State Reps Trent Ashby, Dennis Paul and David Cook Receive Backing to Join Texas Senate
16 seats in the Texas Senate are up this year.
The Democratic and Republican primaries occurred today in Texas to select candidates for the November 2026 general election. This post covers the races for 16 seats in the State Senate. Separate posts will be covering the primaries for federal offices, statewide executive races, every seat in the State House of Representatives, and county contests.
In Texas, a candidate needs to achieve a 50%+1 majority in the primary to receive their party’s nomination. If that doesn’t happen, then the top two finishers will advance to a runoff scheduled for May 26, 2026.
The general election for these 16 seats in the Texas Senate will be held on November 3, 2026.
District 1:
Literacy advocate Laticia Ambroz won the Democratic primary unopposed.
Incumbent Bryan Hughes won the Republican primary unopposed.
District 2:
Marine veteran Keenen Colbert won the Democratic primary unopposed.
Incumbent Bob Hall won the Republican primary with 78.7% (62,448) against healthcare administrator Jason Eddington with 21.3% (16,908). 79,356 votes counted.
District 3:
Community advocate Bobby Tillman won the Democratic primary unopposed.
State Representative Trent Ashby won the Republican primary with 62.3% (71,784) against appraiser Rhonda Ward with 37.7% (43,381). 115,165 votes counted.
District 4:
Educator Ron Angeletti won the Democratic primary unopposed.
Montgomery County District Attorney Brett Ligon won the Republican primary with 74.5% (65,789) against Air Force veteran Charlie Miller with 25.5% (22,544). 88,333 votes counted.
District 5:
Pastor Paul Thomasson won the Democratic primary with 51.3% (31,703) against educator Kevin Nelson with 48.7% (30,123). 61,826 votes counted.
Incumbent Charles Schwertner won the Republican primary with 74.7% (66,721) against retiree Larry Nance with 14.9% (13,310) and Marine veteran Apollo Hernandez with 10.4% (9,340). 89,371 votes counted.
District 9:
Incumbent Taylor Rehmet won the Democratic primary unopposed.
Conservative activist Leigh Wambsganss won the Republican primary unopposed.
District 11:
Coordinator Shannon Dicely won the Democratic primary with 74.7% (46,344) against systems specialist Cameron Rollwitz with 25.3% (15,664). 62,008 votes counted.
State Representative Dennis Paul won the Republican primary unopposed.
District 13:
Incumbent Borris Miles won the Democratic primary unopposed.
No candidate qualified for the Republican primary.
District 18:
Realtor Erica Gillum won the Democratic primary unopposed.
Incumbent Lois Kolkhorst won the Republican primary unopposed.
District 19:
Incumbent Roland Gutierrez won the Democratic primary unopposed.
Business owner Marcus Cardenas and retiree Robert Marks Jr. will advance in the Republican primary with 44.3% (14,609) and 32.1% (10,588) against 2020/21 state house candidate Adam Salyer with 23.5% (7,756). 32,953 votes counted.
District 21:
Incumbent Judith Zaffirini won the Democratic primary with 73.2% (67,165) against social worker Cortney Jones with 26.8% (24,657). 91,822 votes counted.
2022 nominee Julie Dahlberg won the Republican primary unopposed.
District 22:
Community advocate Amy Martinez-Salas won the Democratic primary unopposed.
State Representative David Cook won the Republican primary with 67.4% (58,113) against McLennan County District Clerk Jon Gimble with 24.0% (20,660) and rancher Rena Schroeder with 8.7% (7,471). 86,244 votes counted.
District 24:
Perennial candidate Joe Herrera won the Democratic primary unopposed.
Incumbent Peter Flores won the Republican primary unopposed.
District 26:
Incumbent José Menendez won the Democratic primary unopposed.
No candidate qualified for the Republican primary.
District 28:
Business owner Riley Rodriguez won the Democratic primary unopposed.
Incumbent Charles Perry won the Republican primary unopposed.
District 31:
Amarillo College regent John Betancourt won the Democratic primary unopposed.
Incumbent Kevin Sparks won the Republican primary unopposed.