By Arit John and Molly English, CNN

(CNN) — State Rep. Steve Toth will defeat US Rep. Dan Crenshaw in the Republican primary for Texas’ 2nd District, CNN’s Decision Desk has projected, a stunning upset in a race that tested whether the incumbent was deemed sufficiently loyal to the president.

Crenshaw, a four-term congressman and former Navy SEAL, has had a complicated relationship with the conservative wing of his party. Though he has been an ally of President Donald Trump, he has also clashed with the president and the MAGA movement over his support for Ukraine and resettling Afghan allies, as well as his vote to certify Trump’s loss in the 2020 presidential election.

The incumbent has also been critical of members of his party, who he’s called “grifters” and “performance artists” who tell conservatives what they want to hear.

Those policy and stylistic differences have drawn the ire of members of his party, including US Sen. Ted Cruz, who endorsed Toth and appeared in a super PAC ad backing the challenger. (Cruz’s team took a victory lap after Toth declared victory.)

Crenshaw is projected to lose despite outraising Toth by more than $1.5 million.

This isn’t Toth’s first time challenging an incumbent. He tried, and failed, to unseat former Rep. Kevin Brady in Texas’ 8th District in 2016.

Toth, a former megachurch pastor and local business owner, has been one of the most conservative members of the Texas legislature, where he’s served on-and-off for more than a decade. In 2024, he was among four Texas House Republicans who were censured for campaigning against members of their party they deemed too “liberal.”

Texas’ 2nd District, which is north of Houston, changed slightly due to Republican-led mid-decade redistricting aimed at netting the GOP as many as five additional US House seats. Much of Toth’s state House seat was drawn into the 2nd District.

The seat remains strongly Republican, and Toth will be heavily favored in the November matchup against Democrat and businessman Shaun Finnie, who ran unopposed in his own primary Tuesday.

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By David Wright, CNN

(CNN) — US Rep. Tony Gonzales and conservative activist Brandon Herrera will advance to a runoff in the Republican primary for Texas’ 23rd District, CNN’s Decision Desk projects, prolonging a contentious campaign in which Gonzales denied allegations that he had an affair with a former staffer who died by suicide.

It’s a rematch from two years ago, when Gonzales beat Herrera in a runoff by just 354 votes out of nearly 30,000. But this time, the campaign was upended by the allegations Gonzales had an affair with Regina Ann Santos-Aviles, the former staffer, who died in September. A county medical examiner ruled that she died of self-immolation and listed her manner of death as suicide.

The controversy gained traction in the final weeks before the primary amid a pressure campaign from Herrera and new revelations from Adrian Aviles, the husband of the late staffer.

Text messages provided to CNN by Adrian Aviles show that Gonzales sent lewd messages to Santos-Aviles, including one exchange asking for a “sexy pic.” In an interview with CNN’s Erin Burnett last week, Aviles called the congressman a “predator” and said that “he’s continued to lie to the American people, his constituents.”

He faces mounting calls from some of his GOP colleagues to step down. “A male harassing a female employee, I just can’t stomach it, dude. I’ve got a wife and a daughter. He needs to go,” Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett told CNN’s Manu Raju.

Gonzales has said he won’t resign.

“There will be an opportunity for all the details and facts to come out,” he told CNN last week. “What you’ve seen is not all the facts. And there will be ample time for all of that to come out.”

He accused Adrian Aviles and his attorney of blackmailing him, claims the attorney, Bobby Barrera, denied.

House Speaker Mike Johnson has also so far declined to back calls for Gonzales’ resignation, though he conceded the accusations were “very serious” and said that he has urged the San Antonio Republican to address them with his constituents directly.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has not withdrawn his endorsement of Gonzales, made last December, though Trump notably left Gonzales off a list of his Texas endorsements posted on social media last week. Still, the president shouted out the congressman at an event in Corpus Christi, Texas, last Friday, remarking, “Tony, congratulations.”

Herrera has used the controversy to raise questions about Gonzales’ character and electability. Some Texas Republicans allied with Herrera supported his calls for Gonzalez’s resignation, including state Rep. Wes Virdell, whose district shares territory with the 23rd.

Pressing the attack, Herrera has leveraged a large social media following cultivated over years of conservative commentary, particularly on gun rights. His username on X is “TheAKGuy,” and he boasts more than 4 million subscribers to his channel on YouTube, featuring

MONTECITO, Calif.— It was a night about women empowering women.

“It is a day that we really celebrate the societal, the political, the economic achievements of women, but we also come together to push for more progress,” said Shelterbox USA President Kerri Murray.

Conversations centered around the gender pay gap, abuse of power, and overcoming hardship with featured speakers who were all-stars in their own right, from Olympic Medalist Brittany Brown to local author and survivor of the Montecito debris flow Kim Cantin.

“For those of you don't know, after the mudslide, 23 people died, including my husband and my son,” said Kim Cantin.

Each speaker shared bold stories of resilience.

Every woman on the panel seemed to have a unique superpower.

“I figure out, like, okay, how am I going to deal with this? And so adapting and learning and growing is is my superpower,” said actress and advocate Jordana Brewster.

Olympic Athlete Brittany Brown says 90% of her success in running is mental.

“It's really just how you think about yourself. How you attack a race. Like, I work with the sports psych. So I do a lot of, like, mental preparation and visualization. Playing that race is playing out practices. And just like, centering yourself,” said Brown.

The takeaway message from all the incredible women? —the power of community.

“I think women being truthful to each other and like telling each other like what our secrets are, our hacks and what we're doing. I think that's the best way to that sisterhood,” said Jordana Brewster.

“When I look at who exemplifies courage, strength, perseverance, and also using that as a path for really inspiring and helping others, it would be Kim,” said Shelterbox USA President Kerri Murray.

“I’ve, I've heard of her [Kim Cantin’s] story like a few times.And every time she speaks about it and I see her, ability to turn her experiences into something to help other people. It’s super powerful,” said Singer Hunter Hawkins.

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Por Fredreka Schouten, Arlette Saenz y Veronica Stracqualursi, CNN

Los cambios en los procedimientos electorales en dos condados de Texas llevaron este martes a que cientos de votantes fueran rechazados en los lugares de votación y provocaron recriminaciones airadas de los candidatos y a una lucha de última hora para retrasar el cierre de las urnas.

En un día de mucha actividad, los votantes demócratas en el área de Dallas recibieron dos horas adicionales para emitir sus votos después de que intervino un juez, solo para que la Corte Suprema del estado ordenara al condado mantener separados los votos emitidos durante el período de votación extendido.

Pero incluso antes de que cerraran las urnas, la representante Jasmine Crockett, enfrascada en una competitiva batalla con el representante estatal James Talarico por la nominación demócrata al Senado, planteó la posibilidad de que la confusión en las urnas pudiera determinar el resultado de las primarias.

“Escuchen, estas elecciones podrían ser muy reñidas, y podría depender de quién pudo votar o no en el condado de Dallas”, declaró. “Independientemente de si son reñidas o no, esto está mal si una persona tiene derecho a votar y no se le permitió hacerlo”.

El martes, los votantes de los condados de Dallas y Williamson tuvieron que adaptarse a las nuevas normas de votación que les exigían dirigirse a distritos electorales asignados, una marcada diferencia con respecto a elecciones anteriores.

El cambio generó confusión, ya que cientos de votantes fueron rechazados en los centros de votación y enviados a los distritos electorales correctos, según Kardal Coleman, presidente del Partido Demócrata del Condado de Dallas.

Coleman obtuvo una orden judicial para mantener casi 280 distritos demócratas en el condado abiertos hasta las 10:00 p.m., hora de Miami.

La Corte Suprema de Texas suspendió el martes por la noche la orden judicial anterior que había extendido la votación en el condado de Dallas, dictaminando que cualquier voto emitido por personas que no estuvieran en la fila a las 8:00 p.m., hora de Miami, debía ser separado.

Nicholas Solorzano, portavoz del Departamento de Elecciones del Condado de Dallas, indicó que quienes votaron durante el horario extendido lo hicieron con papeletas provisionales, lo que permitió a los funcionarios apartarlas si era necesario. No se sabe con certeza cuántas papeletas se emitieron provisionalmente.

El martes por la noche, Coleman señaló que los demócratas estaban sopesando sus opciones legales tras el fallo de la Corte Suprema. “Vamos a luchar en cada paso del camino”, declaró a CNN.

La Corte Suprema de Texas, compuesta exclusivamente por republicanos, es el tribunal de última instancia para asuntos civiles en el estado. Sus jueces son elegidos.

Tanto Crockett como Talarico alertaron sobre el impacto en los votantes a medida que se difundía la confusión sobre los centros de votación.

Talarico, cuya sede está en Round Rock, en el condado de Williamson, imploró la extensión del horario de votación “para garantizar que se escuche la voz de todos los texanos en estas elecciones cruciales”.

El martes por la noche, al hablar con sus seguidores en un mitin, Crockett declaró: “Puedo decirles ahora que la gente se ha visto privada de sus derechos”.

Los partidos políticos, en lugar de los Gobiernos locales, administran las elecciones primarias en Texas. Anteriormente, demócratas

By Arit John and Gustavo Valdés, CNN

Pharr, Texas (CNN) — Tejano singer Bobby Pulido will win the Democratic primary for Texas’ 15th Congressional District, CNN projects, defeating emergency room physician Ada Cuellar.

Pulido will face two-term GOP Rep. Monica De La Cruz in November in his bid to flip control of a deeply Republican district.

National Democrats view Pulido, the son of a migrant farm worker turned Latin Grammy Award-winning artist, as giving them their best shot at competing in the seat due to his fame and his socially conservative profile.

“We’ve been getting our butts kicked for a long time. And we have to find out why that is,” Pulido told CNN. “And there’s a lot of people that we’ve got to go bring back.”

Cuellar, who campaigned with Democratic Senate candidate Jasmine Crockett, painted Pulido as the establishment’s pick and blasted him over his personal opposition to abortion. Pulido has said that he doesn’t support the state’s near-total abortion ban.

The district, a roughly 250-mile-long strip that stretches from outside San Antonio down to the US border with Mexico, was redrawn last year by Texas Republicans as part of a push to net the party as many as five additional US House seats.

That new map relies heavily on retaining gains the GOP has made with Latino voters. President Donald Trump would have won the district on its current lines by 18 percentage points in 2024.

“As Latinos, what unites us all is that many of us come from humble beginnings,” Pulido told CNN. “Hispanics, they want this: They want to be able to work hard and be rewarded by that hard work. And when you take away from that opportunity, that used to be promised to everybody in this country, they get mad. And that’s what you’re going to be seeing.”

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