This is officially my favorite story from the primaries.
One tough Grandma
Texas congressional candidate Vince Shlomi, known as the “ShamWow guy,” is suing the Republican Party of Texas, accusing it of “rigging” the primary after he says the party removed his nickname from the ballot.
Shlomi announced the lawsuit Tuesday on X, alleging the party was helping incumbent U.S. Rep. John Carter by omitting his recognizable moniker from the GOP ticket.
“Rigged election by these rhinos,” Shlomi wrote on X, attaching the court filing to his social media post.
The filing also names RPT chairman Abraham George as a respondent in the case.
“It’s a product name, people know it, I thought, why not—a couple weeks before, they pull it, I would’ve said, ‘Vote, Shlomi,’ I have to re-do it, I am going to have to rebrand myself now,” Shlomi told the American-Statesman. “I am definitely going to have a difficult time now.”
Shlomi claims George approved his application to appear on the ballot under the nickname “ShamWow,” certifying its use in the March 3 Republican primary.
However, in response to what Shlomi describes as “a challenge” by the National Republican Congressional Committee — which he alleges was sent in coordination with Carter — the party reversed its decision and disallowed the nickname.
Shlomi argues the party violated Texas election code by making the change.
In the filing, Shlomi also asserts that the RPT is not “uniformly and fairly” enforcing its position against other candidates who were not “challenged by the NRCC.” He cites gubernatorial candidate Pete “Doc” Chambers as an example.
The lawsuit references a Jan. 9 letter from RPT general counsel Rachel Hooper notifying of the nickname’s removal.
Shlomi claims the letter was not addressed to him but instead to the NRCC. He says he did not see the correspondence and would not have had an opportunity to challenge the decision even if he had.
Yes, being listed as “ShamWow” on the ballot would definitely have been the difference-maker. Congratulations, Vince Shlomi, you are the Grandma Strayhorn of 2026.
Here’s a headline that will grab your attention: Six data-driven reasons Texas could actually go blue in 2026.
Democrats haven’t won a statewide race in Texas since 1994. But every cycle, we are inundated with pieces asking if this will be the year Texas turns blue. The answer, for 32 years, has been no. I wrote my own version for The Economist back in 2019, calling the state Democrats’ “white whale” for 2020. From 2020 to 2024, the state only drifted further toward Republicans, who win the state on average by 12 percentage points.
But this year, Democrats might have a real shot at winning a statewide election in the Lone Star State.
On Tuesday, March 3, Democratic primary voters picked state House Rep. James Talarico over U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett to become their party’s nominee for the November election to the U.S. Senate. On the Republican side, no candidate won above 50%, so incumbent John Cornyn and Ken Paxton are headed to a May 26th runoff election.
I have compiled six data-driven reasons Texas could actually go blue in 2026. They have to do with concerns over Ken Paxton’s electability, Talarico’s support among independent voters, Democratic enthusiasm, and a few other factors. Add them up, and it’s easy to see how Talarico could pull off a win (though it would not be easy to do).
Here are six data-driven reasons Texas could actually go blue in 2026.
Read on for the rest, it’s worth your time. And in the interests of keeping it real, we have this:
I guess the one comfort for Democrats is that he might be. A D+6 WAR puts you in the territory of Blake Masters.
Paxton doesn’t quite *look* like Blake Masters, but he does have a lot more scandal behind him.
— Lakshya Jain (@lxeagle17) 8:07 PM – 3 March 2026
We’ll see how everyone feels after May 26.
There were a couple of big upsets in Dallas and Tarrant Counties that I didn’t see at first but want to note here. In Tarrant County, veteran State Rep. Chris Turner was defeated.
Incumbent Chris Turner has lost his bid for reelection in House District 101 to challenger Junior Ezeonu, a member of the Grand Prairie City Council.
With 100% of the precincts reporting, Ezeonu had 52.67% vote to Turner’s 47.33%. Ezeonu declared victory Wednesday morning.
“We did it, guys! We won!” he said in a post on X. “Thank you to everyone who believed in our campaign, volunteered your time, donated your money, voted, and told a friend to vote as well. This victory is your victory, and I thank you for your support. God bless you all.”
[…]
Ezeonu, 26, is a political consultant who has been on the Grand Prairie City Council since 2021. He told the Star-Telegram that his top three priorities if elected would be to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, fund public schools, and make homeownership affordable.
In a Wednesday morning statement, Turner said the outcome was not what he and his supporters had hoped for.
“Sometimes you leave it all out on the field and still come up short,” he said. “The voters have spoken and I respect what they said. I congratulate Rep.-elect Junior Ezeonu on his victory and wish him well as he prepares to take on the responsibility of representing 200,000 of our neighbors in Southeast Tarrant County.”
Rep. Turner has been a member of the Democratic caucus leadership, and as far as I know was one of the good guys. I interviewed him in 2020 about the redistricting process that was to come and what Dems would be doing about it. Here’s his full statement and concession. Congratulations to Rep.-elect Ezeonu, and thanks and best wishes to Rep. Turner.
A more shocking result came in Dallas.
Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot conceded Wednesday in the Democratic primary to former felony court judge Amber Givens, a shocking upset for the two-term chief prosecutor.
In a statement, Creuzot thanked supporters, voters and his family, and congratulated Givens on her victory.
“While the outcome was not what we had hoped for, I am proud of the work my team accomplished and the important conversations we advanced about justice, accountability, and public safety in Dallas County,” he said.
Givens, who resigned from the 282nd District Court in December to challenge Creuzot, had been widely viewed as the underdog in the race.
Creuzot raised far more campaign money, collecting about $420,000 in contributions compared with roughly $20,000 for Givens. And he had the backing of Democrats locally and across the state.
Givens also faced scrutiny last year after the State Commission on Judicial Conduct issued two sanctions, which she is appealing. A trial on the charges was held last week before a Special Court of Review at the state Supreme Court, but it could be several weeks before the three-judge panel issues a decision.
Big primary turnout full of voters who have little or no Democratic primary voting history can have unpredictable results, that’s just the nature of the thing. Creuzot was well respected, and DA-elect Givens (Republicans did not field a candidate) has some baggage. I don’t know enough to comment beyond what I’ve read in the two links presented here. I hope for the best.
One more thing for this post, and I’ll have some other observations and number stuff in a different post, and it has to do with the Dem primary for CD35, a seat I firmly believe we can win, in which a candidate I had not heard of before came out in the lead.
Democrats originally wrote off this district, which under new boundaries would have supported Trump by more than 10 percentage points in 2024.
One of their largest PACs published a report saying it’s out of reach for this election cycle, and efforts to recruit a high-profile candidate fell short.
But House Democrats’ campaign arm has since named the race a top battleground for 2026, and national party leaders are excited about longtime Bexar County Sheriff’s Deputy Johnny Garcia, who got to attend a recent Democratic National Committee fundraiser as a guest of DNC Chair Ken Martin.When the final votes were counted, however, Garcia was headed to a runoff in May.
Maureen Galindo, a family, marriage and sex therapist who ran unsuccessfully for a San Antonio City Council seat in 2025, was in first place with 29.2% of the vote. Garcia had 27.02%.
Despite raising little money, Galindo waged a spirited campaign after developers planned to raze her apartment complex to build a Minor League Baseball stadium.
“This runoff is simple,” she said in a statement Tuesday night. “Do we send a Democrat to Congress who understands and responds to the needs of the people of District 35? Or one who was bought to puppet a corporate-owned America?”
Leading up to Tuesday, a number of local Democratic groups had rallied behind Marine Corps veteran and former federal employee John Lira, who was taking 20.76% in a four-way race.
In an interview at his watch party at the Deco Ballroom, Lira credited Galindo for getting her message out in an overall low-information election.
“She’s basically been a one-person show with a social media following, and seems to be surging,” Lira said as the early results were coming in. “We’ll see where the final dust settles. But she’s over-performed so far. So that’s significant.”
Leaders at the Blue Dog Action PAC, which is helping Garcia, have already said they plan to keep spending to get him through the runoff.
Congratulations to Maureen Galindo, whom I did not include in the January campaign finance report roundup because she had raised a grand total of $4K. She’ll be in the April roundup, and we’ll see if she has more money raised by then. I still think Johnny Garcia is likely to be the stronger competitor – stories like this add more than a little credence to that belief – but you have to respect someone who can do what she did with so little in resources.
Man, Galileo would be a disaster. A “sex therapist and self-proclaimed professional astrologera”??? In Trump +10 district? She has the potential to hurt the party beyond that district.
I went to a candidate forum in Guadalupe County where all of the CD35 candidates spoke. Galindo is a firey campaigner, in the mold of a Jasmine Crockett (I have more thoughts on that because I think Jasmine was ill served by whomever she consults with on strategy). I do worry that she is on the crunchy left, and apparently her tik tok has some conspiracy theory content. But she really went after Garcia directly as a corprate Democratic shill at the forum. I really thought that John Lira was going to be Garcia’s main competitor and was surprised when Galindo took the plurality in the primary. Pay attention to this one, because it might be interesting.