With Ken Paxton's GOP primary win this week, Democrats now have the Republican Senate candidate, tactically speaking, they were hoping for. Now the question is whether their nominee, James Talarico , a young state lawmaker from Austin, can deliver them out of the wilderness. Why it matters: A Talarico win would give the Democrats an unexpected seat in their quest to retake the Senate β and potentially move Texas into the battleground column for 2028, a seismic reordering of the national electoral landscape. The latest: Talarico ratcheted up the pressure on Paxton Thursday, announcing his campaign had raised more than $3 million in the 24 hours after Paxton defeated longtime U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in the Tuesday runoff β calling it the biggest single-day haul of the campaign. State of play: The nonpartisan elections forecaster Cook Political Report shifted the race one notch to the left, from "likely Republican" to "lean Republican" after Paxton's victory.β¦