Democrat James Talarico Projected Winner of Texas Senate Race

ABC News reported that Democrat James Talarico was projected the winner of the Texas Senate race, defeating Republican Ken Paxton. CBS News separately projected that Democratic State Rep. James Talarico had flipped a Texas Senate seat, also defeating Paxton.

PBS NewsHour, in a live video report credited to the Associated Press, described Talarico as having won the Texas Senate seat. Its summary said the victory was the first time since 1994 that a Democrat had won a statewide office in Texas, a shift for a state long dominated by Republicans.

ABC News reported that Talarico addressed supporters after the projection. CBS News reported that he delivered his victory speech on Wednesday, and its report carried his words, "We just took back Texas."

The sources differ on the historical benchmark. CBS News described the win as the first Texas Senate seat won since 1988, while PBS NewsHour cited 1994 for statewide offices in general. The two reports use different measures, a Senate seat in one and statewide offices in the other, and the summaries available do not reconcile the dates.

ABC News and CBS News both described the outcome as a projection, and none of the three summaries reviewed for this story includes vote totals or margins. CBS News identified Talarico as a Democratic State Rep., while ABC News and PBS NewsHour identified him as a Democrat.

Sources: PBS NewsHour: WATCH LIVE: Democrat James Talarico speaks after winning Texas Senate seat; ABC News: WATCH: James Talarico addresses supporters after projected win in Texas Senate race; CBS News: James Talarico speaks to supporters after historic Senate win: "We just took back Texas".