By Hunter Woodall / Updated March 3, 2026 / CBS News
Voters in Texas, North Carolina and Arkansas head to the polls Tuesday. In Texas, a four-term Republican senator faces a serious primary challenge from his state’s conservative attorney general, while Democrats pick a nominee hoping to end a decades-long losing streak in statewide races. North Carolina and Arkansas also hold contests that could shape fall matchups. Here’s what to know.
Senate race in Texas
Texas Democrats’ chance to win statewide office for the first time since 1994 may depend on who emerges from Tuesday’s primaries, as infighting on both sides has escalated. At the center is the Senate seat held since 2002 by Republican Sen. John Cornyn, a Washington veteran who risks becoming the first incumbent senator to lose his party’s nomination since 2012.
The Republican primary became volatile when Attorney General Ken Paxton announced his challenge in spring 2025, accusing Cornyn on social media of betraying former President Trump and the America First movement. Paxton — impeached by the Texas House and acquitted by the state Senate in 2023 — has a solid conservative base but questions remain about his general election viability.
Cornyn is fighting to repel Paxton and a late insurgent bid from Rep. Wesley Hunt, who has framed his run as generational change. Hunt has campaigned with the message, “24 years is long enough! Texans have moved on from career politicians like John Cornyn.” If no candidate wins a majority, the top two finishers will go to a late-May runoff, and it’s possible Cornyn could be eliminated before then.
Cornyn has warned that Paxton atop the ticket would be disastrous for Republicans statewide, saying Paxton would be “an albatross” and could cost the party elections they haven’t lost since 1994. President Trump has not endorsed any of the three main Republican contenders.
On the Democratic side, a tense primary pits two progressives against each other: state Rep. James Talarico and U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett. Their contest has revolved around electability and messaging in a state where Democrats have struggled to win statewide. Talarico has emphasized economic populism, saying in campaign material that the main divide is “not left versus right, it’s top versus bottom,” and criticizing billionaires. Crockett has argued the path to victory is through reaching people who have been ignored or pushed out of the process. Some Republicans have publicly cheered Crockett’s campaign, viewing her as potentially easier for Republicans to defeat in November than Talarico.
Texas’s large Latino electorate could play a decisive role in the fall, and how Democrats resolve internal debates over strategy in Tuesday’s primary could shape their messaging going forward.
House races in Texas
Several incumbent Texas members of Congress face primary tests. GOP Rep. Tony Gonzales in the 23rd district is dealing with a repeat challenge from far-right candidate Brandon Herrera, whom Gonzales narrowly beat in 2024, and now faces scrutiny over misconduct allegations involving a staffer who later died by suicide.
In the 2nd district, Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw faces a right-wing primary challenge from state Rep. Steve Toth. Crenshaw has not been endorsed by Trump, while his challenger is backed by Sen. Ted Cruz.
Redistricting aimed at shifting five Democratic seats has produced notable primary matchups on the left. In the 18th district, Democratic Rep. Al Green is running against Rep. Christian Menefee, who won a recent special election. Redrawn lines pushed Rep. Julie Johnson into a different race, where she faces former Rep. Collin Allred, who lost to Cruz in a 2024 Senate contest. In South Texas’s conservative 15th district, Tejano musician Bobby Pulido is contending with left-leaning challenger Ada Cuellar for the Democratic nod.
North Carolina and Arkansas
Arkansas holds its own primary contests Tuesday, while North Carolina moves closer to a potentially consequential fall Senate race. Former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper is running for the U.S. Senate — a straightforward pickup opportunity for Democrats in a state where they can hope to unseat a GOP incumbent. Cooper faces several lesser-known primary opponents who are not expected to threaten his nomination.
On the Republican side in North Carolina, Michael Whatley resigned as chairman of the Republican National Committee to run for Senate and has Mr. Trump’s support. He, too, faces a field of minor primary opponents but holds institutional backing.
North Carolina also has an intraparty tension spot in a safe Democratic House district: incumbent Rep. Valerie Foushee is defending her seat against progressive challenger Nida Allam in a Durham-area primary. Federal filings show substantial outside money aiming to support Foushee. That contest could be an early indicator of broader 2026 Democratic debates between established incumbents in safe seats and younger progressives pressing for a more aggressive agenda.
Down-ballot and runoff notes
Many Texas primaries could yield immediate results or push races into the late-May runoffs if no candidate wins a majority. Down-ballot contests across these states could affect the broader composition of House delegations and signal where both parties invest resources this fall.
Together, Tuesday’s primaries in Texas, North Carolina and Arkansas will shape which candidates become the fall’s focal points and where national money and attention will flow ahead of the midterms.