Michael Swanson (Texas)
Michael Swanson (Democratic Party) is running for election to the U.S. Senate to represent Texas. He declared candidacy for the Democratic primary scheduled on March 3, 2026.[source]
2026 battleground election
Ballotpedia identified the March 3 Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Texas as a battleground election. The summary below is from our coverage of this election, found here.
Jasmine Crockett (D), James Talarico (D), and three others are running in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Texas on March 3, 2026. As of December 2025, Crockett and Talarico led the candidate field in polling, fundraising, and media attention.[1][2][3] The filing deadline is December 8, 2025.
The New York Times' J. David Goodman described the primary as a contrast of styles, saying Crockett "appeared to be betting that her brand of combative, progressive politics could win over Texas voters in large part by driving Democratic enthusiasm and turnout in the state’s major urban centers," while Talarico "[was] seeking to energize Democrats while also courting some disaffected Trump voters."[4]
Crockett was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2022. She earlier served two years in the state House and worked as an attorney in private practice.[5] NBC News' Bridget Bowman said Crockett "likely enters the race with relatively high name recognition, given her national profile as a vocal critic of Trump’s administration and Republicans."[6]
Talarico was elected to the state House in 2018. Talarico worked as a middle school teacher before entering elected politics.[7] Writing in Politico, Adam Wren said Talarico's candidacy "sets up among the sharpest nationwide tests of whether a red-state candidate can run against the national party’s brand."[8]
Also running in the primary are Emily Morgul (D), Michael Swanson (D), and Paula Williams (D).
As of December 2025, The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter, Inside Elections with Nathan Gonzales, and Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball each rated the general election Likely Republican.
In the 2024 election, incumbent Ted Cruz (R) defeated Colin Allred (D) 53%–45%. In 2020, incumbent John Cornyn (R) defeated M.J. Hegar (D) 54%–44%.
Elections
2026
See also: United States Senate election in Texas, 2026
General election
The primary will occur on March 3, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. Additional general election candidates will be added here following the primary.
General election for U.S. Senate Texas
Joshua Cain, Ronald Evans, Camencia Ford, Jade Simmons, and Hans Truelson are running in the general election for U.S. Senate Texas on November 3, 2026.
Candidate | ||
| Joshua Cain (Independent) | ||
 | Ronald Evans (Independent) | |
| Camencia Ford (Independent) | ||
 | Jade Simmons (Independent) | |
 | Hans Truelson (Independent) | |
| ||||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Texas
The following candidates are running in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Texas on March 3, 2026.
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Colin Allred (D)
- Terry Virts (D)
Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. Senate Texas
The following candidates are running in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate Texas on March 3, 2026.
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Keith Allen (R)
- Barrett McNabb (R)
Polls
- See also: Ballotpedia's approach to covering polls
Polls are conducted with a variety of methodologies and have margins of error or credibility intervals.[9] The Pew Research Center wrote, "A margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points at the 95% confidence level means that if we fielded the same survey 100 times, we would expect the result to be within 3 percentage points of the true population value 95 of those times."[10] For tips on reading polls from FiveThirtyEight, click here. For tips from Pew, click here.
Below we provide results for polls from a wide variety of sources, including media outlets, social media, campaigns, and aggregation websites, when available. We only report polls for which we can find a margin of error or credibility interval. Know of something we're missing? Click here to let us know.
| Poll | Dates | Allred | Morgul | Swanson | Talarico | Virts | Other | Undecided | Sample size | Margin of error | Sponsor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
University of Houston Hobby School of Public Affairs NoteHypothetical four-way matchup between Allred, Talarico, Jasmine Crockett (D), and Beto O'Rourke (D). "Other" includes results for Crockett (31%) and O'Rourke (25%). | – | 13 | -- | -- | 25 | -- | 56 | 6 | 478 RV | ± 4.5% | N/A |
– | 58 | 4 | 3 | -- | 1 | -- | 34 | 370 RV | ± 5.1% | N/A | |
Texas Southern University (includes Castro) NoteHypothetical matchup between Allred and Joaquin Castro (D). "Other" includes results for Castro. | – | 52 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 41 | 7 | 1,500 LV | ± 2.5% | N/A |
Texas Southern University (includes O'Rourke) NoteHypothetical matchup between Allred and Beto O'Rourke (D). "Other" includes results for O'Rourke. | – | 38 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 58 | 4 | 1,500 LV | ± 2.5% | N/A |
Texas Southern University (includes Talarico) NoteHypothetical two-way matchup between Allred and Talarico. | – | 50 | -- | -- | 43 | -- | -- | 7 | 1,500 LV | ± 2.5% | N/A |
| Note: LV is likely voters, RV is registered voters, and EV is eligible voters. | |||||||||||
Candidate spending
| Name | Party | Receipts* | Disbursements** | Cash on hand | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jasmine Crockett | Democratic Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| Ahmad Hassan | Democratic Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| Emily Morgul | Democratic Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| Michael Swanson | Democratic Party | $6,991 | $6,991 | $0 | As of September 30, 2025 |
| James Talarico | Democratic Party | $6,268,610 | $1,309,971 | $4,958,638 | As of September 30, 2025 |
| Paula Williams | Democratic Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
|
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," . This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee." |
|||||
Satellite spending
- See also: Satellite spending
Satellite spending describes political spending not controlled by candidates or their campaigns; that is, any political expenditures made by groups or individuals that are not directly affiliated with a candidate. This includes spending by political party committees, super PACs, trade associations, and 501(c)(4) nonprofit groups.[11][12][13]
If available, this section includes links to online resources tracking satellite spending in this election. To notify us of a resource to add, email us.
| By candidate | By election |
|---|---|
Note: As of December 9, 2025, Crockett was filed with the Federal Election Commission as a candidate for U.S. House. The link listed under Crockett's name above lists her as a House candidate.
Endorsements
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Campaign themes
2026
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
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Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
See also
2026 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ KXAN, "New poll: US Senate primary races in Texas are neck and neck," October 10, 2025
- ↑ The Texas Tribune, "Talarico outraises Allred with massive fundraising haul to kick off Senate Democratic primary," October 1, 2025
- ↑ WFAA, "How does a Democrat strategist see the Texas Senate race unfolding after Talarico's entry?" September 16, 2025
- ↑ The New York Times, "Jasmine Crockett Enters U.S. Senate Race in Texas, Reshaping Democratic Primary," December 8, 2025
- ↑ Jasmine Crockett campaign website, "About," accessed December 9, 2025
- ↑ NBC News, "Rep. Jasmine Crockett launches Senate run in Texas, shaking up Democratic primary," December 8, 2025
- ↑ Texas House of Representatives, "Rep. Talarico, James - Biography," accessed October 30, 2025
- ↑ Politico, "‘Bet it on the underdog’: Talarico officially enters the Texas Senate primary," September 9, 2025
- ↑ For more information on the difference between margins of error and credibility intervals, see explanations from the American Association for Public Opinion Research and Ipsos.
- ↑ Pew Research Center, "5 key things to know about the margin of error in election polls," September 8, 2016
- ↑ OpenSecrets.org, "Outside Spending," accessed December 12, 2021
- ↑ OpenSecrets.org, "Total Outside Spending by Election Cycle, All Groups," accessed December 12, 2021
- ↑ National Review.com, "Why the Media Hate Super PACs," December 12, 2021
