Here's the latest
• 2026 election season: Polls are now closing across most of Texas and North Carolina. In Texas, Dallas County locations for the Democratic primary will stay open two hours extra after hundreds of voters reported being turned away and polls in parts of far west of the state, including El Paso, won’t close until 9 p.m. ET.
• Marquee races: The most-watched races are in Texas where incumbent GOP Sen. John Cornyn faces perhaps the toughest challenge of his career from Attorney General Ken Paxton and US Rep. Wesley Hunt. The top two head to a runoff if no one secures a majority. On the Democratic side, US Rep. Jasmine Crockett and state Rep. James Talarico are battling in a high-profile fight.
• North Carolina: Democrat Roy Cooper and Republican Michael Whatley are expected to advance to a November race that could decide control of the Senate.
Polls are beginning to close across most of Texas
It’s 8 p.m. ET and polls have begun to close across most of the Lone Star State.
But not everywhere in Texas.
Cornyn and Paxton worlds anticipating GOP contest to head to runoff between the two candidates
Heading into primary night, Republican operatives tied to Sen. John Cornyn and state Attorney General Ken Paxton anticipate the GOP contest will head to a late May runoff between the two rivals.
One GOP operative tied to Paxton’s operation said they believe the attorney general will fall short of the 50% majority threshold needed to avoid a runoff but is in strong position to lead the GOP field in Tuesday’s vote. US Rep. Wesley Hunt is also seeking the GOP Senate nomination.
A Republican source close to the Cornyn campaign also suggested the race was likely headed to a runoff, saying they anticipate the Texas senator to be “bunched up fairly close” with Paxton in the results on Tuesday night.
An identical twin hopes to replace his brother Troy Nehls as Texas House representative
When Texas Rep. Troy Nehls decided he wouldn’t seek a fourth term to the US House, his identical twin Trever Nehls decided to run for his seat.
Both brothers are Trump loyalists, Army veterans and former elected constables in the same local precinct. Trever’s numerous visits to Capitol Hill with his brother have sometimes sparked confusion among other members.
There’s a way to tell them apart: In separate interviews, they both pointed to how they part their hair opposite ways, as shown in the photos above. Trever said he combs his to the right, while Troy brushes his to the left. Aside from that, Troy said, Trever was about a half-inch taller than him and “a very handsome, good-looking fellow.”
It’s 7:30 p.m. ET and polls are closing across most of North Carolina
Polls are closing now across most of North Carolina.
However, they will close at a polling location in Halifax County an hour later after the Board of Elections extended voting due to a delay in opening.
As a result, the board said it will not release any results until 8:30 p.m. ET.
In the most closely watched primaries, Democrat Roy Cooper and Republican Michael Whatley are expected to advance to a November race that could decide control of the Senate.
Cooper, the former two-term North Carolina governor, and Whatley, who served as Republican National Committee chairman during President Donald Trump’s successful 2024 campaign, were both recruited by their respective party leaders for what will be an expensive and closely watched contest to replace retiring Republican Sen. Thom Tillis.
Dallas County Democratic polls will stay open two extra hours after reports of confusion among voters
Dallas County will extend voting hours by two hours, following confusion among voters about correct polling locations, a county election official has confirmed.
Polls in Dallas County will now stay open until 10 p.m. ET. Most of the rest of Texas closes at 8 p.m. ET, with El Paso and far West Texas closing at 9 p.m. ET.
County elections spokesman Nicholas Solorzano said voting will be extended in Democratic precincts. “We just got an order to stay open,” he told CNN.
He said there are 279 Democratic precincts.
Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett is not running a traditional Senate campaign. Will it succeed?
Rep. Jasmine Crockett says it's time for Democrats to try something new in Texas, where she is running in the Democratic primary for Senate. CNN's Arlette Saenz talked to Crockett and Texas voters ahead of the March 3rd primary.
Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett is quick to admit she’s not running a traditional Senate campaign. Her at-times unfiltered and largely unconventional approach is challenging the traditional rules of electoral politics at a time when Democrats nationwide are debating how to win in a consequential midterm year and beyond.
Talarico urges officials in two Texas counties to extend voting hours
Texas Senate candidate James Talarico today called for an extension of voting hours in Dallas and Williamson counties, following reports of voters being turned away from polling places amid confusion over rules requiring voters to cast ballots at assigned polling locations.
Talarico, a Democratic state representative, said an extension was needed to “ensure all Texans’ voices are heard in this critical election.”
Republican officials in those counties opted to run a precinct-based primary election, ending the practice of countywide voting on Election Day.
The campaign of Talarico’s rival, Rep. Jasmine Crockett, said earlier Tuesday that it also was considering asking to extend voting hours. Both candidates encouraged voters to check their assigned polling locations before traveling to cast their ballots.
Polls close in most parts of Texas at 8 p.m. ET. The western edge of the state, including El Paso, is in a different time zone, and polls there will close at 9 p.m. ET.
To vote in the Texas primary you had to be registered by February 2
If you’re a Texas voter tuning into the blockbuster Senate primary at the 11th hour, you could be out of luck.
Texas is among states that do not allow same-day voting registration. To participate in the primary election today, you had to be registered to vote by February 2.
It’s an open question how the early registration deadline could impact the outcome of the races on the Democratic or Republican side of the ballot, but several Democratic strategists said it could present the biggest challenge for James Talarico.
He’s been drawing large crowds in the closing days of the primary race. Volunteers at events say they’ve encountered people who were not aware of the February 2 registration deadline.
Talarico said he hoped his campaign organization had mitigated any potential loss of support, but he acknowledged a potential effect.
Cornyn is a Texas GOP institution. Here’s why he's facing a tough primary
US Sen. John Cornyn is an institution in Texas politics, a longtime incumbent who spent years in powerful leadership posts.
But his critics say a lot has changed in the six years since he last faced voters.
Cornyn denounced President Donald Trump’s handling of the January 6, 2021, US Capitol riot. He negotiated a key gun safety bill with then-President Joe Biden. And now, he’s failed to secure Trump’s endorsement in his reelection bid.
Despite overwhelmingly voting with the GOP and helping to personally steer the passage of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, Cornyn has recently been accused of being insufficiently loyal to the “Make America Great Again” base.
The former Texas attorney general now faces the biggest threat of his political career from the state’s current top lawyer, Ken Paxton. Paxton is a firebrand conservative who, like Trump, has survived impeachment, indictment and federal investigations.
Senate GOP leaders have spent tens of millions of dollars to boost Cornyn and attack his opponents, both Paxton and GOP Rep. Wesley Hunt. It’s not clear yet how much those same GOP groups will spend in a runoff for Cornyn — especially if the incumbent comes in second place.
Voters explain who they're voting for in the Texas GOP Senate primary and why
Texas has seen a fiercely contested Senate GOP primary that highlights a divide among Republican voters in the era of President Donald Trump.
Why did Wesley Hunt enter the Texas Senate race?
GOP Rep. Wesley Hunt says he entered the Texas Senate race last year with the intention of making it easier for his party to hold the seat in November. But that’s not how things have played out.
Hunt, a 44-year-old father of three and a former Apache helicopter pilot, has infuriated Senate GOP leaders by turning the two-man contest into a nasty three-way primary that essentially guarantees an expensive runoff election in May. He is currently battling to avoid third place behind Sen. John Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Hunt, who has close allies in the White House, had hoped his entry into the race would push out longtime incumbent Cornyn and allow the GOP establishment to get behind him instead of baggage-laden Paxton. (Hunt has said Cornyn couldn’t survive a primary while Paxton would struggle in a general.)
Instead, Trump intentionally stayed out and Cornyn stayed put.
Since then, Cornyn and GOP leaders have spent over $80 million to ensure that he — not Hunt — would make it into the runoff. That cash has pummeled Hunt’s once-nascent campaign.
Texas Senate primaries test the value of campaign cash
The late lyrical legend Notorious B.I.G. once suggested that more money led to more problems. In politics, the Texas Senate primaries might offer clues about whether more money leads to more votes.
The Republican and Democratic contests combined have broken the record for spending on a Senate primary race, eclipsing more than $125 million, according to the ad tracking firm AdImpact. That’s been fueled by two candidates and their allies, who are testing the value of paid messaging in a cluttered media landscape, particularly against rivals who are savvy at creating viral moments and not as reliant on traditional campaign tactics.
In the Republican primary, Sen. John Cornyn and his allies have vastly outspent his rivals with advertising, accounting for more than $70 million of the $100 million directed toward the race. By comparison, spending in support of state Attorney General Ken Paxton was about $4 million.
On the Democratic side, state Rep. James Talarico and his backers have outpaced US Rep. Jasmine Crockett by about 5-to-1, with more than $24 million spent to boost Talarico compared with nearly $5 million for Crockett.
The outcomes of Tuesday’s primaries will provide hints about where the energy is inside both parties and how much electability concerns were a potential factor in the decisions of voters — but they also might tell us something about how much money still matters in political campaigns.
CNN’s David Wright contributed to this report.
Why no Republican got Trump's endorsement in the Texas Senate race
All three Republicans in this year’s Texas Senate primary desperately sought the endorsement of the one man they thought could lock up the race for them: President Donald Trump.
In the end, no one did.
Sen. John Cornyn used his many trips to the White House to bend Trump’s ear on the race. Ken Paxton flew to Trump’s golf course in Scotland for a brief run-in with the president. GOP Rep. Wesley Hunt aired ads in the West Palm Beach television market for an audience of one.
Trump, instead, decided to stay out of the race, citing his friendship with all three men.
If no one wins a majority tonight, the top two finishers will head to a May 26 runoff. And the push to get Trump to endorse will start again.
Hundreds of voters in Dallas area turned away, county Democratic Party chair tells CNN
Hundreds of voters in the Dallas area have been turned away from polling locations Tuesday and sent to other precincts to cast their ballots – the result of new Election Day precinct rules, Kardal Coleman, chairman of the Dallas County Democratic Party told CNN.
Coleman said it’s led to frustration and confusion among voters.
The precinct-based system is the upshot of the Dallas County Republican Party opting to conduct a separate, precinct-based election from Democrats – an approach Coleman said Democrats opposed. Both parties had conducted joint primaries since 2020, he said.
Additionally, in previous elections, voters could cast their ballots at any vote center in the county.
“This was all avoidable,” Coleman said. “We didn’t have to be in this situation.”
Nicholas Solorzano, a spokesman for the Dallas County elections office, confirmed that election officials are “seeing quite a bit across the county” of voters being redirected to their correct precinct.
CNN has reached out to Dallas County Republican Party officials for comment. Allen West, the former Florida congressman who chairs the Dallas County GOP, previously has defended the change, saying he prefers a precinct-based system.
In her second election ever, this Austin voter is supporting Crockett
Jemimah Thompson walked into a polling place for only the second time in her life to vote and cast her ballot for US Rep. Jasmine Crockett in the closely watched Democratic Senate primary.
“I wanted to see a change within Texas,” Thompson said, “so I thought I’d be the change and come vote today.”
Thompson, who graduated from high school last year, came to the Ruiz Branch of the Austin Public Library to take part in the Texas primary. The first election she was eligible to vote in was the 2024 presidential race, when she said she voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris.
Thompson said she’s holding out hope that Crockett prevails. She said she believes her confidence and her willingness to challenge Republicans has been inspiring.
“We need somebody to stand up for everybody, really,” Thompson said.
Extended voting hours in one precinct may delay results from North Carolina
Vote tallies in North Carolina may be delayed as the state Board of Elections will not release any results until 8:30 p.m. ET after the board extended voting in one precinct by an hour due to a delay in opening.
The polling location in Halifax County was delayed in opening due to a technical issue with the electronic poll books, which are used to check in voters, according to the state board.
Polls in the rest of the state will close at 7:30 p.m. ET.
Some states are voting today. So when will we get results?
We’ll start to see the first votes from the crucial Texas primaries at 8 p.m. ET, when polls close in most of the state.
However, the western edge of Texas, including El Paso, is in a different time zone, so polls there don’t close until 9 p.m. ET.
CNN doesn’t make projections in a race until the poll close time for the entire race, so you won’t see projections in statewide races, like senate or governor, until at least 9 p.m. ET. Polls in most of the state’s congressional districts close at 8 p.m. ET, so CNN may make projections in those races starting then.
Read more about when polls in North Carolina and Arkansas close here.
Dallas voters face new rules on where to cast a ballot
Voters in Dallas County are facing new precinct rules determining where Republican and Democratic primary voters can cast their ballots today.
While early voters were able to cast ballots at any voting center in their county, those voting today need to vote in their assigned precinct, which might be different from past locations where they’ve voted.
Over the course of Tuesday morning, a handful of voters attempting to vote at the Ridgewood/Belcher Recreation Center in Dallas, which is receiving voters in both primaries, told CNN they were informed they were assigned to a different precinct.
The new rules went into effect after the Dallas County Republican Party opted to not hold a joint primary election with the Dallas County Democratic Party. The website for the Dallas County Election Department directs voters to look for their assigned polling place before heading to cast their ballot.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett, whose congressional district sits in Dallas County, said she was “so concerned” about the new rules impacting Dallas and Williamson Counties, arguing Republicans are “playing games against me” in her “home county.”
“You must go to your actual polling location in those two counties so unfortunately, Dallas County, we’ve been voting county-wide all early voting long,” Crockett said in an Instagram video on Tuesday. “That is not the case [today] so this is where you have to look at your voter registration card or you can go online..and you can see what your polling location is.”
Williamson County, which includes state Rep. James Talarico’s hometown of Round Rock and is located north of Austin, also has similar rules in place.
Early voting surges in North Carolina
Early voting surged in North Carolina’s primary election, with more than 701,000 ballots cast in person before Election Day on Tuesday. That’s a roughly 25% jump over the nearly 560,000 people who voted early during the primary in the last midterm elections in 2022, according to Sam Hayes, executive director of the state’s board of elections.
Hayes told reporters Tuesday that state officials have received “reports of good turnout” and very few problems at polling places across the state in the first hours of Election Day voting.
CNN previously reported that Democratic turnout was up in North Carolina, Texas and Arkansas, which all hold primaries Tuesday
Early voting in North Carolina began February 12 and ended Saturday. Election Day polls in the state close at 7:30 p.m. ET.
North Carolina has several key House races this year and a marquee Senate matchup to replace retiring Sen. Thom Tillis.
The 2026 Texas Senate primary is the most expensive on record
Primaries in Texas today have drawn more than a quarter of a billion dollars in ad spending, with a highly competitive Republican Senate primary setting records and driving the staggering totals.
Alone, the GOP Senate primary – a clash between incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, state Attorney General Ken Paxton and US Rep. Wesley Hunt – accounted for about $100 million of the ad spending total, making it the most expensive Senate nominating contest on record, according to data from the ad tracking firm AdImpact.
More than $70 million of the $100 million spent on advertising for the GOP primary went toward defending Cornyn; national Republicans feel he represents their best chance at retaining the seat in November. The primary sparked a blitz of sharp attack ads from the campaigns and allied outside groups, which is poised to continue for another 12 weeks if the race advances to a May runoff, as expected.
The Democratic primary for US Senate was also expensive, drawing more than $30 million in ad spending, with state Rep. James Talarico and his allies outpacing US Rep. Jasmine Crockett by about 5-to-1.
