Texas politics

Ken Paxton ousts John Cornyn in heated Texas U.S. Senate runoff

Ken Paxton will face James Talarico in the fall.

Photo courtesy of KVUE

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton defeated four-term Sen. John Cornyn on Tuesday, May 26 in a massively expensive, drawn-out U.S. Senate primary race.

Paxton was endorsed by President Donald Trump last week, and his victory showcased the president’s power over his party as he seeks to punish Republicans he sees as insufficiently loyal.

Paxton will run against Democratic state Rep. James Talarico in November.

Democrats are hopeful that their nominee, state Rep. James Talarico, has a rare opportunity to win a statewide race in Texas — and help the party retake control of the Senate — with Paxton as his opponent.

Tuesday’s runoffs also decided Democratic U.S. House nominees for districts in Dallas and Houston that overwhelmingly support Democrats, and a San Antonio-area seat the party wants to flip.

‘I will be the Democrats’ No. 1 target'
In Austin on Tuesday night, Cornyn gave a short concession speech tinged with emotion to a room of only reporters.

“Tonight we’ve come up short,” Cornyn said, adding that he’d support Paxton in the general election. “I’ve always supported the Republican ticket, and I intend to do so again.”

Cornyn said in 2023 as Trump was running to return to the White House that his time “has passed him by," a statement that came back to bite him. He also was an early critic of Trump’s plan for a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico — a project he now supports.

Cornyn had the backing of Senate GOP leaders who said he would be the stronger general election candidate against Talarico, which was also the senator's argument to voters before Tuesday.

That's not lost on Paxton, who said in his speech that “without a shadow of a doubt, I will be the Democrats’ No. 1 target in November.”

Talarico's campaign hit back Tuesday night on the social platform X, highlighting what they — and some Republicans — see as Paxton's weakness, including an FBI investigation and impeachment for corruption in which he was later acquitted.

The primary was long and costly
Cornyn led Paxton in the March 3 primary but failed to win a majority. That was after Cornyn and his supporters waged a monthslong advertising campaign, mostly attacking Paxton over ethical and personal questions.

The two-term attorney general was acquitted on corruption charges in a 2023 impeachment trial, where allegations of extramarital affairs surfaced. Paxton’s wife filed for divorce last year, citing “biblical grounds.”

It gave Cornyn fodder for an ad campaign that, along with allied groups, spent roughly $109 million between the primary and runoff elections.

Immediately after the primary, Trump promised to endorse but didn’t act until after early voting began last week.

“Ken Paxton has gone through a lot, in many cases, very unfairly, but he is a fighter, and knows how to win,” Trump wrote in a social media post endorsing him.

Democrats choose US House nominees
Former Rep. Colin Allred beat U.S. Rep. Julie Johnson in the Dallas-area 33rd District's Democratic primary runoff. Johnson was elected to the seat in 2024, the year Allred lost his U.S. Senate challenge to Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. Allred was running for Senate again this cycle but dropped his bid and instead sought a return to the House.

Newly elected Rep. Christian Menefee defeated veteran Rep. Al Green in Texas' 18th District, dispatching a longtime House incumbent who was one of Trump's most outspoken critics. The Republican-led Texas Legislature redrew the district when it approved a new House map last year. The new map led to a runoff between incumbents and marks the end of a dizzying series of elections in the Houston area.

Near San Antonio, Johnny Garcia won the Democratic primary for Texas’ 35th District against against Maureen Galindo, a candidate who has expressed antisemitic views. While Texas lawmakers redrew the district to help Republicans, Democrats view it as within reach and didn't want Galindo's past comments to impede them.

Garcia will face Republican Carlos De La Cruz, who defeated John Lujan in the GOP primary.

texas politics u.s. senate elections

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

San Antonio summit asks if old foods can solve new problems

Female environmentalists watering plants while standing in urban farm

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Long before tortilla soup and pecan pralines, San Antonio's tables were overflowing with corn, beans, squash, pecans, and wild game. On June 5, farmers, chefs, educators, and youth leaders will gather to argue that heritage foods are not just history but a blueprint for feeding the city’s future.

The third San Antonio Food Systems Summit runs 8:30 am-2:30 pm on June 5, at the San Antonio Botanical Garden, 555 Funston Place. The free, public event includes a presentation on local heritage foods, a panel of food system advocates, interactive sessions, garden tours, and live culinary demonstrations.

The event is a partnership among three San Antonio city departments and offices and several local nonprofits. Organizers plan to release a public report highlighting the resilience and sustainability of the local food system.

One of the summit's most concrete examples of heritage food at work is a drought-tolerant wheat that had fallen out of large-scale production. Researchers identified the crop, and San Antonio farmers and bakers are now investing in it and making products from it, says Colleen Swain, director of the San Antonio World Heritage Office.

"As our climate changes, we adapt. There may be some gems from our past, and maybe it's time to bring those back," Swain says.

The World Heritage Office is involved because it oversees the city's UNESCO Creative City of Gastronomy designation, a distinction shared by only one other U.S. city, Tucson, Arizona, and nearly 60 cities abroad. Next year marks the 10th anniversary of San Antonio earning the title.

Swain says initiatives like the summit and the UNESCO designation underscore the deep history of how foods grown in the San Antonio area by Indigenous peoples became a foundation on which Spanish colonists, Mexicans, Germans, and other immigrants built a varied food system.

“Our culinary heritage showcases that confluence of not just peoples, but also where we're located, the importance of water in our geology and geography,” Swain says. “This is a celebration of our local culinary heritage and culture, but also how we sustain, share and blend it with new influences, and stay true to our roots, yet open to innovation.”

This year's keynote speaker is Gary Paul Nabhan, an agricultural ecologist, ethnobotanist, author, and Franciscan brother who is a pioneer of the local food and heirloom seed preservation movements.

The panel discussion will include Katie Erickson, program director at the San Antonio Botanical Garden, along with three San Antonio operations focused on sustainable farming: James Vives of Brushfire Farms, Amy Brown of Noonday Farms, and Mari Reb of Sana Roots. Noonday works to address local food insecurity, while Sana Roots links the growing and eating of local, healthy food to spirituality, holistic healing, and environmental stewardship.

The idea of old crops being a solution to new problems runs through the summit's programming. Organizers want to examine how heritage foods can anchor a food system serving a fast-growing population, one navigating climate stress, food deserts, and the threat of future water shortages.

According to Swain, public education is just as important as farming itself in strengthening a community's food system.

"There are plants that grow in your backyard that most people don't even know are edible, and there are ways you can prepare them," she says. "It's an important conversation to have, to learn about the past and how does that past play into our future?"

With the cost of water rights and water use climbing, Swain says conversations about urban farming and growing food locally have real urgency.

"There are ways that we can make healthy food more accessible to the community and be more respectful of our environment, because that's all part of that system," she says. "It's environmental. It's economic, it's social."

san antonio heritage foods sustainability resiliency food systems summit