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James Talarico wins Texas Senate in major midterm upset

politicsNov 9, 2026338,745

James Talarico defeated incumbent Ken Paxton to win the Texas Senate seat, receiving more than half the vote and flipping the seat to Democrats for the first time since 1988. His victory was part of a broader Democratic sweep that gave the party control of both the House and Senate. Days after the election, Talarico made a surprise cameo on Saturday Night Live’s November 7 cold open, interrupting James Austin Johnson’s portrayal of Donald Trump and introducing himself with, “I’m James Talarico, the guy who’s been texting you every day asking for five dollars.” Onstage Talarico urged cooperation to improve life for everyday Americans and quipped, “How many of these Trump freezers are they going to do?” The SNL appearance followed a sketch in which the fictional Trump delivered a rambling postmortem of his midterm loss. The episode was hosted by Druski and featured multiple celebrity cameos, underscoring national attention on Talarico’s upset win.

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