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Trump-aligned candidates surge as some incumbents fall: five key takeaways from US primary elections

There was more at stake in Tuesday’s primary elections than just the high-profile nominations for US Senate seats in North Carolina and Texas. Further down the ballot were contests that offered hints of how the electorate was reacting to the Trump administration’s rapid and radical changes in Washington, and to whether Democrats were rebuilding popular support after suffering pivotal losses in 2024.

Here are some of the lesser-known outcomes of Tuesday’s vote in Texas, North Carolina and Arkansas, which also held primary and special elections:

1. Crenshaw becomes the first congressman to fall – to a more Trump-aligned candidate
Dan Crenshaw, a Republican Texas congressman, became the first member of the House of Representatives to lose re-election this year, falling in his primary to Steve Toth, a rightwing state representative. Representing a Houston area district since 2019, Crenshaw had disagreed with Donald Trump’s baseless claim that the 2020 election was stolen, signaled openness to negotiating with the Biden administration over immigration reform and feuded with conservative commentator Tucker Carlson, who had called for his ouster. Republican voters backed Toth with nearly 56% of the vote, while Crenshaw won just 41%.
2. Voters turn on Green, Gonzales
Two other Texas congressmen are teetering on the brink of defeat. Al Green, a long-serving Democrat who has been ejected for protesting Trump the last two times he spoke to Congress, is trailing fellow congressman Christian Menefee, who only took office last month after winning a special election. The two lawmakers were forced to compete against each other after being drawn into the same district by Texas’s mid-decade redistricting, and their race will be decided in a runoff set for 26 May. Elsewhere in the state, Brandon Herrera, a conservative YouTuber, is ahead of Tony Gonzales, a Republican congressman who has refused calls from his colleagues to resign despite allegations that he pressured an aide, who later died by suicide, into an affair. That race will also be decided in a runoff.
3. Surprise Democratic strength in Arkansas
In the latest example of a Democrat outperforming in a special election, Alex Holladay beat Republican Bo Renshaw in the race for a seat in Arkansas’s house of representatives, winning 57% of the vote to his opponent’s 43%. Just two years ago, a different Republican defeated Holladay for the seat with a mere 51% of the vote to the Democrat’s 49%. The Republican party is dominant in Arkansas, and Holladay’s victory won’t break their majority in the state house, but could be a sign of increased Democratic enthusiasm ahead of the November midterms.
4. Rebellious Democrats booted amid turmoil in North Carolina
In North Carolina, voters ousted Democratic state lawmakers Shelly Willingham, Nasif Majeed and Carla Cunningham, all of whom had occasionally collaborated with the Republican majority in the state’s house of representatives to override Democratic governor Josh Stein’s vetoes. Meanwhile, Phil Berger, a Republican state senate leader who was endorsed by Trump, is trailing Sam Page, the primary challenger and the sheriff of his home county, by two votes, but can request a recount. Page is known as a strong supporter of Trump, and challenged Berger from the right, including by accusing him of being too lenient on immigration issues.
5. Democratic congresswoman Foushee up over progressive challenger who is focused on a datacenter dispute, but race too close to call
The Democratic congresswoman Valerie Foushee’s primary is too close to call, according to the Associated Press, with Nida Allam, the progressive challenger, trailing by a mere 1,200 votes. Allam, a Durham county commissioner, had centered her campaign on opposition to a massive datacenter proposed for the area, while Foushee has said that the issue should be decided by local leaders, though she does not personally support the project. The race saw significant outside spending, and may go to a recount.