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2026 midterm primaries begin with key races in Texas and North Carolina
Welcome to the start of the 2026 US midterms. Primary elections kick off in three states – Texas, North Carolina and Arkansas – and many seats are at stake, including candidacies for the US House and US Senate.
Tuesday’s results will determine who is on the ballot in November in these states. Voters are heading to the polls to select who they want to represent their registered party. There are dozens of elections, but Guardian is specifically watching a handful of races closely:
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In Texas, longtime Republican senator John Cornyn is fighting to retain his seat against two challengers: state attorney general Ken Paxton and US representative Wesley Hunt. Paxton, a conservative firebrand who has surged in recent polls, could reveal to the Republican party just how potent the Maga brand is.
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The Texas Democratic primary for US Senate is between US representative Jasmine Crockett and state representative James Talarico, a race that is seen as a strategic divide – their campaign styles could not be more different.
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North Carolina’s primaries could prove crucial to Democrats come November, as Republican senator Thom Tillis is retiring and they believe this is a major chance to flip a seat in the chamber. On the Democrats’ side, former two-term governor Roy Cooper is ahead in recent polling. Michael Whatley, the former Republican National Committee chair, leads the Republican field.
And while president Donald Trump is not on the ballot tonight or in November, these elections will be used as a bellwether for his policies and how voters have viewd the first year of his second term.
Right now, Republicans hold the House, the Senate and the presidency. Will US voters look to retain the status quo or change course? Stick with us as we take you through election night.
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Republican Brandon Gill has won the Republican nomination for U.S. House in Texas’ 26th Congressional District.
In November, he faced scrutiny for saying that the US has “imported Islamic terrorism in just the last few decades through our suicidal immigration system”.
“It was a policy choice. The reality is that not all cultures are morally equal. Islam is incompatible with our culture and our governing system. Radical Islamists seek to fundamentally destroy our way of life,” Gill said. “Why would we allow them to immigrate here? Islamic ideology has no place in the West, and it’s time our immigration system recognizes this.”
And in early-February he called for a moratorium on people from Somalia immigrating to the US.
Following a court order that will keep voting polls in Dallas County open until 9 pm local time, Representative Jasmine Crockett told reporters that she is “grateful for this court order.”
We should all be standing together. Democrats, Republicans and we should all be raising hell. But unfortunately this was always the plan… I am grateful for this court order. And as congressman Allred already stated, we encourage each and every one of you to remain resilient. We cannot allow this type of behavior to be rewarded because as long as they know that they can win even it means cheating then they will continue to do it.
So I am asking you, I am begging you to make sure that you go ahead and figure out where you’re supposed to vote, stand in line, wait in line and if it means I’ve gotta come out there with you to wait with you I would do that.”
Journalist Jimmy Ryals spoke to North Carolina voters casting their ballots in Beaufort County at Chocowinity Fire Station 62 about their concerns around affordability and the economy.
While her husband raised concerns about immigration and LGBTQ issues, Lisa Grubbs, a registered Republican, said her biggest concerns are healthcare and affordability. “I think they (the federal government) could have done something a little bit different with some of the things they cut, like Medicaid. There are people who are on fixed incomes. There are people just getting by. The price of living goes up, but their income is not going up. And I think they need to do something better with helping people in the United States who have problems like that. Not everybody can be rich.”
Kelly Burke, an unaffiliated voter who voted in the Democratic primary, said the economy is her chief concern.
“The economic issues become very severe because we’re dealing with a fixed income. That’s the biggest thing to me,” she said. “Second is the instability and vulnerability that we have in this divided political climate. The unpredictability of the current situation is untenable. We can’t wait for the midterms and can’t wait for the next three years (of Trump’s term) to pass.”
My colleague Lauren Gambino is reporting live from Austin tonight, where she’s spoken with voters about Texas’s congressional and gubernatorial primaries:
Julia Berliner, a PhD student in ecology at UT, was torn between the Democratic candidates for Senate. She called Crockett a “voice of reason” who always “speaks the truth compellingly”. But she’d also seen commentary online that suggested Talarico had a better chance of flipping the seat.
Republicans have been spending money to boost Crockett in the race, betting that she is a more polarizing figure who would help mobilize their voters to turn out in November.
Having grown up in a more liberal community in New York, Berliner wrestled with the question of “what works in Texas” – a state that not elected a Democratic senator in her lifetime.
“I don’t want to betray any chance of flipping Texas,” she said, as the line to vote inched forward.
When she finally reached the voting booth, Berliner said she decided to cast her ballot for Crockett. “She’s ultimately the candidate I’m excited about [and] would be proud to have represent me,” Berliner said by text afterward.
Top of mind for Berliner was reproductive rights. Texas bans virtually all abortions in the state, and the state’s Republican-dominated legislature approved legislation last year that targets providers who distribute or mail abortion medication to or from the nation’s second largest state.
It’s personal for Berliner, who at 27 has at least four more years in her PhD program. She says she would like to have children one day but said she does not feel safe getting pregnant in a state like Texas, where women have died after not receiving medically necessary abortions. “I worry I wouldn’t have access to the healthcare I might need,” she said, adding: “I just wouldn’t feel safe here.”
Other students were worried about the Trump administration’s massive cuts to research funding and grant programs. Siva Epuri, a pre-medical student studying public health, said the impact of the Trump administration’s cuts could be felt on campus.
Polls have closed in Arkansas, where we are awaiting the results of the first of three state primaries happening tonight.
Republicans are likely to win in the deep red state – where US senator Tom Cotton and governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders are seeking reelection.
Dallas County polls will remain open until 9pm local time – 10pm ET – following voter confusion, the Austin American-Statesman reports, citing county judge Clay Jenkins.
Jenkins told reporters that up to 90% of Dallas County voters were rerouted to different locations, following new rules requested by the local Republican party requiring voters to cast ballots at their assigned precinct only, rather than any polling site in the county.
The Guardian does not make its own election calls – instead, we rely on the Associated Press’ election desk, which makes projections based on available data and analysis.
In the AP’s own words:
In almost all cases, races can be called well before all votes have been counted. The AP’s team of election journalists and analysts will call a race as soon as a clear winner can be determined.
In competitive races, AP analysts may need to wait until additional votes are tallied or to confirm specific information about how many ballots are left to count.
Competitive races in which votes are actively being tabulated — for example, in states that count a large number of votes after election night — might be considered “too early to call.” A race may be “too close to call” if a race is so close that there’s no clear winner even once all ballots except for provisional and late-arriving absentee ballots have been counted.
The AP’s race calls are not predictions and are not based on speculation. They are declarations based on an analysis of vote results and other election data that one candidate has emerged as the winner and that no other candidate in the race will be able to overtake the winner once all the votes have been counted.
People in Arkansas, North Carolina and Texas are voting in the first primaries of the 2026 midterm election cycle.
Polls are expected to close at 7.30pm ET in Arkansas. Given the delay in North Carolina, last polls now close there at 8.30pm ET. And the last polls in Texas will now close at 10pm ET, after confusion in Dallas led to extended hours in that county.
What about Arkansas?
Arkansas has primary elections tonight too, however, this deep red state does not expect to offer much in terms of tight races or surprise outcomes.
Republican incumbents, including US senator Tom Cotton and governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, are heavy favorites to win their primaries. Cotton is seeking his third term and the governor is running unopposed.
The Associated Press notes that Arkansas hasn’t elected a Democrat statewide since 2010, and Sanders and Cotton will be heavy favorites to win re-election in November.
Some voters turned away in two major Texas counties due to rule changes
Some voters in two major Texas counties are being turned away at polling locations and directed to different voting precincts, causing confusion and frustration, the Associated Press reported. The problems were hitting voters in Dallas and Williamson counties, which includes the suburbs north of Austin.
“We’re seeing a lot of people that are going to their vote centers that they usually go to ... and not realizing they can’t do that anymore. They have to go to their precinct-based location,” Nic Solorzano, a spokesperson for the Dallas County Elections Department, told the AP.
Voters have been allowed to cast their ballot anywhere in their respective county since 2019. But for this primary, Republicans in both counties opted against this. And because both major parties have to agree on how to conduct the primary, the decision affects all voters.
