-Austin said this may show that Democrats in the state have "the feeling that Attorney General Ken Paxton, and even current Senator John Cornyn, might be weak candidates…making a lot of Democrats consider this race as a viable political strategy."
Key Texas congressional races
Texas' controversial new congressional map, which Texas Republicans pushed through the statehouse this summer, could lead to the GOP gaining as many as five additional U.S. House seats from Texas in the 2026 midterm election.
Republicans currently hold 25 of Texas's 38 House seats, all of which are on the ballot next year.
The newly drawn districts, now given final clearance from the U.S. Supreme Court, caused several significant shakeups in the state's races for the U.S. House.
That includes in the Dallas area. While Colin Allred dropped out of the U.S. Senate race on Monday, he also announced he'll now be running in the Democratic primary for Texas' 33rd Congressional District. (Rep. Marc Veasey currently represents the district, but the Democrat was drawn out of it during this summer's redistricting. Veasey has since announced he will run for Tarrant County Judge).
In March's Democratic primary, Allred will face off against Rep. Julie Johnson, who currently represents Texas' 32nd Congressional District. TX-32 was one of the Texas congressional districts that was redrawn to become majority Republican. Seven Republican candidates are now vying for that nomination in the GOP's March primary.
The Houston area also saw congressional race reshuffling after redistricting. Most notably, longtime incumbent Democrat Al Green was drawn out of his district. Rep. Green will now be running Texas' 18th Congressional District, which includes many of his former district's voters. He'll be facing off against newcomer Gretchen Brown in the Democratic primary.
Green's former seat representing Texas' 9th Congressional District now leans heavily Republican — leading to another crowded GOP primary. There will be eight Republicans in the race, including Texas House Rep. Briscoe Cain of Deer Park, who announced his intentions back in August.
Texas will also see several U.S. House races where no incumbent is on the ballot — leading to a wide open field and crowded primaries on each side of the aisle. Nationally, there are a record number of congressional lawmakers who've decided to not seek reelection next year, either opting to retire or run for a different elected office.
U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, who currently represents Texas' 21st Congressional District, is one of them (The Republican has instead opted to run for Attorney General of Texas, a seat left open by Paxton's entry into the U.S. Senate Race). With Roy's TX-21 seat open, 13 Republican candidates have rushed in to fill the void.
The race to be Texas' next governor and other statewide contests
Next year isn't just a big one for U.S. House seats — Texas' statewide elected offices will also be on the ballot in 2026.
Near the top on the ticket is the race for governor. On the Republican side, Gov. Greg Abbott announced last month that he was running for a record fourth term. While he has several challengers in March's primary, as an incumbent with a strong campaign war chest, it's expected Abbott will easily win and be on the ballot in November.
Who he'll be challenging will be decided in the Democratic primary, but the highest profile candidates in the race are Texas House Rep. Gina Hinojosa and former U.S. Rep Chris Bell, who ran for governor back in 2006. The Democratic gubernatorial field also includes Andrew White, a Houston businessman and son of former Gov. Mark White, and Bobby Cole, a rancher and retired firefighter.
The Republican primary for Texas attorney general has also drawn attention since Paxton declared his intention to challenge Cornyn for U.S. Senate. Besides the aforementioned Rep. Chip Roy, three other Republicans are on the March primary ballot: state Sen. Mayes Middleton of Galveston, state Sen. Joan Huffman of Houston, and Aaron Reitz, a former assistant attorney general.
Voters next year will also cast ballots for Lt. Gov — where incumbent Republican Dan Patrick is favored to win — Comptroller of Public Accounts, Commissioner of General Land Office, Commissioner of Agriculture Texas, Railroad Commissioner Texas and four vacant seats on the Supreme Court of Texas and three on the Court of Criminal Appeals spots open, plus a variety of local officials.
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