For a Republican Party that is already facing a difficult midterm election environment, the outcome of the two Texas US Senate primaries could not have gone worse.
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Republicans needed incumbent Sen. John Cornyn to defeat Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Rep. Wesley Hunt with a majority of the vote to avoid a runoff. The Texas primary has already set the record for being the most expensive primary in US history. Spending has crossed $110 million, with $90 million being spent on the Republican race.
Watch my thoughts on the Texas primaries:
The last thing that Republicans wanted to see was this bitterly contested contest between Cornyn and Paxton drag on for another three months, but that is what they are going to get. It is expected that Republicans will have to spend another $100 million on the runoff election.
There is an idea in mainstream media that Democrats can only win in Texas if Paxton is the nominee, but even in a hypothetical matchup poll, Cornyn slightly leads Talarico. It will be a close election no matter who the nominee is.
The other part of the Republican nightmare scenario was James Talarico winning in Texas.