A Texas-sized Senate primary

On this week’s episode of Highway to Hill: Texas is voting next week in tight primaries for both parties to decide who’ll compete for a U.S. Senate seat this November. Charlie and SoRelle are joined by special guest Casey Burgat to break down the Democratic race between James Talarico and Jasmine Crockett, including their campaign strategies — is it better to run up the score in Dallas and Houston, or court suburban moderates in West Texas? And on the Republican side, why is John Cornyn’s main challenger Ken Paxton generating so much chaos; and why do Democrats seem to want him to win?Then, in the Gavel Drop: The House passes new rules to make it harder to censure members of Congress, and why John Thune and Senate Republicans aren’t buying Trump’s push to end the filibuster for the SAVE Act.This week’s syllabus 📚* “The hotly contested Texas Senate race is setting spending records ahead of Tuesday’s primary” (John Hanna, Associated Press)* Campaign Fundraising Summary: 2026 Election United States Senate - Texas (Federal Election Commission)* Find Legislators – Center for Effective Lawmaking* NRSC memo showcasing Cornyn’s relative strength in general election polling* “Scoop: House members want to make it harder to censure each other” (Andrew Solender and Kate Santaliz, Axios)* “Push for a ‘talking filibuster’ stalls in Senate GOP conference” (Savannah Behrmann and Valerie Yurk, Roll Call) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit highwaytohill.substack.com