The high-stakes primary in Texas is tense with both Republican and Democratic candidates

Current Republican US Senator John Cornyn He is trying to avoid becoming the first Republican senator from Texas to lose a primary, and faces challenges from the Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton And the American representative. Wesley Hunt.

However, Cornyn’s schedule was very light, as he spoke at a San Antonio church unannounced, held private meetings and was raising money, campaign aides said.

Democrats, hungry to win a Senate race for the first time since 1988, see opportunity, but they have a complex race of their own to figure out.

U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett, a rhetorical brawler and frequent opponent of President Donald Trump, is emphasizing her federal experience, reminding voters that she returned millions of dollars in federal funding to her district.

“So, yeah, I’ll clash with people when it’s time to do it, but I’m actually also judging,” Crockett said during a stop at the church on Sunday.

She also gave a nod to the Black women she described as the core of her support, in Texas and nationally. Crockett, who would be the first Black woman from Texas elected to the U.S. Senate if she wins her position, has the support of prominent Black women in politics including former Vice President Kamala Harris, who He endorsed it on Friday. Sens. Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts campaigned for her in the state this weekend.

State Rep. James Tallarico, a soft-spoken seminary student who emphasizes his intersectional appeal, met voters as he strolled through San Antonio’s historic Market District before leading a march downtown.

“We had thousands of people come to rally with us. I can’t tell you how many people come up to me and tell me they’re not Democrats,” Talarico told The Associated Press. “I’m very proud of the movement we’re building.”

In the downtown heat on Sunday, hundreds stood in lines along San Antonio’s Pearl Parkway waiting to get into the event at the 132-year-old Stable Hall.

But Cornyn’s precarious status as a weak incumbent in his party’s primary was the focus of much of the huge sums spent by both sides in the run-up to March 3.

“Complacency is deadly,” Cornyn told voters Saturday at a seafood restaurant in The Woodlands, a suburb of Houston. “It kills relationships. It kills careers.”

Senate Republican leaders in Washington, working to preserve their razor-thin majority, have worried loudly for months that Democrats might have a shot at winning a long-elusive seat in Texas if Republicans nominate Paxton, who is popular with MAGA voters but has Years of legal problems.

Tallarico, who has raised more money than Crockett, is part of the Texas primary Record the frequency of fundraising. His campaign has spent $13 million on TV ads this year alone, the most by any entity in this crowded field of group spending on both sides, according to ad tracking firm AdImpact.

“This means we are building a real grassroots movement,” Tallarico told the AP.

Heading into Tuesday’s primary, the cost of advertising and allotted ad time exceeded $110 million, the largest amount ever for a Senate primary. Most of it — more than $67 million — has been spent by Cornyn’s campaign and allied groups, mostly attacking Paxton, but also recently trying to block Hunt from advancing.

If no candidate receives at least 50% of the vote on Tuesday, the primary will move to a runoff between the top two vote-getters on May 26.

Late Visit Texas on Friday President Donald Trump’s speech, which used the Port of Corpus Christi as the backdrop for a speech highlighting energy production, attracted all the top Republican candidates for the US Senate. While Trump said Friday that he has “pretty much” decided who he will support, he declined to say who he will actually support.

“We have a great attorney general, Ken Paxton. Where’s Ken? Hello Ken,” Trump said. He continued: “And we have the great Senator John Cornyn. Hello, John.”

Noting that they were in a “little race,” Trump added: “It’s going to be interesting, isn’t it?” They are both great people.”

Despite his long career in Texas politics, Paxton has portrayed himself as a Washington outsider and a staunch Trump supporter.

“I’m not going to Washington, D.C., to join the Swamp Club,” Paxton said at a campaign event in Fort Worth. “I’ll get up there and fight for you.”

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Murphy reported from Oklahoma City.